Using my own banks Financial Advice service a good option?

wynter_b

Hi all,
My partner and I have banked with HSBC since arriving in the UK 15 years ago. We have current accounts and Savings accounts, a mortgage, and we each had Home buyers ISA leading up to buying our house 2.5 years ago. We have an inheritance coming later this year, and once we have paid off our high interest cards, we wont have any debts barring the mortgage which we can re negotiate in 2 years time. We will have about £550,000 to invest, and we have a couple of scenarios in mind but and we are both finding the options quite bewildering. I notice that HSBC has a financial advice service which we wondered might be a good option to start getting some plans in place. Would they have a wide enough view of options available to us if we wanted to say invest in a property as well as maximise ISAs plus pensions? Or should we look to a funds management service. I think we would like to spread the risk across various investment + savings options. And would obviously like to reduce costs and fees where necessary.
Thanks in advance.

ForumUser7

wynter_b said:

Hi all,
My partner and I have banked with HSBC since arriving in the UK 15 years ago. We have current accounts and Savings accounts, a mortgage, and we each had Home buyers ISA leading up to buying our house 2.5 years ago. We have an inheritance coming later this year, and once we have paid off our high interest cards, we wont have any debts barring the mortgage which we can re negotiate in 2 years time. We will have about £550,000 to invest, and we have a couple of scenarios in mind but and we are both finding the options quite bewildering. I notice that HSBC has a financial advice service which we wondered might be a good option to start getting some plans in place. Would they have a wide enough view of options available to us if we wanted to say invest in a property as well as maximise ISAs plus pensions? Or should we look to a funds management service. I think we would like to spread the risk across various investment + savings options. And would obviously like to reduce costs and fees where necessary.
Thanks in advance.

The Financial Advice service of the bank will likely just recommend their own accounts, which mostly pay poor rates

Have a look at the links below for savings accounts, and remember to stay below the FSCS limit for linked institutions and account for interest: https://www.which.co.uk/money/savings-and-isas/savings-accounts/fscs-are-my-savings-safe-aW00D9u2dt8m https://moneyfactscompare.co.uk/savings-accounts/ https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/safe-savings/

Rich1976

Keeping everything in once place (HSBC) is unlikely to be a good idea as they do not have the best products on the market. You are keeping all your savings with them then you can easily find alternative banks and building societies offering a much better rate of interest. As an example their general saver account pays 1.75% which is at least 2.5% lower than the best easy access rates on the market.

as regards financial advice, HSBC can only advise on their own investments which again may not be the most suitable for your requirements. I would say you are best looking for an independent financial adviser who will advise on products from across the market and not just one provider
Especially with the sum of money you are talking about.

it is convenient having everything under one roof but rarely a good idea.

wynter_b

The sort of service/person I'm looking for would be the one that could advise, for example: Invest £200,000 in X with the mind of paying off Mortgage in 2 years if interest rates remain high, Put X into ISA, Put X into a Buy to let, Put X into quick access account for emergencies. So your suggestion for independent makes sense if HSBC can only advise their own products. Thanks - saves me wasting time setting up an interview with them.

dunstonh

The sort of service/person I'm looking for would be the one that could advise, for example: Invest £200,000 in X with the mind of paying off Mortgage in 2 years if interest rates remain high,

I doubt you would get that advice from any adviser type.  investing for just a 2 year term would be daft.     It could also be viewed as gearing which most advisers will stay well clear of.

Investing is a long term objective.   Paying an adviser to tell you to stick to a savings account until the mortgage is out of its fixed rate is a waste of money.

Albermarle

wynter_b said:

The sort of service/person I'm looking for would be the one that could advise, for example: Invest £200,000 in X with the mind of paying off Mortgage in 2 years if interest rates remain high, Put X into ISA, Put X into a Buy to let, Put X into quick access account for emergencies. So your suggestion for independent makes sense if HSBC can only advise their own products. Thanks - saves me wasting time setting up an interview with them.

An IFA would be looking at the short/medium but particularly the long term. In the latter case, current interest rates and current  investment returns are of little consequence when making decisions.
Pensions are usually the mainstay of most peoples investment/financial plans for the future, partly due to the tax relief they get. I notice you only mention them briefly and no mention of them in your post above, and no mention of workplace pensions for you and your partner.
 Probably unlikely they would advise you to get involved in buy to let, but you could do that separately if you wanted.
If you really wanted to pay off the mortgage in two years time, it would be better just to stick the £200K in a couple of savings accounts on a two year fix.

Richard1212

wynter_b said:

The sort of service/person I'm looking for would be the one that could advise, for example: Invest £200,000 in X with the mind of paying off Mortgage in 2 years if interest rates remain high, Put X into ISA, Put X into a Buy to let, Put X into quick access account for emergencies. So your suggestion for independent makes sense if HSBC can only advise their own products. Thanks - saves me wasting time setting up an interview with them.

With your sort of sums, I strongly recommend a Personal Wealth Adviser/Manager. Forget all about IFAs----as I have said many times on this site before ( to the annoyance of IFAs and those with small sums who use them) such people can claim to be IFAs after a 6 month correspondence course. A Wealth Manager need a First Class Honours degree in economics/Financial Planning etc, a host of qualifications and much experience. I have employed one for 30 years and he and his team have been like gold dust to me. I'd not look to HSBC advisers.          Good luck with what looks like fine prospects.

Chickereeeee

https://www.reed.co.uk/career-advice/how-to-become-a-wealth-manager/#:~:text=Get qualified,knowledge of the finance industry.

Albermarle

I am getting deja vu !

Anyway a person with a few hundred Thousand is a typical IFA type customer.
You only really need a specialist ( not someone who just calls themselves a Wealth Manager because it sounds nice ) if you have Millions.

dunstonh

Richard1212 said:

wynter_b said:

The sort of service/person I'm looking for would be the one that could advise, for example: Invest £200,000 in X with the mind of paying off Mortgage in 2 years if interest rates remain high, Put X into ISA, Put X into a Buy to let, Put X into quick access account for emergencies. So your suggestion for independent makes sense if HSBC can only advise their own products. Thanks - saves me wasting time setting up an interview with them.

With your sort of sums, I strongly recommend a Personal Wealth Adviser/Manager. Forget all about IFAs----a<snip>

Please ignore this person.  He keeps posting this rubbish.   Multple threads now that clearly show he has no understanding of adviser types.   All attempts by multiple posters to try and correct him have been ignored and he continues to post misinformation.

Richard1212

When an IFA advises you to ignore my posts, it is clear that I have struck a nerve and that the IFA knows that , if my message gets wider publicity, it will result in the truth about any tom, !!!!!! or harry, fresh from  6 month correspondence course, and who could ruin your finances. Please treat the advice to ignore my warnings about IFAs as you should ignore employing them or listening to their financial "advice".              Stick with proper professionals with an illustrious university background, their qualifications and experience and record. If you are tempted to employ an IFA, always ask them to show you their Honours or Masters Degree in an economics or financial subject and for their qualifications as listed at https://www.cisi.org/cisiweb2/cisi-website/study-with-us/wealth-retail/chartered-wealth-manager-qualification.