Finding decent IFA without word of mouth?

boingy

dunstonh said:

The problem with word of mouth recommendations for IFAs is that they are almost certainly being made by people who don't understand what they are investing in. So how can they know that the IFA is any good?

Someone posted on our community Facebook just tonight asking for an adviser. Most of the responses are for the SJP sales rep.

Facebook and the Internet definitely does not count as word of mouth.

boingy

Linton said:

boingy said:

The problem with word of mouth recommendations for IFAs is that they are almost certainly being made by people who don't understand what they are investing in. So how can they know that the IFA is any good?

When we moved into our current house a neighbour recommended a boiler service guy on the basis that he was really friendly and also "cute". Having him install a replacement boiler for us turned out to be a bad decision. He no longer has anything to do with heating and boilers (nothing sinister - he just realised he wasn't very good and switched career).

The point is, friends, neighbours and colleagues are not always best placed to recommend people.

Define what makes an an IFA "Good".

In the absence of reliable recommendations in my view the best approach is to fix up 30 minute meetings with a few  local ones where you can explain your circumstances and why you want an IFA and they can explain how they can help you and the charges.  If there's a match, choose the one who you feel most comfortable with.

It really is much the same as any other personal service, eg therapist, gym instructor etc  Having done your due diligence you can reasonably assume that unless you have specialist needs the basic knowledge and skills are there so it's the interpersonal relationship that matters most.

I'd say a good IFA is one who listens to your goals and does their best to meet them whilst not charging you too much along the way. I'd also say that some IFAs are going to be better than others, just like every industry.

The thing is that with a therapist or gym instructor or builder or dentist or pretty much anything else you find out how good they are quite quickly and you can change them without too much difficulty. With financial stuff it could take years to realise that the advice was not the best or that you are not comfortable with the charging structure and, depending upon the investments, switching to a different IFA can be a bit more involved. Anyone without much financial knowledge is just not equipped to select an IFA based on an initial meeting, and that's assuming you can get a decent face to face meeting.

A neighbour recently told me she had not managed to secure any face to face meetings with a potential IFA. The best she managed was one short video call and one phone call, both of whom she described as "disinterested", and one also managed to come across as "a bit creepy"!  A search on AdviserLink shows just one independent IFA in our town. Extend the search to 15 miles and there are just nine and she tried eight of them. Seems we live in an IFA desert. 
. 

TheBanker

boingy said:

dunstonh said:

The problem with word of mouth recommendations for IFAs is that they are almost certainly being made by people who don't understand what they are investing in. So how can they know that the IFA is any good?

Someone posted on our community Facebook just tonight asking for an adviser. Most of the responses are for the SJP sales rep.

Facebook and the Internet definitely does not count as word of mouth.

Someone asked for IFA recommednations on our local Facebook. The 'recommendations' included a firm of estate agents, a firm of accountants, a high street bank, opening a Trading121 S&S ISA (with a helpful referral link), and putting all their money into Crypto(!). I hope the person did not follow any of the 'advice' given!