Do we need a financial advisor?

niftythrifty33

Hello, I'm not sure whether I should be posting in here or in the savings channel as it involves both. We are very early 50's with mortgage paid off and some savings.

My question is, should we have a financial advisor when it comes to retirement planning? It's a bit of a minefield working out our forecast. I'm happy to learn everything I need to but do most of you pay a financial advisor to do this? 

Thanks in advance

Moonwolf

I don't have one.  I have learned what I need from the very kind and helpful people one here.  Either by asking the right questions, or the wrong questions and being told they are the wrong questions.

Also just by reading the forum.

However, I might well have been better off if I had had one in the early days and not made the mistakes I made.  There is a lot to wade through, and just making decisions on which funds to invest in is very daunting.

Mark_d

This should be enough:

https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pension-wise

Marcon

niftythrifty33 said:

Hello, I'm not sure whether I should be posting in here or in the savings channel as it involves both. We are very early 50's with mortgage paid off and some savings.

My question is, should we have a financial advisor when it comes to retirement planning? It's a bit of a minefield working out our forecast. I'm happy to learn everything I need to but do most of you pay a financial advisor to do this? 

Thanks in advance

Do you need advice, or just information - or aren't you sure(!)?

Start by reading up on pensions from reliable sources such as the literature from your employer/pension provider(s), and the link given in the post above.

Then consider whether you really do need advice, and whether that is on a one-off basis, or ongoing. Sometimes meeting up with a good IFA (and make sure they are independent, so they can advise on the whole or market, as opposed to FAs who are restricted to products from a much smaller range) is an excellent investment; other times it's a waste of time and money, especially if the amounts involved are so small that the adviser has no real chance to add value. An initial meeting (almost invariably free) will give both parties an opportunity to assess the situation, but don't expect actual advice - the IFA simply won't know enough about you to do more than consider whether they can help you.

dunstonh

Do we need a financial advisor?

There are very few areas of financial services where you need an IFA (I assume you mean IFA and not FA as you shouldn't use an FA).   However, there are plenty of areas where you may want an IFA.

It all comes down to whether you want to DIY or get a professional to do it.  No different from every other thing in life.

Albermarle

Moonwolf said:

I don't have one.  I have learned what I need from the very kind and helpful people one here.  Either by asking the right questions, or the wrong questions and being told they are the wrong questions.

Also just by reading the forum.

However, I might well have been better off if I had had one in the early days and not made the mistakes I made.  There is a lot to wade through, and just making decisions on which funds to invest in is very daunting.

OP - If you follow the advice in bold, then you will see questions like yours come up regularly, with often a lot of ( usually) sensible answers. Also there are people who have advisors and wonder whether they should keep with them or not.
For sure there is no black and white answer !

Hello, I'm not sure whether I should be posting in here or in the savings channel as it involves both.

They tend to be a bit interchangeable, so probably best to read through both !

niftythrifty33

Thanks for the good advice. @Moonwolf do you mind explaining what mistakes you made, no problem if it's too personal.

@Marcon I think we just need someone to look at our pensions and tell us how much we'd get at different ages of retirement and how much difference it would make to pay in extra (or not). Also, whether to put our savings into something other than a savings account. We don't have much so I think I could work that out myself but the pension/retirement forecast seems really complicated.

Albermarle

Thread may be of interest. As I said it is a regular topic.
Bundling our pensions and giving the lot to Schroders Personal Wealth - yes or no? - Page 2 — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Bostonerimus1

Having a paid off mortgage by 50 shows that you have some financial skills, so why do you think you need an IFA? Is it perceived lack of ability or knowledge, or just needing a hand to hold? What are you doing for your pensions and ISAs right now?

gm0

DIY resources:

People on forums seem to like Tim Hale's books (not read this one myself)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Smarter-Investing-Simpler-Decisions-Results/dp/0273722077

I enjoyed:

Bernstein: Four Pillars of Investing (new version).  And Rational Expectations (asset classes, characteristics and allocation focus)

Michael McClung "Living off your money" (Pension drawdown focus) - very heavy on access mechanics of managing a pot in deaccumulation.

Malkiel - A random walk down wall street - general investing

Those don't have much to say on detailed UK tax planning or specific wrinkles of implementation.

Books older than the Global financial crash and Modern Portfolio Theory or QE. May of course be obsolete perspectives to be ignored or they may be timeless wisdom - yet out of fashion for a spell - according to who you ask

On the web

Monevator was/is a useful source on point topics. But has become subbed for some content.
Occasionally PensionCraft videos
EarlyRetirmentNow (ERN) blog.  

Looking for undisputed "here is the answer do this" is a fools errand. 

What you will find here are some ideas and evidence and arguments for them.  And some other perspectives around the next corner.  There is a lot of clickbait noise around the investing topic on the internet

Good luck

Marcon

niftythrifty33 said:

Thanks for the good advice. @Moonwolf do you mind explaining what mistakes you made, no problem if it's too personal.

@Marcon I think we just need someone to look at our pensions and tell us how much we'd get at different ages of retirement and how much difference it would make to pay in extra (or not). Also, whether to put our savings into something other than a savings account. We don't have much so I think I could work that out myself but the pension/retirement forecast seems really complicated.

They won't be able to tell you anything you can't get for yourself, even if it feels a bit complicated. They certainly won't be able to predict the future and tell you what you'll get!

 If you have defined benefit schemes (aka final salary/CARE), the scheme administrators will be able to give you some projections - which is all an IFA would be able to do, except they'd charge you for it (quite reasonably, since they'd be spending time doing it). If you have defined contribution (DC) pensions, look and see if there is some sort of 'modeller' on the provider's website which will enable you to put in different retirement ages/contribution amounts and get an idea that way.

Or try https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pensions-basics/pension-calculator

Where an IFA might earn their keep would be if you have DC pensions and need help to choose the funds in which to invest within your pension plan.