Employer financial advice benefit/perk

noclaf

My employer offers a 'financial advice account' benefit whereby employees can contribute £10-£50 per month and the employer adds a 50% match to whatever figure you contribute. The employee is then permitted to use the funds to pay for financial advice but must be an FCA registered advisor. The contributions are subject to income tax and NI.

I am pondering if it's worthwhile using this benefit based on my circumstances( see 'current situation' below) so would appreciate any thoughts/input. Not interested in any type of 'ongoing' or managed service....strictly a one-off review as there might be some tricks I am missing, ideas/awareness from an investing perspective. Or based on my profile is this a waste of time and money at this point in time?  I won't be touching SJP or similar with a bargepole but then finding a good IFA may not be easy even if I do go down this route...assuming they would be doing this type of one-off consultation.

I have never considered needing advice...maybe when am closer to retirement tax planning/inheritance aspects etc

Current situation:
Early 40's, DIY manage SIPP, work pension, S&SISA and JISA..I am quite in the weeds and think I have optimised fees/platforms using core/satellite approach with mainly ETF's ...probably a few hit and miss selections on my part but generally play it safe by sticking majority in a big well established global equity ETF and then build around it. 

Wife has no interest in investing, I need to review her old pensions and tweak accordingly.

jimjames

If you're already doing those things and part of communities like this then I really can't see the benefit. You might get 50% top up but you're still having to pay for the advice and I can't imagine £10 per month will get you very far for a long time.

noclaf

jimjames said:

If you're already doing those things and part of communities like this then I really can't see the benefit.

My thought process is along similar lines i.e: how much more benefit could there be...and if it's just a case of an advisor looking at my portfolio and saying you have X % allocated here and Y there and confirming/validating the risk profile then not much value added. 

granta

Can you just sign up to the plan for a bit to get one session or two and then stop the subscription?

jimjames

granta said:

Can you just sign up to the plan for a bit to get one session or two and then stop the subscription?

What advice would £20 get you for example? I was assuming it wasn't a subscription for advice but a pot that could be used once you have enough saved up. Maybe @noclaf can clarify what the offer was?

granta

jimjames said:

granta said:

Can you just sign up to the plan for a bit to get one session or two and then stop the subscription?

What advice would £20 get you for example? I was assuming it wasn't a subscription for advice but a pot that could be used once you have enough saved up. Maybe @noclaf can clarify what the offer was?

Good point, I thought it might be a different type of service if there was a monthly payment. £20 might buy you an empty row in Excel!

noclaf

granta said:

jimjames said:

granta said:

Can you just sign up to the plan for a bit to get one session or two and then stop the subscription?

What advice would £20 get you for example? I was assuming it wasn't a subscription for advice but a pot that could be used once you have enough saved up. Maybe @noclaf can clarify what the offer was?

Good point, I thought it might be a different type of service if there was a monthly payment. £20 might buy you an empty row in Excel!

Not a subscription- based setup unfortunately. 

The idea it seems is that you contribute monthly and employer adds their 50% then you can use the total 'pot' at any point towards payment for a financial advisor.....given the amounts involved would think it would take quite a while to build up anything meaningful Vs the rates for an IFA consultation? (I have no idea of typical or average rates to be honest).

 There is some flexibility whereby even if your total pot is say £100 but you need to pay for example £400 in total for the consultation you can use it towards the total cost....but I would need to cover shortfall..or wait till pot was big enough.

Re. £20....not sure I would even get a row ..maybe a single cell on a tab

granta

noclaf said:

granta said:

jimjames said:

granta said:

Can you just sign up to the plan for a bit to get one session or two and then stop the subscription?

What advice would £20 get you for example? I was assuming it wasn't a subscription for advice but a pot that could be used once you have enough saved up. Maybe @noclaf can clarify what the offer was?

Good point, I thought it might be a different type of service if there was a monthly payment. £20 might buy you an empty row in Excel!

Not a subscription- based setup unfortunately. 

The idea it seems is that you contribute monthly and employer adds their 50% then you can use the total 'pot' at any point towards payment for a financial advisor.....given the amounts involved would think it would take quite a while to build up anything meaningful Vs the rates for an IFA consultation? (I have no idea of typical or average rates to be honest). 

Re. £20....not sure I would even get a row ..maybe a single cell on a tab

Interesting! I have not come across anything like that. Do they have a price menu of what a lump sum can buy you? A junior stylist or a top notch hair colourist?!

400ixl

Is it with an IFA or as many of these company schemes are with FA's restricted to advice based on their employer.

saajan_12

Effectively you're still paying 60-73% of the cost depending on your tax band.
(say you put in £50, the employer put in £50, but that's taxable at 20%-45% ie £10-£22.5 tax, meaning the cost to you is £60-72.5)

Would you pay for financial advice with a 27-40% discount? What would you ask them in an hour that might change your actions? 

noclaf

saajan_12 said:

Would you pay for financial advice with a 27-40% discount? What would you ask them in an hour that might change your actions? 

If they can tell me the exact funds/ETF's combo that will send my overall portfolio value into the stratosphere and stay there that would be perfect