Financial Advice - how much does it cost?

Albermarle

Bostonerimus1 said:

Most people's finances aren't as complicated as the plumbing in their houses - not really a valid comparison I suppose. Anyway, the skills required to manage your finances are some common sense, understanding maths to the level of compound interest and some self-confidence combined with a bit of cynicism to sniff out the "wide boys". I believe most people have the necessary skills or can easily acquire them, but they might not want the bother, don't have the self belief or have swallowed the industry line that it's complicated and you need advice. There will be people with legitimately complicated finances who need help and will benefit from out of the ordinary investment and tax strategies. But for the vast majority of people with pensions, SIPPs, ISAs and some savings the fees for financial advice are just an unnecessary self imposed tax.

I think a poor understanding of basic arithmetic, percentages, averages etc is a problem for many people.
Also peoples understanding of risk is generally quite poor.

GenX0212

Hoenir said:

GenX0212 said:

 Knowing that there would be a level of 'selling' of other products I went in with an open mind but came out shocked that they wanted to charge £300+ for setting up an LPA when it can be done online yourself for £82 and they also wanted to charge £50 per year to store the will, you can do it yourself via the Gov.uk website for a one-off fee of just £22. God only knows what they would have wanted to charge for some actual real advice.

Do you buy tea or coffee when you are out and about. Or do you only drink it at home when you make it for yourself.  Most people could save themselves a fortune over their lives if they chose to do so. 

What has that got to do with anything? I was commenting on my experience with a Financial Advisor trying to sell me services at vastly inflated prices, hoping/assuming they were dealing with someone who didn't know any better and could be pressure sales'd into something. No they weren't an IFA but yes they were offering financial advice and presented themselves accordingly.

..and no generally I don't buy tea and coffee whilst out, although I have been known to buy beer in pubs though.

Bostonerimus1

Albermarle said:

Bostonerimus1 said:

Most people's finances aren't as complicated as the plumbing in their houses - not really a valid comparison I suppose. Anyway, the skills required to manage your finances are some common sense, understanding maths to the level of compound interest and some self-confidence combined with a bit of cynicism to sniff out the "wide boys". I believe most people have the necessary skills or can easily acquire them, but they might not want the bother, don't have the self belief or have swallowed the industry line that it's complicated and you need advice. There will be people with legitimately complicated finances who need help and will benefit from out of the ordinary investment and tax strategies. But for the vast majority of people with pensions, SIPPs, ISAs and some savings the fees for financial advice are just an unnecessary self imposed tax.

I think a poor understanding of basic arithmetic, percentages, averages etc is a problem for many people.
Also peoples understanding of risk is generally quite poor.

Agreed, it's a big annoyance to me that so many people are afraid of maths. I've been at parties where people have said to me that they don't understand maths almost with some pride...I never hear people boast that they are illiterate. The sad thing is that it doesn't need much maths or education to manage your finances. I learned the basic lessons and skills from my Mum who left school at 14 to work in a cotton mill before she married my Dad. 

Nebulous2

Bostonerimus1 said:

Albermarle said:

Bostonerimus1 said:

Most people's finances aren't as complicated as the plumbing in their houses - not really a valid comparison I suppose. Anyway, the skills required to manage your finances are some common sense, understanding maths to the level of compound interest and some self-confidence combined with a bit of cynicism to sniff out the "wide boys". I believe most people have the necessary skills or can easily acquire them, but they might not want the bother, don't have the self belief or have swallowed the industry line that it's complicated and you need advice. There will be people with legitimately complicated finances who need help and will benefit from out of the ordinary investment and tax strategies. But for the vast majority of people with pensions, SIPPs, ISAs and some savings the fees for financial advice are just an unnecessary self imposed tax.

I think a poor understanding of basic arithmetic, percentages, averages etc is a problem for many people.
Also peoples understanding of risk is generally quite poor.

Agreed, it's a big annoyance to me that so many people are afraid of maths. I've been at parties where people have said to me that they don't understand maths almost with some pride...I never hear people boast that they are illiterate. The sad thing is that it doesn't need much maths or education to manage your finances. I learned the basic lessons and skills from my Mum who left school at 14 to work in a cotton mill before she married my Dad. 

Is it maths though? Or do we need to use the word and call it maths? 

My father was (rightly) proud of his arithmetical skills, I remember playing games using calculations in the car, but he wouldn't have called it maths. 

In Scotland we had a maths teacher who taught both, but we had two separate O grades (O level equivalent) arithmetic and maths. 

For many of my peers, the mere use of the word maths, brings up long buried bad memories of quadratic equations and calculus, while they may have good functional numeracy skills.