IFA to DIY - Thank you forumites

artyboy

ali_bear said:

It is pretty eye watering what I pay Aviva each year just to hold my funds.

Is that because it's a workplace pension or something that you are tied into? 

ali_bear

Not yet retired  no TBF it is a reasonable annual fee, it's just a bit painful to look at it on the statement. 

Ibrahim5

I think 'DIY' is a very interesting term. For me you do it yourself to achieve total perfection. It's your own house or car, bike etc and only you are interested in a perfect job. So DIY is the pinnacle. Others associate it with poorly researched,  poor workmanship eg shelves falling off the wall because they aren't attached properly. So some people think that getting other people to do work for them is always better.

ali_bear

It is definitely better, for example to hire a barrister if you are up in court. And you wouldn't attempt to remove your own appendix would you. 

Ibrahim5

With money management there are no practical skills to learn which makes it very easy. It's not like surgery or putting a performance on at court.

LHW99

On the other hand, if people have no interest in learning, or are lacking in confidence and would otherwise leave everything in cash (or make very unwise investments through lack of any knowledge) then they are likely to get a better result using an IFA.

And some people just can't be bothered / don't have the time to spend so again, an IFA is likely to be a suitable solution for them.

Freecall

Ibrahim5 said:

I think 'DIY' is a very interesting term. For me you do it yourself to achieve total perfection. It's your own house or car, bike etc and only you are interested in a perfect job. So DIY is the pinnacle. Others associate it with poorly researched,  poor workmanship eg shelves falling off the wall because they aren't attached properly. So some people think that getting other people to do work for them is always better.

I agree.  When it comes to financial matters, I really don't want somebody who is 'unbiased'.

I want a definite bias towards my best interests and for me, that is me.

DT2001

cfw1994 said:

DT2001 said:

dunstonh said:

Reading some of the above, it sounds as though the role is getting harder and that there are less of them.

If you take all types of adviser (as historical data never recorded the different types), at its peak there were over 300,000.   Now its just over 20,000

I always wonder at what point using an IFA becomes viable.

Hargreaves Lansdown is the UK's largest DIY provider by a significant amount.    You regularly see their own brand funds in the top 10 sold list that they publish periodically.        Those funds are expensive.   So, those people who DIY and use those are likely not to be saving money even though they think they have cut out a cost.

DIY well and it can save you money. DIY badly and it can be a costly mistake.

Exactly, know your limitations.

But also accept that nothing is perfect.  
There are no guarantees I can manage our funds perfectly (indeed, I am sure I can’t), but there are no guarantees a paid-for advisor would be perfect either.
Friends were telling us last week how their advisor makes their eyes glaze over when he explains things to them…but what a brilliant job he does.  How the heck would they know?!!
I always think there is value in understanding how things work (engineering background 🤪), & that would drive me crazy - I’d be a hopeless client 🤣
I do know that paying for some specific advice can of course make sense.

Good enough is good enough 👍

As the number of summers reduce, if our net worth is more than the year before, the world can keep spinning.  As someone else put it, going DIY will likely reduce the amount you “need” to make on investments by not paying an IFA/FA.

& yes, I understand I am probably in a minority (maybe not here) 🤷‍♂️

Life isn’t a dress rehearsal, but an adventure.  Today’s adventure is to hack out the blight from a small box hedge here, then beers with pals I haven’t seen much of for 10 years.  Cheers 🍻

Thank you for your pearls of wisdom. Our goal is achievable with average performance and squeezing our costs (they would have been equal to between a 1/4 and 1/3 of our proposed drawdown) to less than 0.25% (OCF/TER and platform) allows more leeway.

I have a friend who will not invest at all so it is very much horses for courses. We need to continue to educate everyone about finance.

Enjoy your box hedge and beers. I’m off to walk part of the Thames with hydration stops!

GenX0212

cfw1994 said:

DT2001 said:

dunstonh said:

Reading some of the above, it sounds as though the role is getting harder and that there are less of them.

If you take all types of adviser (as historical data never recorded the different types), at its peak there were over 300,000.   Now its just over 20,000

I always wonder at what point using an IFA becomes viable.

Hargreaves Lansdown is the UK's largest DIY provider by a significant amount.    You regularly see their own brand funds in the top 10 sold list that they publish periodically.        Those funds are expensive.   So, those people who DIY and use those are likely not to be saving money even though they think they have cut out a cost.

DIY well and it can save you money. DIY badly and it can be a costly mistake.

Exactly, know your limitations.

But also accept that nothing is perfect.  
There are no guarantees I can manage our funds perfectly (indeed, I am sure I can’t), but there are no guarantees a paid-for advisor would be perfect either.
Friends were telling us last week how their advisor makes their eyes glaze over when he explains things to them…but what a brilliant job he does.  How the heck would they know?!!
I always think there is value in understanding how things work (engineering background 🤪), & that would drive me crazy - I’d be a hopeless client 🤣
I do know that paying for some specific advice can of course make sense.

Good enough is good enough 👍

As the number of summers reduce, if our net worth is more than the year before, the world can keep spinning.  As someone else put it, going DIY will likely reduce the amount you “need” to make on investments by not paying an IFA/FA.

& yes, I understand I am probably in a minority (maybe not here) 🤷‍♂️

Life isn’t a dress rehearsal, but an adventure.  Today’s adventure is to hack out the blight from a small box hedge here, then beers with pals I haven’t seen much of for 10 years.  Cheers 🍻

I don't think I will ever know enough about financial markets to start DIYing a portfolio of investments but I believe I have researched enough to know how to position myself well enough to understand how to be efficient with the monies / sources of funds we have and to not not make daft mistakes removing money from the wrong place at the wrong time. I.e. to maximise tax efficiency.
My company schemes are performing fairly well and have very low fees, they will most likely give me the drawdown flexibility I need, although maybe not the flexibility that others desire. No-one is going to guarantee better returns elsewhere so as long as I'm happy with the returns then why change?
That said my tax affairs are fairly straightforward. No property apart from our home, no intention to leave any money in trust etc, in fact no intention to provision for my kids beyond they can have an equal share of whatever is left when we are both gone.
Circumstances may change in the future meaning I might need some financial advice and if so I will have no issues paying for it if I believe it is needed.

My take-away from my time spent on this forum is that in the majority Financial Advice is advice on organising your finances for efficiency and to best meet your own goals, what it isn't is investment advice to maximise your returns.

GenX0212

Ibrahim5 said:

I think 'DIY' is a very interesting term. For me you do it yourself to achieve total perfection. It's your own house or car, bike etc and only you are interested in a perfect job. So DIY is the pinnacle. Others associate it with poorly researched,  poor workmanship eg shelves falling off the wall because they aren't attached properly. So some people think that getting other people to do work for them is always better.

Not sure I agree. I do a lot of DIY, I don't think I'm too bad at it. I do the jobs that I can do to a standard that is acceptable to myself but I would never claim perfection, never mind total perfection. DIY is about being able to achieve broadly comparable results to having to pay professionals without having to spend the same amount of money that they would want to take from you.