Choosing an IFA

ggmf

My IFA was acquired (he sold out) to Ascot Lloyd. They have increased my ongoing charges to 0.85% from 0.75%, and I've been dropped to tier level 1, which I'm not happy about.

I've been waiting 8 weeks now for my report and any recommendations or portfolio amendments from my annual review.

ali_bear

I am surprised at how many there are in my local area. Thank you dunstonh 

Groover24

dunstonh said:

Where would I find the local businesses? Good old Yellow Pages? The ones I do find seem, as you suggest, to be part of a bigger group

You are finding the larger salesforces because they are the ones willing to pay the massive fees to be on the listing sites.    

Go to https://www.unbiased.co.uk/

Click on the pension advisers near me:  (not the orange box that draws your attention, the one below it)


Once you input your postcode and value, the initial list will be all the firms paying large amounts to appear on hte list.  If its like my area, that means mostly salesforces and wealth management firms.

However, if you scroll to the bottom of the page, there is a tickbox:


That text is a lie.    It is ticked by default and what it should say is "show only advisers that have paid to be in the list".   If you untick it, the list will include most of the other local advice firms.     Those firms are available for you to contact.  They just haven't paid unbiased to contact via their software.

25 years ago, we paid nothing to be listed when it was just a directory for IFAs.    Around 15 years ago it cost about £250 a year, 10 years ago it was £480 a year.     Then they decided to switch from being a directory to a lead generation site and now its about £3000 per month for a nationwide entry that cost £40pm 10 years ago.
Hence why most small firms no longer appear on there unless you untick that box.

See if you get more local small firms appearing if you do the above.

I followed this but not many (if any) appear to be new listings. The search continues!


Would it be reasonable to charge for a proposal before any commitment to go with an adviser? Looking at some they want 2 or 3% of the fund value irrespective of if you proceed.

MeteredOut

Groover24 said:

dunstonh said:

Where would I find the local businesses? Good old Yellow Pages? The ones I do find seem, as you suggest, to be part of a bigger group

You are finding the larger salesforces because they are the ones willing to pay the massive fees to be on the listing sites.    

Go to https://www.unbiased.co.uk/

Click on the pension advisers near me:  (not the orange box that draws your attention, the one below it)


Once you input your postcode and value, the initial list will be all the firms paying large amounts to appear on hte list.  If its like my area, that means mostly salesforces and wealth management firms.

However, if you scroll to the bottom of the page, there is a tickbox:


That text is a lie.    It is ticked by default and what it should say is "show only advisers that have paid to be in the list".   If you untick it, the list will include most of the other local advice firms.     Those firms are available for you to contact.  They just haven't paid unbiased to contact via their software.

25 years ago, we paid nothing to be listed when it was just a directory for IFAs.    Around 15 years ago it cost about £250 a year, 10 years ago it was £480 a year.     Then they decided to switch from being a directory to a lead generation site and now its about £3000 per month for a nationwide entry that cost £40pm 10 years ago.
Hence why most small firms no longer appear on there unless you untick that box.

See if you get more local small firms appearing if you do the above.

I followed this but not many (if any) appear to be new listings. The search continues!


Would it be reasonable to charge for a proposal before any commitment to go with an adviser? Looking at some they want 2 or 3% of the fund value irrespective of if you proceed.

You may want to consider an IFA who works on a transactional basis. They give you advice, you pay for it, and you can then decide to go ahead with it or not. If you go ahead with it with that IFA, you'd incur further charges. Or, you could take that advice and implement it yourself or with another IFA (if you can find one willing to do that).

Albermarle

Groover24 said:

dunstonh said:

Where would I find the local businesses? Good old Yellow Pages? The ones I do find seem, as you suggest, to be part of a bigger group

You are finding the larger salesforces because they are the ones willing to pay the massive fees to be on the listing sites.    

Go to https://www.unbiased.co.uk/

Click on the pension advisers near me:  (not the orange box that draws your attention, the one below it)


Once you input your postcode and value, the initial list will be all the firms paying large amounts to appear on hte list.  If its like my area, that means mostly salesforces and wealth management firms.

However, if you scroll to the bottom of the page, there is a tickbox:


That text is a lie.    It is ticked by default and what it should say is "show only advisers that have paid to be in the list".   If you untick it, the list will include most of the other local advice firms.     Those firms are available for you to contact.  They just haven't paid unbiased to contact via their software.

25 years ago, we paid nothing to be listed when it was just a directory for IFAs.    Around 15 years ago it cost about £250 a year, 10 years ago it was £480 a year.     Then they decided to switch from being a directory to a lead generation site and now its about £3000 per month for a nationwide entry that cost £40pm 10 years ago.
Hence why most small firms no longer appear on there unless you untick that box.

See if you get more local small firms appearing if you do the above.

I followed this but not many (if any) appear to be new listings. The search continues!


Would it be reasonable to charge for a proposal before any commitment to go with an adviser? Looking at some they want 2 or 3% of the fund value irrespective of if you proceed.

The usual scenario is that you have an initial chat, which is free.
As well as seeing how you get on, there will be some limited exchange of information and some loose ideas about the way forward.
If the IFA wants your business, then will send you a quote/proposal in writing with their terms of business, prices etc.
Then you have to decide whether to accept, refuse, or negotiate.

This is the normal practice as I understand it, but I guess individual IFA's may deviate from that.

dunstonh

Groover24 said:

dunstonh said:

Where would I find the local businesses? Good old Yellow Pages? The ones I do find seem, as you suggest, to be part of a bigger group

You are finding the larger salesforces because they are the ones willing to pay the massive fees to be on the listing sites.    

Go to https://www.unbiased.co.uk/

Click on the pension advisers near me:  (not the orange box that draws your attention, the one below it)


Once you input your postcode and value, the initial list will be all the firms paying large amounts to appear on hte list.  If its like my area, that means mostly salesforces and wealth management firms.

However, if you scroll to the bottom of the page, there is a tickbox:


That text is a lie.    It is ticked by default and what it should say is "show only advisers that have paid to be in the list".   If you untick it, the list will include most of the other local advice firms.     Those firms are available for you to contact.  They just haven't paid unbiased to contact via their software.

25 years ago, we paid nothing to be listed when it was just a directory for IFAs.    Around 15 years ago it cost about £250 a year, 10 years ago it was £480 a year.     Then they decided to switch from being a directory to a lead generation site and now its about £3000 per month for a nationwide entry that cost £40pm 10 years ago.
Hence why most small firms no longer appear on there unless you untick that box.

See if you get more local small firms appearing if you do the above.

I followed this but not many (if any) appear to be new listings. The search continues!


Would it be reasonable to charge for a proposal before any commitment to go with an adviser? Looking at some they want 2 or 3% of the fund value irrespective of if you proceed.

You must be in a very very rural area for no new listings to appear.       When I do it in my postcode, virtually all the listings in the first two pages change to show the independent IFAs and not the national/regionals.

It is absolutely reasonable for a professional to be paid for the work you employed them to do.     The work an adviser does is to provide advice.     That is what you are buying.      If you choose to ignore the advice or employ multiple advisers to give advice, then each should be paid for their time.

xylophone

Had you tried

https://adviserbook.co.uk/

Tick "confirmed independent" and other options required when menu comes up.

wjr4

Groover24 said:

dunstonh said:

Where would I find the local businesses? Good old Yellow Pages? The ones I do find seem, as you suggest, to be part of a bigger group

You are finding the larger salesforces because they are the ones willing to pay the massive fees to be on the listing sites.    

Go to https://www.unbiased.co.uk/

Click on the pension advisers near me:  (not the orange box that draws your attention, the one below it)


Once you input your postcode and value, the initial list will be all the firms paying large amounts to appear on hte list.  If its like my area, that means mostly salesforces and wealth management firms.

However, if you scroll to the bottom of the page, there is a tickbox:


That text is a lie.    It is ticked by default and what it should say is "show only advisers that have paid to be in the list".   If you untick it, the list will include most of the other local advice firms.     Those firms are available for you to contact.  They just haven't paid unbiased to contact via their software.

25 years ago, we paid nothing to be listed when it was just a directory for IFAs.    Around 15 years ago it cost about £250 a year, 10 years ago it was £480 a year.     Then they decided to switch from being a directory to a lead generation site and now its about £3000 per month for a nationwide entry that cost £40pm 10 years ago.
Hence why most small firms no longer appear on there unless you untick that box.

See if you get more local small firms appearing if you do the above.

I followed this but not many (if any) appear to be new listings. The search continues!


Would it be reasonable to charge for a proposal before any commitment to go with an adviser? Looking at some they want 2 or 3% of the fund value irrespective of if you proceed.

Would you hire a builder and decide not to pay them at the end as you didn’t like the work they completed for you?

ali_bear

Common practice for professionals in other walks of life is they give you an initial consultation for free. This involves them finding out about the details of what you need or want, followed by them telling you what is possible and what they recommend, and what you would be paying for that service. 

Hoenir

wjr4 said:

Groover24 said:

dunstonh said:

Where would I find the local businesses? Good old Yellow Pages? The ones I do find seem, as you suggest, to be part of a bigger group

You are finding the larger salesforces because they are the ones willing to pay the massive fees to be on the listing sites.    

Go to https://www.unbiased.co.uk/

Click on the pension advisers near me:  (not the orange box that draws your attention, the one below it)


Once you input your postcode and value, the initial list will be all the firms paying large amounts to appear on hte list.  If its like my area, that means mostly salesforces and wealth management firms.

However, if you scroll to the bottom of the page, there is a tickbox:


That text is a lie.    It is ticked by default and what it should say is "show only advisers that have paid to be in the list".   If you untick it, the list will include most of the other local advice firms.     Those firms are available for you to contact.  They just haven't paid unbiased to contact via their software.

25 years ago, we paid nothing to be listed when it was just a directory for IFAs.    Around 15 years ago it cost about £250 a year, 10 years ago it was £480 a year.     Then they decided to switch from being a directory to a lead generation site and now its about £3000 per month for a nationwide entry that cost £40pm 10 years ago.
Hence why most small firms no longer appear on there unless you untick that box.

See if you get more local small firms appearing if you do the above.

I followed this but not many (if any) appear to be new listings. The search continues!


Would it be reasonable to charge for a proposal before any commitment to go with an adviser? Looking at some they want 2 or 3% of the fund value irrespective of if you proceed.

Would you hire a builder and decide not to pay them at the end as you didn’t like the work they completed for you?

Builders generally require upfront payment for materials specific to your job. 

Solicitors may give free 30 minute consultations. Once you get into detailed conversations their chargeable time clock starts ticking.  Whether the client wishes to act upon their advice is outside their control. They've still got the office running costs and their salaries to pay.