Unbiased and IFA. ??

6022tivo

I put some details into Unbiased and now I have multiple calls and texts from a IFA who was allocated for me. 

Not feeling very happy with it to be honest. 
I feel if I get my free home visit, I'm going to get hassle to move into funds that get advised based on the standard risk profile I decide. 

Is there better options, I just want thoughts and advice that my pension and savings are kinda in the right places, and advice on when happens when I'm 57 and can get hold of some of it? 

El_Torro

I used Unbiased some months ago and spoke to an IFA I found there. After various online meetings (no physical meetings) the conclusion from the IFA was that they couldn't really add much value to what I was already doing. I would say there wasn't a hard sell. Of course different IFAs will have different approaches, I may have been lucky to find one that wasn't just trying to make a quick buck. 

Another option would be for you to just do an internet search for IFAs that are based relatively local to you. You don't need to use Unbiased for this.

Eyeful

1. Are you sure he is an IFA & not just an FA. 
(a) IFA is supposed to work for you. Is independent & looks at the whole of the market.
(b) FA works for their employer. Is restricted on what they can offer you.

2. Did you ask them directly if they are an IFA.

3. Suggest you read through this Which? article. They point to other places than Unbiased you can look at.
https://www.which.co.uk/money/investing/financial-advice/how-to-find-a-financial-adviser-afZ375F6BIiC

4. Who exactly "allocated this IFA to you". 

5. May be these will be of help to you:
https://adviserbook.co.uk/
https://www.ifawebpro.com/ifa-online-directories.php

6. May be of interest to you:
(a) https://www.youtube.com/@Pensioncraft/search?query=pensions
(b) https://www.youtube.com/@JamesShack/search?query=Pensions
(c) https://www.kroijer.com/

6022tivo

Eyeful said:

1. Are you sure he is an IFA & not just an FA. 
(a) IFA is supposed to work for you. Is independent & looks at the whole of the market.
(b) FA works for their employer. Is restricted on what they can offer you.

2. Did you ask them directly if they are an IFA.

3. Suggest you read through this Which? article. They point to other places than Unbiased you can look at.
https://www.which.co.uk/money/investing/financial-advice/how-to-find-a-financial-adviser-afZ375F6BIiC

4. Who exactly "allocated this IFA to you". 

5. May be these will be of help to you:
https://adviserbook.co.uk/
https://www.ifawebpro.com/ifa-online-directories.php

6. May be of interest to you:
(a) https://www.youtube.com/@Pensioncraft/search?query=pensions
(b) https://www.youtube.com/@JamesShack/search?query=Pensions
(c) https://www.kroijer.com/

He is an IFA (He's signed is responses this way)
I will look at the which article, thanks. 
I filled in all the details on Unbiased and within 5 minutes he was ringing and texting me, 

masonic

Unbiased used to be a good place to find an IFA. However, I believe that stopped a while ago and now it is more of a marketing tool for all sorts of firms, including restricted advisers, who pay to get leads from people who put their details in, as you have done. Firms can pay to be matched in priority to other firms. So yes, expect to open yourself up to direct marketing calls when you use the service.

6022tivo

masonic said:

Unbiased used to be a good place to find an IFA. However, I believe that stopped a while ago and now it is more of a marketing tool for all sorts of firms, including restricted advisers, who pay to get leads from people who put their details in, as you have done. Firms can pay to be matched in priority to other firms. So yes, expect to open yourself up to direct marketing calls when you use the service.

That would explain he's probably a bit frustrated that he's paid for a lead based on the values I put into the unbiased and he's not getting anything. 

dunstonh

I put some details into Unbiased and now I have multiple calls and texts from a IFA who was allocated for me. 

Unbiased started out as an IFA directory.  About a decade ago it changed into a lead generation site where the adviser firm buys the leads.   Then a couple of years ago, it basically priced out all small IFA firms to focus on the national and regional firms and allowed FAs to be listed to.

I feel if I get my free home visit, I'm going to get hassle to move into funds that get advised based on the standard risk profile I decide. 

You are mixing up FAs and IFAs.  With FAs, you select. With IFAs, they recommend.

Is there better options, I just want thoughts and advice that my pension and savings are kinda in the right places, and advice on when happens when I'm 57 and can get hold of some of it? 

You can still use unbiased but you have to select the directory instead of putting yourself through as a lead.

Select the "browse adviser directory" link

Then input your postcode etc.   Initially, you will get the firms that have paidfor entries on the site.  Ignore those and do not press the "start enquiry" button.   Instead, go to the bottom of the page and unselect the following:

You will then get all the small local independent IFAs listed.  You will notice that they do not have a "start enquiry" button but a "view profile" button.  You can click on those to get the company address.  Unbiased wont give the telephone number as they dont want you to use small independent firms.  So, you will need to look that up but at least you will have the names and address of the local independents and not the national or regional salesforces.

I filled in all the details on Unbiased and within 5 minutes he was ringing and texting me, 

That is the lead generation part of unbiased.  

6022tivo

Thank you @dunstonh
Really good information and I've done as you've posted to get a list rather than what I did previously to get contacted. 

So from the list, I should concentrate on FCA Verified and Independent. 
They have minimum pension values listed, not sure what is the best here, a smaller value suggests more desperate for clients, but on the other hand, not afraid to handle smaller portfolios, or a higher value showing they attract and only want larger customers, and therefore larger fees? 

The clients helped could be a good indicator? Although they correlate to the number of staff in most cases. 

dunstonh

So from the list, I should concentrate on FCA Verified and Independent. 

You will probably find most of the ones that appeared when you unticked are the small, local IFAs firms.    

FCA verified means unbiased has checked the FCA number is on the FCA register.     It doesn't mean the firm is active, though. I found a firm that ceased trading 7 years earlier was still listed.
Unbiased doesn't check the independent status.  It's a self-declared field.

They have minimum pension values listed, not sure what is the best here, a smaller value suggests more desperate for clients, but on the other hand, not afraid to handle smaller portfolios, or a higher value showing they attract and only want larger customers, and therefore larger fees? 

Don't read too much into that as it can mean different things.
a) those that are not paying unbiased probably haven't updated theirs in very many years (possibly over a decade).    
b) General practitioner IFAs tend to have lower values than wealth management firms.  (the latter tend not to like transactional advice whereas the former doesn't mind).
c) city firms tend to want to focus on higher net worth to reflect their higher costs.  Rural firms have less cost pressure.
d) Most IFAs are operating at or above capacity most of the year, but will have windows when it's less busy.

The clients helped could be a good indicator? Although they correlate to the number of staff in most cases. 

No.  I hadn't seen that before, and it appears it's the lead generation side.   So, you would expect non-paying firms to be <10.
i.e. if you use the enquiry button, that generates the lead to the firm and unbiased log that as a client helped.

It's figure manipulation.
I  clicked on a paying firm that is a large regional one, and it had 190.  I then clicked on a national that has an entry in every postcode, and it had 8682.   I then clicked on a different town for that same firm, and it had 8682 again.   Nationals don't have advisers in every postcode, and many don't have advisers anywhere near and are effectively travelling salesmen.  I checked on another FA national that appears in every postcode and they had over 35,000.   

The client's helped figure is to help steer people towards the national firms that pay the big money to be unbiased.