Do You Need Financial Advice? When To Get It, When Not To Get It Discussion Area

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  • fairleads
    fairleads Posts: 595 Forumite
    edited 8 August 2011 at 9:55AM
    Reaper,
    Unfortunately, it is not unknown for fund manco to re-rebate some or all of this upfront fee/charge/commission back to a platform broker/IFA/FA
  • bristolian
    bristolian Posts: 14 Forumite
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    Thanks dunstonh
  • bristolian
    bristolian Posts: 14 Forumite
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    I found another site which lets you search for IFAs and often complements the information on unbiased.co.uk's IFA search

    MSE won't let me post the link but search for the 'Institute of financial planning'
  • Aegis
    Aegis Posts: 5,688 Forumite
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    bristolian wrote: »
    I found another site which lets you search for IFAs and often complements the information on unbiased.co.uk's IFA search

    MSE won't let me post the link but search for the 'Institute of financial planning'
    Bear in mind that the Institute of Financial Planning, as far as I'm aware, only shows results for its members. As they offer one of several higher-than-required qualifications, you may well exclude some IFAs who are perfectly capable of dealing with your enquiry if you use such a database.
    I am a Chartered Financial Planner
    Anything I say on the forum is for discussion purposes only and should not be construed as personal financial advice. It is vitally important to do your own research before acting on information gathered from any users on this forum.
  • bristolian
    bristolian Posts: 14 Forumite
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    Suppose I have £100k to invest. If my IFA charges me a percentage of that, say 2%, why would I not tell him I have £10k to invest, then
    invest the other £90k in the same way, through a discount broker, and pay the IFA a much lower fee? I can't see how a percentage fee system works for IFAs. Am I missing something?
  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 116,252 Forumite
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    edited 9 August 2011 at 12:52PM
    The CII have the largest number of advisers. So, any filter that doesnt include their exams is going to eliminate most.

    The unbiased website is a pain for qualifications. Let say you want a pensions income specialist. If you choose exam G60 then it will only show those with G60. It will not show those with J05 (the G60 replacement). Also, getting exams updated on unbiased is a slow process. I notified them of further exams a long time ago and despite getting the acknowledgement email, my qualifications haven't been updated. Looking at a number of the other local IFAs, their qualifications are not showing either.

    Suppose I have £100k to invest. If my IFA charges me a percentage of that, say 2%, why would I not tell him I have £10k to invest, then
    invest the other £90k in the same way, through a discount broker, and pay the IFA a much lower fee? I can't see how a percentage fee system works for IFAs. Am I missing something?

    1 - Discount broker may not have access to same platform.
    2 - You will lose any ongong servicing is the servicing agent will be changed to the discount broker
    3 - you will not get any consumer protection on the 90k
    4 - the adviser will base their advice on you investing 10k and not 100k (so different investments)

    Where I use the percentage method for fees, I have a minimum and maximum fee. That way you avoid this scenario.
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
  • bristolian
    bristolian Posts: 14 Forumite
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    Aegis wrote: »
    Bear in mind that the Institute of Financial Planning, as far as I'm aware, only shows results for its members. As they offer one of several higher-than-required qualifications, you may well exclude some IFAs who are perfectly capable of dealing with your enquiry if you use such a database.

    Thanks. Their list does seem to consist of people with lots of qualifications. And it's not that it's better than unbiased.co.uk's list. Often the two lists have different information on the same individual, so looking at both can be useful.
  • jem16
    jem16 Posts: 19,397 Forumite
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    bristolian wrote: »
    Suppose I have £100k to invest. If my IFA charges me a percentage of that, say 2%, why would I not tell him I have £10k to invest, then invest the other £90k in the same way, through a discount broker, and pay the IFA a much lower fee? I can't see how a percentage fee system works for IFAs. Am I missing something?

    You would probably find the IFA would not be interested in you if you only had £10k to invest as £100k is probably about the minimum unless there is prior business or a family connection.

    If they were interested you would probably also find that the percentage would be higher for small amounts than for larger amounts.
  • bristolian
    bristolian Posts: 14 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    dunstonh wrote: »
    ...The unbiased website is a pain for qualifications. Let say you want a pensions income specialist. If you choose exam G60 then it will only show those with G60. It will not show those with J05 (the G60 replacement).

    What a headache!
    dunstonh wrote: »
    Also, getting exams updated on unbiased is a slow process. I notified them of further exams a long time ago and despite getting the acknowledgement email, my qualifications haven't been updated. Looking at a number of the other local IFAs, their qualifications are not showing either.

    I found one IFA who is listed with two companies on unbiased. With the first his qualifications are A, B and C, and with the other they're A, D and E.

    dunstonh wrote: »
    1 - Discount broker may not have access to same platform.
    2 - You will lose any ongong servicing is the servicing agent will be changed to the discount broker
    3 - you will not get any consumer protection on the 90k
    4 - the adviser will base their advice on you investing 10k and not 100k (so different investments)

    For 2, do you mean there would not be an ongoing review of the portfolio allocation? I get the other reasons. For 4, I guess your attitude to risk differs depending on whether you have 10 or 100 to invest.

    Thanks!
    dunstonh wrote: »
    Where I use the percentage method for fees, I have a minimum and maximum fee. That way you avoid this scenario.

    That makes sense.
  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 116,252 Forumite
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    For 2, do you mean there would not be an ongoing review of the portfolio allocation? I get the other reasons. For 4, I guess your attitude to risk differs depending on whether you have 10 or 100 to invest.

    For 2, you would not get any on-going reviews as the IFA would not have access to the investments any more. So, they cant rebalance and review the investments.

    For 4, smaller investments usually get a different type of investment than larger ones. You couldnt realistically build a portfolio with £10k but you can with £100k.
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
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