fiancial adviser

They usually don’t belong to the bank. They are independent and are paid commission by Companies to sell their products. They will try to sell you as much as possible hence the queries about Insurance etc.

I’ve twice tried a Financial Advisor. The first time I went with her advice and it was alright but no better than I could have worked out for myself.

The second time I knew it was bad advice and didn’t take it.

I do not like the sound of yours at all🤔

Give her the heave ho.

busybee6969

We only used an independent financial adviser once years ago and it was not something I'd recommend.
Someone else we know took advice from one attached to a bank and it was disastrous. She was advised to put all her money into stockmarket investments which, at her age, was the wrong thing.

Do some research yourself; government bonds and a cash ISA might be better rather than stockmarket based investments.
It depends on your age, your expectations and what return you want.
Inflation is a problem as interest on savings might not keep up but savings with variable interest rates are available.

Give her the heave ho best advice yet!

thank you thinking the same,sent her an email this morning said was back in bed ill, not up to looking through large boxes of paperwork,was going to get few bits done at home and see what i had left, will get back to her when i feel better ,not heard from her since, bet she thought i was an easy touch,thank you all

2007 my husband had to move his pension pot out of the company as he was retiring. He employed an IFA, we kept him for one year, he did not know that I had had dealings in th financial markets and knew about hedge funds etc.

At the end of that year my husband and I decided that I would take over managing his pension pot and would also at the right stage, vest his pension. The IFA would have had a yearly on-going financial trail, ooos taken from that pot every year

We politely told him that we were cutting ties with him. Me handling that pension pot was a very great success. I looked that IFA up on google a few weeks ago. He was jailed a couple of years later, along with others, as part of a big financial scam.

just to add, that at the end of year one, he suggested investing in various hedge funds. That immediately set alarm bells ringing

That sounds horrendous busybee. Our IFA was recommended by our business accountant and is very good.
We don't take on board all of his suggestions but those we have, have worked well for us.

Any decisions need to be thought through, you shouldn't be rushed and any decent IFA will know this, as well as respecting a risk level that you're comfortable with.

If you are not happy, walk away. If it is a financial adviser for a Bank they are trying to upsell every step of the way. Rather sadly that seems to be how the banks make such vast profits.
I would ask on Social Media, like NextDoor (without giving away too much information of amounts) for people's recommendations for a non-push financial adviser. You'll soon see who is popular.

My dh is a stockbroker/ financial adviser and he refers to the banks as bucket shops. Make sure they are on the Financial Advisors Register.

I worked in a bank for many years and left partly because of the pressure put on staff to make appointments for customers with the financial advisor. The idea was for the advisor to make as much commission as possible.

Busybee, you have made the correct decision to not go back.

We used one from my OH’s bank who was useless, the only good thing was that we didn’t lose money. We went to an IFA recommended by a friend and he has proved to be excellent and has nearly doubled our original investment even though we have taken money out over the years. Ask around your friends for a recommendation and/or warning.

met a lady who is very well off near where i walk my dog know her years asked her if she knew any FA, she said had used same man for 20 years highly good at his job ,got his details , going to get in touch with him,thank you everyone,

I am really glad to hear that, busybee6969.

For most of us who don’t want to take a risk with investments an ISA with a reputable company is going to be suitable and you don’t need an IFA to tell you that.

As I recall BusyBee6969 has about £90K to invest so too much for an ISA. An IFA will be able to advise on best investment for her personal circumstance and minimise any tax due and whether a stocks and shares ISA is better than a cash ISA.

The very last person I would use is a banks IFA choose your own, they will skin you.
No problem with laundering its coming from and going to verified places. First task collect everything together, if there are shares involved you might want to keep them.
Lastly no rush, probate may take 2 yrs easily.

An IFA will continue to take commission for ever.

Not necessarily Callistemon - only if you keep "re-employing" them year after year.

We had one when we had a complex situation. It was a one-off and we agreed we would contact him again if we wanted further advice.

We paid him once for all the initial work and then had a review meeting once everything was in place to see if we wanted to keep him on. We decided no.
Subsequently we haven't needed him.
There are obviously different ways of employing someone to advise you.

I liked him and feel he found what was right for us in spite of us being a bit odd!
I would go back to him if something complex should come up again.

Callistemon21

An IFA will continue to take commission for ever.

absolutely right. Our jailed IFA was found from an official list. He would have had thousands every year from my husbands pension pot. My cost wrt managing (and doubling) his pension pot was just £150 a year plus minimal trading charges

To stop the trail commission,you have to make a complete break with the IFA and cancel every invstment ever made by that IFA, As long as you have the investment then the IFA will get that trail and it could be whole of life

I want to caveat this by explaining I’m an IFA, with my own practice, and have never had a complaint from a client despite being in financial services for over 35 years. I’m affiliated with the Law Society and an associate member of SOLLA (Society of Later Life Advisers) and qualified to Chartered level in Later Life Planning.

Until, and unless, we have agreed a fee, all meetings with a client are on my time and do not carry a cost. I spend time educating a client on risk, volatility and capacity for loss and, together, we agree the most appropriate investment strategy going forward.

If it’s something a client is confident doing without help, then I’ll leave them to their own devices, however, if they want to utilise my knowledge and experience, and have ongoing investment advice, then I charge fees which are agreed upfront in writing.

Most financial advisers are not independent and are either tied or restricted. What that means is if, for example, you go to Barclays or Santander, they’re going to sell you Barclays or Santander products. If a St. James’s Place or Wesleyan adviser comes to your home then they’ll sell you St James’s Place or Wesleyan products, in the main.

A true IFA will have access to the whole market and will be able to recommend not only the best platform (cost isn’t always the main driver but it’s certainly important), but should also be recommending a risk rated, asset allocated portfolio, which utilises the most tax efficient approach for an individual.

They don’t take commissions for this, and haven’t since the end of 2012, but should provide a clear breakdown of costs, including the platform, the fund managers, and their own initial advice fee plus any ongoing advice charges.

Ongoing adviser charges can be switched off at any time and a client has the absolute right to stop using an adviser if they feel there’s no benefit.

I could keep going and add loads of extra information but just wanted to dispel a few of the misconceptions I’ve read above.

karmalady

To stop the trail commission,you have to make a complete break with the IFA and cancel every invstment ever made by that IFA, As long as you have the investment then the IFA will get that trail and it could be whole of life

Apologies for contradicting you but this is wrong for the vast majority of cases.

You can simply switch off the fees which are separate, unless it’s a St James’s Place product, in which case there’s a form you can complete to sever the relationship with the adviser and switch off the ongoing fees.

The only products which have ongoing trail commissions are those which predate the retail distribution review date of 31/12/2012 as everything implemented since then has been fees, rather than commission, based.

If you need help with this I can tell you how to do it without having to surrender or encase all products and, potentially, lose money or create a tax problem.

Callistemon21

An IFA will continue to take commission for ever.

Unless you have policies pre-dating 2012 then they don’t take commissions.

If you’re paying ongoing advice fees you should be having at least annual reviews.

If you’re not having the reviews, switch off the fees.

A good, reputable adviser won’t allow you to pay ongoing fees if they’re not seeing you;

I have switched off the fees for clients who can’t find the time to see me because I don’t want to be paid for a service I’m not delivering!.

Buyer beware and that includes IFAs, many good and a few very bad apples

It is good that fees were introduced in 2012, rather than commission. We actually got rid or our IFA in 2006