Financial Adviser
Discussion
Trying to sort out my pensions, few small pots I want to try to bring together however some of the providers require a positive recommendation from a financial adviser.
Does anybody have a company or person they would recommend? Feel a little uneasy about taking the advice and not really knowing how good they are and the risk of it going wrong so any advice on how to find a good one would be appreciated.
Does anybody have a company or person they would recommend? Feel a little uneasy about taking the advice and not really knowing how good they are and the risk of it going wrong so any advice on how to find a good one would be appreciated.
Cotty said:
Try Keith Churchouse http://chaptersfinancial.com/about
He sorted out my pensions
Out of interest, what were the charges involved?He sorted out my pensions
More broadly: what would folk here recommend you to to help pick an IFA?
I'm moderately loathe to go with friends recommendations - I know this might be a general thing to do, & have done that for 'trades'.... but no-one wants to admit they made a poor financial choice, and I'm not convinced my friends have similar financial things as me (mysterious, eh!!). By that, I mean that I am pretty good at managing my savings/mortgage, I'm thinking more about retirement planning.
So if you picked a list of local ones out of a list, how would you evaluate them?
(or maybe there is no easy answer!)
I'm moderately loathe to go with friends recommendations - I know this might be a general thing to do, & have done that for 'trades'.... but no-one wants to admit they made a poor financial choice, and I'm not convinced my friends have similar financial things as me (mysterious, eh!!). By that, I mean that I am pretty good at managing my savings/mortgage, I'm thinking more about retirement planning.
So if you picked a list of local ones out of a list, how would you evaluate them?
(or maybe there is no easy answer!)
mikeiow said:
More broadly: what would folk here recommend you to to help pick an IFA?
I'm moderately loathe to go with friends recommendations - I know this might be a general thing to do, & have done that for 'trades'.... but no-one wants to admit they made a poor financial choice, and I'm not convinced my friends have similar financial things as me (mysterious, eh!!). By that, I mean that I am pretty good at managing my savings/mortgage, I'm thinking more about retirement planning.
So if you picked a list of local ones out of a list, how would you evaluate them?
(or maybe there is no easy answer!)
Look for chartered status for the firm and the adviser you will be dealing with. Much like other professions this is the gold standard in financial planning and should give you some assurance about the the firm you are dealing with. I'm moderately loathe to go with friends recommendations - I know this might be a general thing to do, & have done that for 'trades'.... but no-one wants to admit they made a poor financial choice, and I'm not convinced my friends have similar financial things as me (mysterious, eh!!). By that, I mean that I am pretty good at managing my savings/mortgage, I'm thinking more about retirement planning.
So if you picked a list of local ones out of a list, how would you evaluate them?
(or maybe there is no easy answer!)
Most people will do an initial consultation for free, you could do this with more than one adviser to see whether you feel comfortable with them before you fully engage. This should be a long term relationship and ultimately you need to trust the person you are assigning responsibility to.
https://www.unbiased.co.uk/ will help you search for local advisers. Do your research, look on the company websites and read a bit about the firm. Ask about charges and do some comparisons. The industry used to have a poor reputation, but regulation has removed a lot of the old guard on and allowed those who are clear and transparent with their charges etc to to do well.
Remember, you are paying for a service, much like if you were to get an solicitor to assist with legal matters or an accountant to handle your taxes.
crouchingpigeon said:
Look for chartered status for the firm and the adviser you will be dealing with. Much like other professions this is the gold standard in financial planning and should give you some assurance about the the firm you are dealing with.
Some may argue Certified Financial Planner is of more benefit.2-3% of the aggragated funds would be a typical charge for the work. This is normally paid directly from your pension funds rather than having to write a cheque. The aim of the IFA is to get your funds under management for the ongoing advice fee, so there is often flexibility on the up-front fee to achieve that.
A pension review is fairly bread and butter for a financial advisor (subject to the pensions being straightforward defined contribution). If any of the pensions are defined benefit (aka final salary), your advisor will need additional qualifications. About 1 in 3 have the relevant permissions to advise on final salary, however not all of those will offer advice on them even though they're able.
This type of advice can easily be done remotely without the need for face to face so local isnt a prerequisite. You can check the FCA register to see the status and history of the firm and the individual advisor.
If your total pot is less than £100k you might find some IFAs are not too interested in you as a client, as there is generally a shortage of IFAs and many are not actively looking for new clients.
Finally, some advisors are 'independent' and others are 'restricted'. These are Financial Conduct Authority defined words. In broad terms for a pension review, I would be asking whether the firm is 'whole of market', as the definitions above can be misleading.
An independent firm, for example, might default between 2 or 3 favourite suppliers (for many reasons, ranging from nicer meals out with the providor's rep to it genuinely being an unbeatable product) whereas a restricted firm might have in reality a wider panel it chooses to use in practice. 'Restricted' is an awful word that unfairly penalises those firms in the minds of the consumer.
I own a business similar to Unbiased that recommends IFAs to consumers, so have some insight (though nothing like as much technical knowledge as the financial advisors on here).
A pension review is fairly bread and butter for a financial advisor (subject to the pensions being straightforward defined contribution). If any of the pensions are defined benefit (aka final salary), your advisor will need additional qualifications. About 1 in 3 have the relevant permissions to advise on final salary, however not all of those will offer advice on them even though they're able.
This type of advice can easily be done remotely without the need for face to face so local isnt a prerequisite. You can check the FCA register to see the status and history of the firm and the individual advisor.
If your total pot is less than £100k you might find some IFAs are not too interested in you as a client, as there is generally a shortage of IFAs and many are not actively looking for new clients.
Finally, some advisors are 'independent' and others are 'restricted'. These are Financial Conduct Authority defined words. In broad terms for a pension review, I would be asking whether the firm is 'whole of market', as the definitions above can be misleading.
An independent firm, for example, might default between 2 or 3 favourite suppliers (for many reasons, ranging from nicer meals out with the providor's rep to it genuinely being an unbeatable product) whereas a restricted firm might have in reality a wider panel it chooses to use in practice. 'Restricted' is an awful word that unfairly penalises those firms in the minds of the consumer.
I own a business similar to Unbiased that recommends IFAs to consumers, so have some insight (though nothing like as much technical knowledge as the financial advisors on here).
)BarryGibb said:
crouchingpigeon said:
Look for chartered status for the firm and the adviser you will be dealing with. Much like other professions this is the gold standard in financial planning and should give you some assurance about the the firm you are dealing with.
Some may argue Certified Financial Planner is of more benefit.DoubleSix said:
Can you give a rough indication of the total value of pots combined OP?
Can't reply for OP, but mine are close enough to the "pot limit" that I am doing sums on "how long" !Thanks for the tips on checking IFAs out...a job here for the next 6 months, I think!
FYI, part of my scepticism stems from a brief chat with an older colleague who moved from our work Friends Life (now/soon Aviva) a year or two back to a company he felt happy with: I'm not convinced he is getting anywhere near the growth returns my pot appears to be......e.g., he reckoned growth was very low, where I am seeing a quarterly average around 5%. Both still paying in to our funds.
Hence why I suspect I'm not doing a bad job "self administering".....but I do appreciate as I approach the point of wanting to draw funds, I am obliged to take advice that will cost me a goodly chunk of the pot!
mikeiow said:
Can't reply for OP, but mine are close enough to the "pot limit" that I am doing sums on "how long" !
Thanks for the tips on checking IFAs out...a job here for the next 6 months, I think!
FYI, part of my scepticism stems from a brief chat with an older colleague who moved from our work Friends Life (now/soon Aviva) a year or two back to a company he felt happy with: I'm not convinced he is getting anywhere near the growth returns my pot appears to be......e.g., he reckoned growth was very low, where I am seeing a quarterly average around 5%. Both still paying in to our funds.
Hence why I suspect I'm not doing a bad job "self administering".....but I do appreciate as I approach the point of wanting to draw funds, I am obliged to take advice that will cost me a goodly chunk of the pot!
In my experience DIY investors tend to look at returns in isolation and draw conclusions from that. Thanks for the tips on checking IFAs out...a job here for the next 6 months, I think!
FYI, part of my scepticism stems from a brief chat with an older colleague who moved from our work Friends Life (now/soon Aviva) a year or two back to a company he felt happy with: I'm not convinced he is getting anywhere near the growth returns my pot appears to be......e.g., he reckoned growth was very low, where I am seeing a quarterly average around 5%. Both still paying in to our funds.
Hence why I suspect I'm not doing a bad job "self administering".....but I do appreciate as I approach the point of wanting to draw funds, I am obliged to take advice that will cost me a goodly chunk of the pot!
Professionals are often governed by sound practices around risk control which inevitably trade off an element of performance in return for a consequent lower risk (I use risk in it's broadest sense for ease).
Essentially what im saying is anyone can deliver an impressive return, perhaps outperforming the guy next to him (your pal?), but the real trick is providing returns and controlling other factors such as risk (volatility, diversification, inflation, liquidity etc etc).
A lot of the work we professionals undertake is not focused around giving you the biggest swagger on the golf course but more around taming the human emotions and providing returns within a previously agreed framework.
Hope this makes sense.
(TLDR: you are liking taking FAR more risk than him and quite probably far more than you even realise)
Edited by DoubleSix on Monday 18th September 10:15
DoubleSix said:
In my experience DIY investors tend to look at returns in isolation and draw conclusions from that.
Professionals are often governed by sound practices around risk control which inevitably trade off an element of performance in return for a consequent lower risk (I use risk in it's broadest sense for ease).
Essentially what im saying is anyone can deliver an impressive return, perhaps outperforming the guy next to him (your pal?), but the real trick is providing returns and controlling other factors such as risk (volatility, diversification, inflation, liquidity etc etc).
A lot of the work we professionals undertake is not focused around giving you the biggest swagger on the golf course but more around taming the human emotions and providing returns within a previously agreed framework.
Hope this makes sense.
(TLDR: you are liking taking FAR more risk than him and quite probably far more than you even realise)
Fair enough: I get the point about volatility (my colleague is much closer to packing in work, and I am sure would not want to see any big downshift in his pot), although I'm not sure sure I am taking "FAR more risk" - the funds in the main pot I have are not aggressive (eg, 60% in FL BlackRock World (Ex-UK) Equity Index.....the rest over some mainstream funds (global equity, North American and 15 yr-gilt). Professionals are often governed by sound practices around risk control which inevitably trade off an element of performance in return for a consequent lower risk (I use risk in it's broadest sense for ease).
Essentially what im saying is anyone can deliver an impressive return, perhaps outperforming the guy next to him (your pal?), but the real trick is providing returns and controlling other factors such as risk (volatility, diversification, inflation, liquidity etc etc).
A lot of the work we professionals undertake is not focused around giving you the biggest swagger on the golf course but more around taming the human emotions and providing returns within a previously agreed framework.
Hope this makes sense.
(TLDR: you are liking taking FAR more risk than him and quite probably far more than you even realise)
Average quarterly growth since April 2013 is 5.2% - this is why I felt that was perhaps normal - I did some investigation and tweaked the funds a little, but nothing major over what anyone working at our company on ths scheme would use by default - I would think those would be fairly risk-averse funds (ie, the default!).
Luckily I don't play golf, so that swagger isn't needed....& I rarely discuss finances with pals/colleagues, it was the impending retirement age that is making this particularly interesting!
I will endeavour to find a decent IFA over the next few months.
Thanks Jane, the unbiased web site is interesting - I now know that an IFA specialising in retirement planning ought to have taken R04, and unbiased is good enough to explain which advisors have what "credentials". I appreciate that passing an exam doesn't make one expert, but it all helps narrow down the field!
Edited by mikeiow on Monday 18th September 14:58
So bucket loads of equity with a little gilt tacked on? 
Obviously your post doesn't give any insight into asset weightings so can't judge anything by that. What about x-raying your funds, the DIY investor that breaks down the actual holdings of funds to investigate inadvertent duplication is a rare creature indeed ime!
The real benefit of a good IFA is not just investment expertise but taxation and insurances and ideally a holistic approach that takes your whole family, business etc into account - and they'll need a little more than RO4 to offer that...
Obviously your post doesn't give any insight into asset weightings so can't judge anything by that. What about x-raying your funds, the DIY investor that breaks down the actual holdings of funds to investigate inadvertent duplication is a rare creature indeed ime!
The real benefit of a good IFA is not just investment expertise but taxation and insurances and ideally a holistic approach that takes your whole family, business etc into account - and they'll need a little more than RO4 to offer that...
DoubleSix said:
So bucket loads of equity with a little gilt tacked on?
Obviously your post doesn't give any insight into asset weightings so can't judge anything by that. What about x-raying your funds, the DIY investor that breaks down the actual holdings of funds to investigate inadvertent duplication is a rare creature indeed ime!
The real benefit of a good IFA is not just investment expertise but taxation and insurances and ideally a holistic approach that takes your whole family, business etc into account - and they'll need a little more than RO4 to offer that...
Yup, you've got me banged to rights.....guilty (or perhaps gilty?) I clearly need help!Obviously your post doesn't give any insight into asset weightings so can't judge anything by that. What about x-raying your funds, the DIY investor that breaks down the actual holdings of funds to investigate inadvertent duplication is a rare creature indeed ime!
The real benefit of a good IFA is not just investment expertise but taxation and insurances and ideally a holistic approach that takes your whole family, business etc into account - and they'll need a little more than RO4 to offer that...
If you have a crystal ball to let me know when that equity is going to collapse, please share ;-)
But please bear in mind my addition to this thread was to ask HOW to find a good IFA: at least if my focus is retirement, finding an IFA who *is* versed & trained in retirement planning ought to narrow the field more than one who isn't - I don't need mortgage advice, for example - hence the R04 comment.
Of course any financial advising needs to take far more than that into account.
I've been burned in the past, & I've had one friend who was a financial advisor - & was up to their neck in debt - not a great example, ime!
Sorry OP for derailing a bit, please feel free to pick it back up!!
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