How to identify a pension advisor who's any good

[SVS]

When it comes to finding a financial and pensions advisor who's any good, are there any tips or things to look out for?

[ellroy]

Chartered firm, chartered status, clear fees, personal recommendation, Independent.

Some combination of those is a good start.

[CubanPete]

My Dad has seemed to manage to pick good financial advisors over the years and has done well out of it. The biggest issue he has is that the good ones all retire at 45 and he has to find another!

[Bigcarrot91]

SVS said:

When it comes to finding a financial and pensions advisor who's any good, are there any tips or things to look out for?

What sort of advice are you looking for:
What type of pension to take out?
Whether to transfer am existing DB or DC scheme?
Where to invest your existing DC pension?
Whether to get life assurance or critical illness cover?
What to do with an Endowment (Assurance)?

Depending on the above, the answers could be very different!

[Helicopter123]

SVS said:

When it comes to finding a financial and pensions advisor who's any good, are there any tips or things to look out for?

A personal recommendation is a good start.

A Chartered individual will be more qualified, but make sure they have experience in what you are looking at doing.

Don't discount a restricted adviser - they may be specialist in a particular field rather than a generalist. Many restricted investment propositions are very good these days and the backing of a larger firm gives you a source of recourse if something goes wrong.

Finally, I would look for someone who is going to be around for some time, ideally, so that they can help you for some time. Chopping and changing always a bind and can add to costs.

[So]

SVS said:

When it comes to finding a financial and pensions advisor who's any good, are there any tips or things to look out for?

Lack of a pulse is usually a good sign, where financial advisors are concerned.

[Phooey]

SVS said:

When it comes to finding a financial and pensions advisor who's any good, are there any tips or things to look out for?

You can start by looking out for incoming golf balls





*see thread 'What do financial advisers do for their annual fees?

[Derek Chevalier]

SVS said:

When it comes to finding a financial and pensions advisor who's any good, are there any tips or things to look out for?

Go and speak to a few local ones, find one that you get on with, focuses on you, your goals, objectives and how you can plan together to get there. If they start waffling on about investments, products or potential solutions in the first meeting, it may be worth going elsewhere.

[Derek Chevalier]

mikeiow said:

I often feel a financial advisor is kind of a "life coach" for many people.....getting you to think about things in the future you maybe haven't.

Those that don't focus entirely on investments, 100% agree.

mikeiow said:

Finding one for pensions specifically - well, there are places you can check their qualifications, (unbiased, etc). Pensions advice is fairly specific in the financial scheme of things....& many 'regular' financial advisors shy away from Pensions, it appears....

Depends on the type.

[Derek Chevalier]

Helicopter123 said:

Don't discount a restricted adviser - they may be specialist in a particular field rather than a generalist. Many restricted investment propositions are very good these days and the backing of a larger firm gives you a source of recourse if something goes wrong.

Depends what type of restricted the adviser is. Not clear on your point re size being correlated to recourse.

[Derek Chevalier]

So said:

SVS said:

When it comes to finding a financial and pensions advisor who's any good, are there any tips or things to look out for?

Lack of a pulse is usually a good sign, where financial advisors are concerned.

Really?

[audi321]

As an ex-IFA, I would say watch out for the ongoing fees, especially with investments. 0.5% is standard but I have seen much higher, when in reality it's just the initial work/fees which need focus (for many people).

Agree with what others say about expertise. An IFA who specialises in Investments may not have the technical ability to deal with a complex pension case (for example DB to PP transfer), and mortgages are again another specialist field.

I'm out of the scene for a couple of years now, but if it's basic 'free' advice you want, ping me a PM and I'll give you my twopenneth.

[Croutons]

So said:

Lack of a pulse is usually a good sign, where financial advisors are concerned.

I thought half term was over.

[Derek Chevalier]

audi321 said:

0.5% is standard but I have seen much higher

I recall it's closer to 0.8% now

[JulianPH]

Derek Chevalier said:

I recall it's closer to 0.8% now

I've not seen anything less than 1% a year for a long time now.

OP - Try and find an adviser who will charge you a fee for there time, rather than an initial and ongoing percentage value of your pot.

Also, what advice do you require? Is it connected to a defined benefit transfer (in which case you should seek advice) or is it financial planning related (i.e. what you need to be doing to hit your retirement aims)?

[JulianPH]

SVS said:

Financial planning related

There are lots of free online tool that can assist you with this without you paying for financial advice.

If you already have a pension then you could see what your provider offer, but there are many others.

I would explore that before paying for financial advice. If what you need is as simple as working out how much you need to be investing to reach your retirement goals remember to factor out any current costs that you won't have in retirement (mortgage payments, pension contributions and work related costs) and factor in the state pension.

People often forget to factor the above in and therefore give themselves unrealistic aims that then appear to be unaffordable.

[mikeiow]

JulianPH said:

There are lots of free online tool that can assist you with this without you paying for financial advice.

Which tool/tools are you thinking of here, Julian? (always keen to find new planning ideas!!)
Thanks!

[JulianPH]

mikeiow said:

JulianPH said:

There are lots of free online tool that can assist you with this without you paying for financial advice.

Which tool/tools are you thinking of here, Julian? (always keen to find new planning ideas!!)
Thanks!

Here are a few. The Nutmeg one is actually quite good!

https://www.standardlife.co.uk/c1/guides-and-calcu...

https://www.aviva.co.uk/retirement/tools/my-retire...

https://www.nutmeg.com/pension-calculator

[mikeiow]

JulianPH said:

Here are a few. The Nutmeg one is actually quite good!

https://www.standardlife.co.uk/c1/guides-and-calcu...

https://www.aviva.co.uk/retirement/tools/my-retire...

https://www.nutmeg.com/pension-calculator

Thanks! I’ve used the Aviva one (my main pot is with them), hadn’t looked at the other too (but will later!)
Cheers

[millen]

I'm in a different predicament - decided I should start to consolidate several pure DC arrangements (occupational and private) soon, with issues on crystallization, LTA etc. 'Normal sources' to find a suitable IFA for one-off advice weren't promising. Then I discovered a social contact is married to a generalist IFA who is currently winding down his spreadsheets and has no axe to grind. I outlined the problem and he came back immediately with 4 names that he would have referred to and we've now whittled that down to just two.

So don't ignore the value of speaking to "someone who knows someone". In fields like this 'insiders' may have better knowledge of their fraternity than Trustpilot etc reviews. I was also given to understand many IFAs will give 30 mins of 'free' advice - which may help establish whether you're comfortable with the individual.