Should I get financial advice?

I have an ongoing relationship with a firm of financial advisers who deal with investments, ISAs, SIPP and charge for this. An initial financial assessment face to face several years ago in our own house, and a later one at their offices, were not expensive. Their charges now come from fees paid on the value of the assets they look after.

I would not have known what investments to choose to be, say, medium risk and produce a reasonable income. I would not have wanted to set up my own SIPP. I consider that if you don’t understand something, then either don’t do it, or seek professional help. It will cost you money up front but I believe it will be repaid many times over in the longer term.

My children have sought professional advice for mortgages, paid a fee and had sensible advice and outcomes.

We should not be stingy about paying for a service that should benefit us financially. I suppose finding a reliable financial adviser, like any other professional, is the initial obstacle. I don’t think on-line is a good method; face to face question, answer and assessment of the person involved is valuable. Which? have Trusted Traders ; perhaps they could launch Trusted Financial Advisors?

One thing to avoid are commission-based payments in my view. It does not mean necessarily that you will be recommended to a product that rewards the FA the most, but that would always be a concern at the back of my mind.

There is a lot of mystique about investing money and you will not be surprised that there is a large number of people who benefit from saying how complex it is. The short answer is invest in low cost tracker funds and not focussed on the Footsie 100.

I am not alone in doubting the value of “the professionals”.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10874918

You also ought to consider how much advertising and column inches investment chat provides to the print media. Armed with a cynical view you are now well prepared to start looking at what investments are available.

You will appreciate that I am not a registered finacial adviser though I did have a lot of training in the subject even down to the amounts of commission on various Bonds sold, and the the annual taregts for salespeople.

Therefore my view is jaundiced and of course I probably have more finacial savvy than the majority of the population. Given Which’s claims from its survey on comprehension of no interest credit card transfers there are serious doubts on the UK population’s numeracy skill and comprehension. Or possibly the value of that survey.

The vast majority of the population will not have vast amounts of free cash to invest so investment strategy choice is limited and generally should be very conservative indeed. Unfortunately this is also an area where promises to really make a small pot of money really work are highly attractive to the unwary.

This can be seen by the scandals on storage lockers, wine frauds, and carbon credit frauds. I do wonder if, given the authorities are happy to let anyone set up a company and then later respond to complaints , that Which? does not actively look at new offerings by new firms.

A simple Wikipedia interface, the name of the firm, any bio on the company Directors …etc. One need not even really say anything libellious : ). Perhaps Which? do but you need to subscribe to Money Which?

I have a friend , now deceased, who invested in a carbon credits firm and lost £18,000. Financially numerate he was completely gulled . When he told me a month after he sent of his cheque that he was having qualms a quick look at the site and the City of London address made me quite certain he had been suckered. And like many he was too embarrassed about making a fuss.

The SFO or Serious Farce Office as was had a bad name for not doing anything as can be seen from this financial advisers blog:
https://archive.is/Yzulc#selection-647.0-675.2

* it should be noted I have made and lost money by investing in shares over the last 25years and I am currently down a significant amount due to investing in AIM shares which are high risk and currently low priced. The flipside is that due to imminent pensions this loss will not make me poverty stricken. And I always knew this. I certainly would have done very much better by investing in a tracker fund each year and forgetting about it.

Self-feeding frenzy within the industry & industry-related media who are all scratching each others’ backs. None of them are trust-worthy. Even the better ones might be “useful” at best such a some “platforms” but only with great reservations. No substitute for educating yourself. Reputable unit-trust fund -managers (collective investments) are best for those who do not want to expose themselves to individual stock-picking minefield. Insurance-company pensions are a complete travesty of incompetents! SIPP every time with a reputable collective fund-manager every time!