Question
I'm new to investment and suddenly have something over £50K to invest. I have some other savings, ISAs and a few shares in the likes of Glaxo, British Gas and BT. I need advice I can trust to review what I have and plan investment for income and tax-efficiency.
How do I find an adviser I can trust and who can help me take my decisions - and who is not just offering standard products to deliver commission? I know I can look up lists of independent advisers, but how do I chose? I am aware of Bestinvest and others mentioned on your site : will they just give me their corporate plan, and is any of them to be preferred?Answer
It's sad to say, but I think the most realistic answer is 'with difficulty'.
The trouble is a lot of IFAs are not that clued up on investments. They're generally proficient at tax planning and looking at the big picture, but many resort to expensive funds of funds or rudimentary portfolios made up of popular funds rather than constructing a decent bespoke portfolio to suit your needs.
Then there's the conflict of interests in how they're paid. Commission based advisers have an incentive to sell (although in fairness the rates across unit trusts tend to be fairly uniform) while fee based advisers might want to clock up the hours (unless they offer you a fixed price) - plus you won't usually get to see the quality of their advice until you've handed them a cheque for the work.
And perhaps the worst of both worlds are the supposedly independent advisers who are incentivised to flog their company's own range of funds - I'd avoid these at all costs.
I'm sure there are some good IFAs out there who offer excellent value for money advice and service, the trouble is I just don't know of any...
Bestinvest offers an investment advisory service, where an adviser will review your portfolio and make suggestions for new investments (paid for by trail commission). When I used to work there the minimum for this service was £50,000, but they seem to have stopped publishing the minimum amount required, which suggests they move the goalposts depending on how keen they are for the business. If you only want to focus on investment advice it would be worth speaking them so you can compare to others, but bear in mind if you want advice on other areas you'll need to pay extra fees to one of their IFAs.
Otherwise, all I can suggest is getting a list of local advisers from the likes of www.unbiased.co.uk and asking some rigorous questions to help you form an opinion. For more guidance on the types of questions to ask (and pitfalls to watch out for) take a look at or financial advice page.
Incidentally, my struggle to answer your question had reminded me to re-focus some energy on a desire I've long had of launching a high quality low cost IFA. There's a lot to grapple with (and time has unfortunately been incredibly precious lately), but I'll obviously update the site if/when I progress it further.
I'm new to investment and suddenly have something over £50K to invest. I have some other savings, ISAs and a few shares in the likes of Glaxo, British Gas and BT. I need advice I can trust to review what I have and plan investment for income and tax-efficiency.
How do I find an adviser I can trust and who can help me take my decisions - and who is not just offering standard products to deliver commission? I know I can look up lists of independent advisers, but how do I chose? I am aware of Bestinvest and others mentioned on your site : will they just give me their corporate plan, and is any of them to be preferred?Answer
It's sad to say, but I think the most realistic answer is 'with difficulty'.
The trouble is a lot of IFAs are not that clued up on investments. They're generally proficient at tax planning and looking at the big picture, but many resort to expensive funds of funds or rudimentary portfolios made up of popular funds rather than constructing a decent bespoke portfolio to suit your needs.
Then there's the conflict of interests in how they're paid. Commission based advisers have an incentive to sell (although in fairness the rates across unit trusts tend to be fairly uniform) while fee based advisers might want to clock up the hours (unless they offer you a fixed price) - plus you won't usually get to see the quality of their advice until you've handed them a cheque for the work.
And perhaps the worst of both worlds are the supposedly independent advisers who are incentivised to flog their company's own range of funds - I'd avoid these at all costs.
I'm sure there are some good IFAs out there who offer excellent value for money advice and service, the trouble is I just don't know of any...
Bestinvest offers an investment advisory service, where an adviser will review your portfolio and make suggestions for new investments (paid for by trail commission). When I used to work there the minimum for this service was £50,000, but they seem to have stopped publishing the minimum amount required, which suggests they move the goalposts depending on how keen they are for the business. If you only want to focus on investment advice it would be worth speaking them so you can compare to others, but bear in mind if you want advice on other areas you'll need to pay extra fees to one of their IFAs.
Otherwise, all I can suggest is getting a list of local advisers from the likes of www.unbiased.co.uk and asking some rigorous questions to help you form an opinion. For more guidance on the types of questions to ask (and pitfalls to watch out for) take a look at or financial advice page.
Incidentally, my struggle to answer your question had reminded me to re-focus some energy on a desire I've long had of launching a high quality low cost IFA. There's a lot to grapple with (and time has unfortunately been incredibly precious lately), but I'll obviously update the site if/when I progress it further.
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