IFA recomendations

[davetza]

Can anyone recommend a good IFA as I'm looking to get some pensions advice. I don't really care where they are as I'd prefer to talk to them over the phone rather than face to face,

[Support Monkey]

Can anyone recommend a good IFA as I'm looking to get some pensions advice. I don't really care where they are as I'd prefer to talk to them over the phone rather than face to face,

Do it yourself: Hargreaves Lansdown | ISAs, SIPPs, funds and shares | Share dealing

a very good friend of mine was an IFA (retired now) and he said with the information avaible now why pay someone to tell you what you can find out for free

[Fred Bloggs]

Do it yourself: Hargreaves Lansdown | ISAs, SIPPs, funds and shares | Share dealing

a very good friend of mine was an IFA (retired now) and he said with the information avaible now why pay someone to tell you what you can find out for free

Agree, strongly. All the information is out there for free. Why pay an IFA?

[ASB]

Agree, strongly. All the information is out there for free. Why pay an IFA?

In some limited cases they can get a better deal. Rebated commissions can potentially be split, and the retail channel for the same product may not allow commission rebates. For the avoidance of doubt it would be fairly unusual for this to occur.

[Waldorf]

Not sure I would trust any IFA - they all seems more interested in the commission that they can earn than give independent advice - I know they should but I think most people would always have an eye on the potential income when they recommend something....

[MarillionFan]

Can anyone recommend a good IFA as I'm looking to get some pensions advice. I don't really care where they are as I'd prefer to talk to them over the phone rather than face to face,

Best to ask us. What do you want to know?

[centurian]

A few months ago - had an IFA do a free assessment on my SIPP - clearly with a view to getting me to go to their firm. I let them do it, it was worth a check.

The produced the results, with lots of fancy graphs saying how better off I would be under their plan - and showed me the agreement, which had a slight increase in fees.

Throughout the presentation, the salesman kept saying how they were very upfront about everything. Their fees were higher, but their returns were higher - and they would only get paid long term if they delivered.

When I started digging deeper and quoting a lot of finance related stuff - and showed my knowledge of mathematical models, I spotted the "assumptions" on their "small" increase in fees.

Short version of story. I asked for clarification on these points. The never bothered getting back to me - clearly I had found them out.

[davetza]

Best to ask us. What do you want to know?

Thanks for the offer. I'm currently paying into a pension and I want to move it to paying through my Ltd Company to take advantage of the tax advantages it brings. I'm also not very happy with the current pension provider and want to move it into something with lower fees and that I can actually understand. I've had a look at SIPPS and I most probably don't have the time to manage them properly at the moment so I'm trying to figure out what the best option is.

[pmeswani]

Thanks for the offer. I'm currently paying into a pension and I want to move it to paying through my Ltd Company to take advantage of the tax advantages it brings. I'm also not very happy with the current pension provider and want to move it into something with lower fees and that I can actually understand. I've had a look at SIPPS and I most probably don't have the time to manage them properly at the moment so I'm trying to figure out what the best option is.

If you have funds that are worth more than £100k (Pensions, ISA's, etc) that are managed by Hargreaves & Lansdown, you can ask them to manage it for you for a small fee. (Ok, it is down to interpretation what a small fee is). You can review the performance as often as you wish. You have reviews with Hargreaves Lansdown and discuss where you want to go with your investments.

[Normie]

Do it yourself: Hargreaves Lansdown | ISAs, SIPPs, funds and shares | Share dealing

a very good friend of mine was an IFA (retired now) and he said with the information avaible now why pay someone to tell you what you can find out for free

I was out having a few beers at the weekend - ended up talking to a friend of a friend who is an IFA. I asked him where he was making his money - mortgages or penions. He said that almost all his earning are from pensions. I then asked him who he had his pension with - he said that he didn't have one as the costs were too high, returns too variable and future regulation too uncertain - instead he just maxes out his ISA allowances each year.

Pretty much sums up my thoughts and what I do.