IFA recommendation?

[achillea]

I'm looking for an IFA to help me with pension planning and personal/business investment advice (I have inadequate provision with a SIPP but clueless on where to invest). I've tried searching this forum but can't seem to find any recommendations. I've been on the unbiased.co.uk website and contacted 5 IFAs who haven't responded (the IFA business must be booming or they are only after the seriously wealthy!). I also contacted AS Financial but didn't get a call back.

Are there any southern-based IFAs that anyone would recommend? I'm in West Kent but London would be fine.

Many thanks

[Andy Hallett]

I've used this guy personally for investments, Life cover and mortgages. Very good.

Edit. He just does mortgages now it would seem.

http://eurofinancemortgages.com/aboutus.php

[lukemg]

I would not use an IFA to manage anything BUT if you insist on doing so.
Make sure you ask the following questions:
1. Where is all their money invested and if that's different to where they want to put yours - why ?
2. If they don't immediately suggest the vast majority of any stock market investments go into ultra low cost index funds - run a mile. For years they would recommend whichever kicked back the most to them, the rules are changing but there are always ways.

Since ultra low cost index funds are your best option anyway, do it yourself and save literally thousands.
Go to HL.co.uk - they are the biggest (FTSE100 co)
Setup a SIPP.
Setup monthly payment into Vanguard Lifestrategy 80 fund.

Give it 15 years and hold your nerve, it will be the best financial decision you ever made.
OR - give the IFA half and HL half, look again in 5 years time and switch to whichever account has the most in.
Try not to be too gutted about the amount the IFA and investment companies have creamed off...

[kaiser78]

I've used this guy personally for investments, Life cover and mortgages. Very good.

Edit. He just does mortgages now it would seem.

About us | Eurofinance Mortgage Solutions

Could that explain why they are called Euro Finance Mortgage Solutions ?

[dundeedude]

I would not use an IFA to manage anything BUT if you insist on doing so.
Make sure you ask the following questions:
1. Where is all their money invested and if that's different to where they want to put yours - why ?
2. If they don't immediately suggest the vast majority of any stock market investments go into ultra low cost index funds - run a mile. For years they would recommend whichever kicked back the most to them, the rules are changing but there are always ways.

Since ultra low cost index funds are your best option anyway, do it yourself and save literally thousands.
Go to HL.co.uk - they are the biggest (FTSE100 co)
Setup a SIPP.
Setup monthly payment into Vanguard Lifestrategy 80 fund.

Give it 15 years and hold your nerve, it will be the best financial decision you ever made.
OR - give the IFA half and HL half, look again in 5 years time and switch to whichever account has the most in.
Try not to be too gutted about the amount the IFA and investment companies have creamed off...

Don't bother with an IFA - agree on that one.

HL Hargreaves Lansdown - are you being serious?! They pillage customers (aka: 'clients', to them) with enormous fees. In fact the restructuring as of June 2nd of their fees has lead them to be one of the most expensive providers for ISA/SIPP/Fund investments.

I have a stocks and shares ISA with them. There is an uncapped yearly management fee, that means as I approach £100k, £250k and upwards - which is inevitable in the next few years, the fees can amount to four/five figure sums. Sounds fair enough, until you compare to other platforms, in which the fees would (in many cases) be 3 figure sums.

If I wish to transfer those out I must pay £25 per fund/share. This sounds like a bargain, but there are even more caveats with using this method of ISA transfer-out.

Blindly recommending Hargreaves Lansdown now - which I admit to doing the past to friends/colleagues - is a mistake. Explore other providers if you truly value your money. You can google along the lines of 'fund platform reform Hargreaves Lansdown comparison' and find a wealth of information there.

Speaking of wealth, don't be fooled by their 'wealth150' recommendations. The vantage, HSBC and other low-cost trackers are definitely the way forward for a beginner. Looking back I wish I had read the letter more thoroughly. Hargreaves Lansdown post such a large volume of junk mail to my mailing address that it is troublesome sorting statements from crap. Avoid.

[lukemg]

Don't bother with an IFA - agree on that one.

HL Hargreaves Lansdown - are you being serious?! They pillage customers (aka: 'clients', to them) with enormous fees. In fact the restructuring as of June 2nd of their fees has lead them to be one of the most expensive providers for ISA/SIPP/Fund investments.

I have a stocks and shares ISA with them. There is an uncapped yearly management fee, that means as I approach £100k, £250k and upwards - which is inevitable in the next few years, the fees can amount to four/five figure sums. Sounds fair enough, until you compare to other platforms, in which the fees would (in many cases) be 3 figure sums.

If I wish to transfer those out I must pay £25 per fund/share. This sounds like a bargain, but there are even more caveats with using this method of ISA transfer-out.

Blindly recommending Hargreaves Lansdown now - which I admit to doing the past to friends/colleagues - is a mistake. Explore other providers if you truly value your money. You can google along the lines of 'fund platform reform Hargreaves Lansdown comparison' and find a wealth of information there.

Speaking of wealth, don't be fooled by their 'wealth150' recommendations. The vantage, HSBC and other low-cost trackers are definitely the way forward for a beginner. Looking back I wish I had read the letter more thoroughly. Hargreaves Lansdown post such a large volume of junk mail to my mailing address that it is troublesome sorting statements from crap. Avoid.

I agree with a lot of that but for very small portfolios it won't make much difference so still applicable to the OP.
I have switched vast majority of my HL funds into Index ETF''s which handily are charged like shares with a cap on charges.
A Vanguard lifestrategy 80% shares fund with low charges, even with the 0.45% uptick from HL is still a good option for a first timer.