Independant Financial Advisors

[Cyberman]

IMHO no need to pay an IFA in this day and age.

Use t'internet to find out what you need and save yourself bags of money.

I totally agree. I used an IFA to initially find me a mortgage provider a couple of years back, but when I learned that he was getting a thousand or so pounds in commission I did my own homework on the internet.

You can get all sorts of free printed performance information and heavy discounts on investments from reputable financial advisers such as Hargreaves Lansdowne. It's well worth doing the 'legwork' yourself IMO, and remember that computerised trackers outperform managed trackers in the vast majority of cases and are much cheaper in commission and annual charges.

[bobhope]

Much better to do the research yourself. Surprisingly, most people have remarkably similar financial needs. Do you really need an IFA to tell you that you need life insurance, an ISA, etc?

[Jog On]

How do IFA's make their money?

- commissions

Some of the commissions they get will be on financial products that serve their own purposes as opposed to the clients they are 'advising'

That being said I talk to mine regularly