Have you used an IFA?

[Smartie]

All I can say s the one I recommended recently (via PM - sorry...) has got our money where it's earning 6-7% pa consistently and has been for several years.

Good ones know the market, know their customers and are heavily regulated.

Is that really a good rate over the last few years? A Vanguard tracker would have more than matched it.
Unless they can protect you in the inevitable crashes or at least beat the market then is it worth paying for advice?

[MarillionFan]

All I can say s the one I recommended recently (via PM - sorry...) has got our money where it's earning 6-7% pa consistently and has been for several years.

Good ones know the market, know their customers and are heavily regulated.

I used one originally years ago, but the pension they set me up with has been crap, so I changed it myself.

Turned out everytime I added some cash he got a commission payment. I went to do a big deposit and they told me. I took him off, he'd got free cash for 5 years(!) and I never heard from him.

[ladymuck]

I used an IFA to sort out my pension because I wanted to consolidate lots of pots into one plan - approaching a pension provider direct (at the time) proved pointless because they were only interested in giving me a new product, not consolidate existing in new product. Ian Wilson at Forum Wealth consolidated everything into a pot that has grown well over the years I've had it, and not just because I put money into it.

He also set up an income replacement plan for me that will make a monthly payment to me if I'm laid up with something serious for a long time.

All in all, it wasn't a cheap service but I found it worthwhile because I know I don't have the knowledge/time/interest to do the pension work. I could have done the plan myself but it didn't cost much extra to get him to set it up. The fees are an allowable company expense.

I meet with him for a good hour every year to discuss where I am, how things are performing, what changes are afoot that I need to be aware of etc. Not everyone would get value from that but I'm happy with it.

[The Castle Cary Fairy]

Yes, I have and I got the impression I was advised to invest in whatever schemes gave the best kickbacks/commission to the IFA.

Best thing to do with money is spend it

[tomtomagain]

I'm in the process of getting a pension, life cover or critical illness cover.

I've done my initial research and have a pretty good view of what I want for all of these.

My question is, should I be using an IFA? Are there some gotchas, which I don't know about from doing a bit of online research?

For those who have used an IFA, how much value did they add and how?

For those who haven't used and IFA, why not?

Cheers,
Untouchable1

I used 3 "IFA"'s in my early years, when I was naive, to sort out a pension and first mortgage. They all gave me very bad advice.

The word "Independent" means "In-It-For-Ourselves" ... it doesn't mean "fair" or "we'll give you the most appropriate advice".

If an IFA recommends you a product you can be sure that that is the product he is making the most commision on.

I've done all my own financials for the last 18 years and been happy with the results. My wealth is my responsibility, that's how I see it.

I'd never use an IFA again, I don't see that they add "Value" - rather the opposite, they literally subtract value.

[malvolio]

All I can say s the one I recommended recently (via PM - sorry...) has got our money where it's earning 6-7% pa consistently and has been for several years.

Good ones know the market, know their customers and are heavily regulated.

[d000hg]

An IFA is a middle man so always adds cost

Not necessarily, they might be able to get deals you couldn't. They might also get referral fees you wouldn't get back going direct (a bit like how I can buy stuff from Curry's through a cashback site - I get some money back but the price I pay is the same as you would in-store)

they do not have your best interest at heart as it is their job and so they are mainly interested in lining their own pockets.

Not if they're good. You can say that about contractors or just about anyone - some are only about their own interest, some are genuinely after doing the best job for their customer, some are somewhere in the middle.

We've used one for mortgages and while I can't say for certain they have got us products we couldn't have received approval for directly, it was a heck of a lot easier. We gave them all the pertinent financial information and they knew for each provider how to spin it best, which information that provider based decisions on, etc. It did seem like the providers would give them more trust than they would us directly too... if the IFA in some way vouched for us this would be accepted more readily because the providers knew them and presumably knew their past customers hadn't defaulted, etc?

[original PM]

I'm in the process of getting a pension, life cover or critical illness cover.

I've done my initial research and have a pretty good view of what I want for all of these.

My question is, should I be using an IFA? Are there some gotchas, which I don't know about from doing a bit of online research?

For those who have used an IFA, how much value did they add and how?

For those who haven't used and IFA, why not?

Cheers,
Untouchable1

An IFA is a middle man so always adds cost

IFA should obviously be independent - be careful they will show favouritism to those companies which offer the best incentive

they do not have your best interest at heart as it is their job and so they are mainly interested in lining their own pockets.

[milanbenes]

Milan.

[Untouchable1]

I'm in the process of getting a pension, life cover or critical illness cover.

I've done my initial research and have a pretty good view of what I want for all of these.

My question is, should I be using an IFA? Are there some gotchas, which I don't know about from doing a bit of online research?

For those who have used an IFA, how much value did they add and how?

For those who haven't used and IFA, why not?

Cheers,
Untouchable1