5 Questions To Ask A Financial Advisor

1. How do I get paid? Will you offer a fee based service or are you commision based only?

A quality financial advisor should offer both commission and fee based services. All charges and commissions should be transparent, and agreed before any application forms are completed. If a Financial Advisor is working on a commission only basis, you may have to get more information on why the product is being recommended over another.

2. What are your qualifications? Are you qualified to offer financial and investment advice?

All Financial Advisors should have the Qualified Financial Advisor (QFA) qualification at a miniumum. In addition to this they should ideally also have a degree of some description and some experience advising clients on their finances.

3. What research tools do you use to ensure you are giving comphrensive advice?

Given the vast range of investment firms, life assurance companies, pension providers that are in the market it is almost impossible to stay in touch with the latest trends and products available. Therefore we feel it is important that a financial advisor has access to research software which makes the analysis of the market easier. Examples of these software products are Best Advice, Advisor Plus and Financial Express.

4. Which life and investment companies do you deal with on a regular bases and why?

A quality Financial Advisor should have agencies, or at least be able to recommend all the Life Assurance Companies and a range of Investment and Stockbroking firms. They should also be able to offer basic advice on banking products such as deposit account rates.

5. Can you offer advice on all aspects of my finances or are you a specialist?

Good Financial Advisors have reasonable knowledge across a wide range of financial issues. They should be able to advise on Lending, Pensions, Investments, Savings and Protection. The better financial advisors will also have a network or in house expertise in tax, succession planning, company finances and corporate finance.  There are many financial advisors in the market today who were simply mortgage specialists over the past 5 years. Since this market has collapsed many are now offering full financial planning services but may not have experience outside the lending arena.

We invite you to Book a consultation with one of our experienced  independent financial advisors.  This first meeting is offered on a complimentary basis and there is no obligation to move forward with our services.