How to find a 'Good' IFA

[Deleted member 26715]

Aged 60, very little pension, should work for another 5 years (unfortunately), but currently earning more than I have before, but feel I might be missing out on savings/pensions etc. SO the logical thing is to go see an IFA, but as they seem to charge £450 for their advice, but how do I know what they advise is correct & worth the £450, yes I know I'm a tight barstool, but I have had to scrimp & save to get by & even now £450 is a LOT of money to me. How do I find a good one, that's more interested in making me more money then themselves.

 

[alicat]

Probably not what you want to hear; however, if £450 is a lot of money to you you can't afford an IFA. You'd be better off spending some time educating yourself on the MoneySavingExpert and similar forums.

 

[Deleted member 26715]

I know it shouldn't but money bores me rigid, I just can't get any enthusiasm to do the investigation.

 

[Cycleops]

The impetus to do the investigation is with only a state pension just five years off should be that it's really not by itself enough to get by on, unless you plan on working.
Wouldn't have thought a IFA would be able to tell you much more than you can find out by doing a bit of digging.
This might help you:
https://www.money.co.uk/pensions/is-it-ever-too-late-to-start-a-pension.htm

 

[alicat]

^^^ wot Cyclops said. What are you going to live on when you decide/have to stop working?

 

[ColinJ]

The impetus to do the investigation is with only a state pension just five years off should be that it's really not by itself enough to get by on, unless you plan on working.

That's a bit of a generalisation! It depends on housing costs, but [in the UK] as long as you don't have a mortgage or your rent does not exceed the housing benefit level by too much, then state pension + housing benefit + council tax benefit IS probably enough to get by on. It looks like I will end up on £13-14k p.a. but my costs will only be about £10k p.a.

THIS calculator is very easy to use and gives a good idea of what income level to expect.

 

[Sharky]

Are you paying into your works pension? Are you doing the max each month. Talk with your payroll dept and discuss AVC's etc.

If close to retirement, you don't want to invest in high volatile shares etc. Savings need to be secure ,although interest rates won't be very high.

 

[Pale Rider]

Aged 60, very little pension, should work for another 5 years (unfortunately), but currently earning more than I have before, but feel I might be missing out on savings/pensions etc. SO the logical thing is to go see an IFA, but as they seem to charge £450 for their advice, but how do I know what they advise is correct & worth the £450, yes I know I'm a tight barstool, but I have had to scrimp & save to get by & even now £450 is a LOT of money to me. How do I find a good one, that's more interested in making me more money then themselves.

Unless your affairs are very complicated, I doubt you would get much benefit from a financial adviser.

In terms of pensions, at 60 that die is already cast.

Savings are next to no interest at the moment, and it's unlikely you will want to bet your money on anything more risky.

Rather than a 'professional' adviser, do you have a friend or colleague who you judge to be good with money?

My brother is a retired commercial bank manager.

He has no professional expertise in personal finance, but his general feel for money is more than adequate to advise me on my modest personal exchequer.

 

[Cycleops]

That's a bit of a generalisation! It depends on housing costs, but [in the UK] as long as you don't have a mortgage or your rent does not exceed the housing benefit level by too much, then state pension + housing benefit + council tax benefit IS probably enough to get by on. It looks like I will end up on £13-14k p.a. but my costs will only be about £10k p.a.

Maybe it is but on your calculations of £3-4k pa to live on I'd say £330 a month is cutting it rather fine especially if you intend running a car

 

[ColinJ]

Maybe it is but on your calculations of £3-4k pa to live on I'd say £330 a month is cutting it rather fine especially if you intend running a car

The £10k p.a. is to live on - the £3-4k p.a. will be available for spending on bikes, holidays etc. but definitely no car! Once you bring cars into it, that's a different matter. For me, it is walk, cycle, or use my railcard on the trains to get 1/3 off fares.

 

[PaulB]

Ideally, you should have found an IFA before now. I regret leaving it as late as I did but I did my research and found the one I'm extremely happy with more than ten years ago. The difference between leaving my various pensions and savings where they were and where they are now are extraordinary and have paid for the investment I made in my IFA and the company he works with many, many times over. I can access my daily changes but choose not to and wait for the six-monthly updates and even during the worst of the fears from the pandemic days, I've never been less than very pleased as to the results. I have 41 more 'paydays' - before my definite retirement and intend to get by on as little as I can in that time to build up as much as possible for the no-working days beyond that.

 

[Deleted User]

Pension contributions are tax ifficient, I'm sure you're aware of this already, so if whoever you work for contribute more depending on what you do this is worth looking into. My company will match my contributions up to 10% of my salary so I 'max out' as its all pre tax. Is this something that's available to you?

 

[Mattk50]

On the assumption you have little savings then at 60 then it sounds like you won't be paying much tax in retirement so you should be putting it all in the pension scheme to get the tax relief especially if your employer is matching your contributions?

 

[yello]

if £450 is a lot of money to you you can't afford an IFA.

Almost a catch 22 isn't it? I've come to the conclusion that with my half bag of peanuts it'd cost me more for advice than that advice would save/earn. So I'm sailing knowingly off the edge of world....

...nah, not really, but definitely having to trust my own judgement. Unfortunately, like @Phaeton, I have very limited interest/motivation in matters of finance. I've spoken to IFAs in the past, and people knowledgeable (I think) in that area, but they speak a different language. I find myself becoming quickly confused/bored/disinterested and wanting to be anywhere else. I've made sure my state pension is to the max (voluntary contributions), I do my own tax returns and am efficient in running my own finances but beyond that, I'm pretty clueless.

In all seriousness, I think it's a problem in this day and age. We are supposed to be financially savvy, and it's our fault if we're not and we lose out financially. If we don't know then we are 'advised' to take advice. I sometimes read finance/money advice columns and see the catch-all advice of 'contact a financial advisor' time and again. It's almost a built in admission that it's all too complex for the ordinary person. Most people don't want to give a shoot about such stuff and neither should they be expected to.

Sorry, on my soap-box a wee bit there!

 

[Mattk50]

I don't think it's complicated. It's complicated because of all the red tape, spoken as an Accountant lol! You raise a good point. Make sure your 'stamp' is fully paid up!