Independent Financial Advisers like ourselves are dedicated professional
consultants committed to providing high quality unbiased financial advice
and there are safeguards in place to ensure that your financial future
and your money are in safe hands.
We are regulated by a Government agency called the Financial
Services Authority (the FSA) and are obliged to offer what we
used to call "best advice" but
is now termed "suitable advice" as 'best' is not an easily quantifiable
term. This means that we need to fully understand of your circumstances
by completing what is called a "Fact-Find" and then assess your
needs and requirements before advising on the choice of what we believe
to be the most suitable any financial products from our depth of knowledge.
We will then give you a detailed "reasons why" report on how
we decided on that product, describing its features and benefits in detail,
quoting accurate prices and costs and, finally, disclosing how much we
are being paid by the provider, if you have elected not to pay a fee. And
all this comes before you commit yourself to purchase anything.
The standard qualification is the
Financial Planning Certificate (FPC), and any reasonable adviser
should hold FPC 1, FPC 2 and FPC 3. There is also the "Advanced
FPC" which is less commonly held and then there are the specialist
qualifications such as membership of the Institute of Financial
Planning or other areas of specialization such as the pensions
and investment markets. Mortgage advice is now also covered by
the FSA and advisers on this subject must pass a Certificate in
Mortgage Advice Paper (CeMAP) qualification. |
We, like most IFA's are "General Practitioners" but
may we refer certain clients to specialists for mortgages, as an example.
However, there are some areas that are extremely specialised such as
corporate planning or pension transfers where we might recommend you
to see a specialist consultant.
You may prefer to deal with an IFA who will not provide advice but will
set up your investment, protection, pension or other financial product
on your behalf, often on a more cost effective basis than you could arrange
yourself.
In some larger organisations you may deal with several advisers. If you
prefer to deal with the same person all the time, you may well feel more
comfortable with a smaller organisation like ours.
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