Now is by far the best time for good financial advice.
Why is it that although people have no compunction in seeking advice from doctors, dentists, lawyers, and other such professionals, when it comes to financial advisors, consideration would not appear to be that forthcoming. An IFA, or independent financial advisor is only approached when a savings plan or private pension plan is needed and it always seems to be at the last minute.
For those of you who don't already know an Independent Financial Advisor is a person who is independent of all the life insurance companies banks and financial institutions. A good one will actually work for you the client. Whilst a lot of them work on a commission basis this rarely effects the advice that they give you, due mainly to the fact that they are duty bound to give you best advice and furthermore they have to confirm why they have done what they have done for you in writing, and trust me if it is not the best advice then it is almost impossible to justify it.
Financial advisors can generally offer you any financial service available on the market. This will encompass life insurance, savings plans, pensions, mortgages and personal investments. Some can also offer you extras such as inheritance tax planning and will writing.
Now that's all well and good, I hear you say, but can I not get these products by simply taking a stroll down the high street on any given day. Yes you can, but the big difference is that an Independent Financial Advisor does not just sell these products. The companies sell the products, as such. If you require life insurance they will sell you life insurance but an IFA is there to advise you whether you actually require life insurance in the first place.
A financial advisors process will involve sitting down with you for a couple of hours going through all the things you currently have such as the policies that you already pay into. They will asses your attitude to risk which means they will establish how much risk you are prepared to associate with particular areas or you financial planning. They will also establish what you can afford and how much money you are prepared to commit to dealing with any particular need you may have.
Then they will look at your future financial aspirations. They will ask you about the quality of life you would like in the years to come. Maybe you would like to retire earlier in life, get sickness coverage to cover future events or pay your mortgage off before the term stated.
By asking all of these questions, an IFA is then able to ascertain what you need and what sort of budget you have available in order to achieve it. They can then create a personal profile and use it to go away and source what financial services best fit your needs and budget.
They will then come back to you and see if you think that the solutions fit your purposes. If you are happy with their proposals then they can proceed to put the financial plan in place for you.
You may think that this is the end of the process, but you would be wrong. It is also the job of an independent financial advisor to keep in contact with you every year to make sure that the services you have are still what you need. Circumstances change, and in doing so, the type of financial cover you have will also naturally shift. It is important to have a financial health check every so often to make sure you are properly protected.
So to summarise an independent financial advisors job entails gathering information about you and researching the best products for you then sitting down with you to ensure that you know exactly what you have and what they propose and then carrying out regular reviews to ensure that the advice stays current and relevant. So I think you will agree they are worth their weight in gold, especially in these financial times when we should all be reviewing what we have and most of all why we have it.
For those of you who don't already know an Independent Financial Advisor is a person who is independent of all the life insurance companies banks and financial institutions. A good one will actually work for you the client. Whilst a lot of them work on a commission basis this rarely effects the advice that they give you, due mainly to the fact that they are duty bound to give you best advice and furthermore they have to confirm why they have done what they have done for you in writing, and trust me if it is not the best advice then it is almost impossible to justify it.
Financial advisors can generally offer you any financial service available on the market. This will encompass life insurance, savings plans, pensions, mortgages and personal investments. Some can also offer you extras such as inheritance tax planning and will writing.
Now that's all well and good, I hear you say, but can I not get these products by simply taking a stroll down the high street on any given day. Yes you can, but the big difference is that an Independent Financial Advisor does not just sell these products. The companies sell the products, as such. If you require life insurance they will sell you life insurance but an IFA is there to advise you whether you actually require life insurance in the first place.
A financial advisors process will involve sitting down with you for a couple of hours going through all the things you currently have such as the policies that you already pay into. They will asses your attitude to risk which means they will establish how much risk you are prepared to associate with particular areas or you financial planning. They will also establish what you can afford and how much money you are prepared to commit to dealing with any particular need you may have.
Then they will look at your future financial aspirations. They will ask you about the quality of life you would like in the years to come. Maybe you would like to retire earlier in life, get sickness coverage to cover future events or pay your mortgage off before the term stated.
By asking all of these questions, an IFA is then able to ascertain what you need and what sort of budget you have available in order to achieve it. They can then create a personal profile and use it to go away and source what financial services best fit your needs and budget.
They will then come back to you and see if you think that the solutions fit your purposes. If you are happy with their proposals then they can proceed to put the financial plan in place for you.
You may think that this is the end of the process, but you would be wrong. It is also the job of an independent financial advisor to keep in contact with you every year to make sure that the services you have are still what you need. Circumstances change, and in doing so, the type of financial cover you have will also naturally shift. It is important to have a financial health check every so often to make sure you are properly protected.
So to summarise an independent financial advisors job entails gathering information about you and researching the best products for you then sitting down with you to ensure that you know exactly what you have and what they propose and then carrying out regular reviews to ensure that the advice stays current and relevant. So I think you will agree they are worth their weight in gold, especially in these financial times when we should all be reviewing what we have and most of all why we have it.
About the Author:
Good financial advisors can be very hard to come by so why not come along to Invest & Protect ltd we are specialists in offering independent financial advisors.
posted by Debt Consolidation Loan at
11:18 AM
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