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.
Qualifications
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. |
