What Most Financial Advisers Miss

The investment markets have seen unprecedented volatility in the recent 18 months or so, and we have been seeing more and more evidence of poor advice from many of the sources of Financial Advice in the UK market place.  This is something that the Financial Services Authority has also been concerned about and has recently launched a review into certain types of Pension Transfer Business carried out by Financial Advisers.   Over here at the Finance Zone (having seen the evidence) we are sure that many institutions and advisers are getting it wrong, and we feel it’s  time individual clients of these institutions and advisers were given the opportunity to learn some of the tricks or scams used by the Personal Finance Industry, along with being given the tools and or advice they need to make the most of their money.

  Some example concerns  are below:

· Charging Structures and Levels of Commission that are just plainly unacceptable. Some providers of Investment Bonds  will pay levels of commission that are in excess of 7%, compared with other forms of investment which have level of commission that are half that ( circa 3%) however for many personal investors these charges are not explained fully. Before you invest check the details.  

· The Taxation issues relating to some investment are not being  explained fully.     Since New Labour come to power there have been many changes to taxation and in our experience most financial advisers have not taken it into account the effect of these changes leaving many investors with products that are plainly not tax effecient.  

· The Choice of Investment Funds and the Range of these funds not in line with the Investors expectation of risk.   Examples of these are With Profit Funds, Distribution Funds, Gilt and Corporate Bond Funds along with Fully Managed Funds and Structured Funds (Products).  We have seen all sorts going on, many so called Investment Professionals are just missing the point or failing to understand the issues.

· Key Points If in the in the last 5 years you have purchased Pensions in the form of Income Drawdown/Alternatively Secured Pensions you  should take action to have these reviewed.  These plans can be very high risk and are not understood by many owners.

· If you have received any form of Investment Planning advice in the past 10 years you should check and review what was done and why.  Further as the stock markets start to bounce back to normality changes made now should improve the future performance of your investments overall.  

Richard Smith is an Independent Financial Adviser http://www.thefinancezone.co.uk/seminar providing advice and guidance on all Investment matters, review, update and planning.

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