10 Questions to Ask a Financial Advisor

When it comes to investing many people prefer to do it for themselves but there are times when you might want to get advice from a professional. So if you are going to use a financial adviser, in this video I cover 10 questions that you should ask them to make sure that are a good fit for you and that you are going to be happy with the service they provide as they can often be expensive so you don’t want to make a mistake!

What Else PensionCraft Offers:

Timestamps
00:00 Introduction
00:47 What is your investment philosophy?
02:57 Are you independent?
04:52 What services do you provide?
06:49 How do you add value?
08:44 How are you compensated?
10:56 Is it better to pay off my mortgage or invest?
11:50 What will our relationship be like?
13:02 Why did your last few clients leave?
14:28 Do you have a yacht?

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DISCLAIMER
All information is given for educational purposes and is not financial advice. Ramin does not provide recommendations and is not responsible for investment actions taken by viewers. Figures that are quoted refer to the past and past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

[djpuplex]

Fiduciary are extremely rare and only work with individuals who have a large amount to invest. There are also leeway in how stringent they are

[johnclements]

Some great advice, with the advice industry, advice is shrinking. It has never been more important that people seek professional advice, especially when it comes to IHT planning. Also there are benefits to medium term investing in active instruments in line with clients objectives and attitude to risk, staying in cash is not the long term solution! Clients are far better off over the medium to longer term having advice than a DIY approach, coupled with the right advisor!

[coderider]

My dad had his cousin manage his investments at retirement 2007 ish (lump sum), invested a few hundred k in things then never made any contact afterwards. Under pressure from other relatives reviewing things, he got another outfit which tweaked / changed a few things based on the 4-5 year. (Cousin was good and did what was expected) Years later the cousin made a angry comment about not knowing until he got a transfer request. Dad felt guilty but we point out there was no proactive management, not even an annual hello automated email.

[andreaisonline]

Thank you Ramin! So many things to learn…

[rafaelf]

Brilliant, as always, thanks Ramin !

[roger]

Tried to get an IFA to sign off on a DC pension with benefits move to my SIPP with another provider. All wanted a ridiculous percentage of my money for the advice with some wanting me to buy into their active funds.

I simply want a letter saying I've spoken to an expert 😅 and I'm allowed to move my money from an old expensive pension provider to my new cheap (ii) provider so I can use Ramin's advice and stick the money in an index tracker at 0.12 fee for an etf.

But no, everyone wants a piece of my pie and sell an active advice service because you know they are expert con artists oops I meant independent financially regulated advisors.

[wh]

Thank you, what a great topic, and a brilliant list of questions to ask

[jeremiahreilly]

Ah…the mortgage question. This is a good question because it seeks to test the judgment of the potential financial advisor. Based on your comments in this video, however, you seem to imply it that paying off a mortgage is purely an emotional decision. I do not know the tax implications and investment opportunities in the U.K. Looking at the decision from a USA perspective, it is important to "run the numbers, " as we say. The financial analysis depends on local real estate taxes, federal tax situation, income, the interest component of the mortgage, real estate transfer taxes, how long you intend to remain in the property, and the opportunity cost of investing. This complexity is why it is such a good question to put to the potential advisor.

[wh]

Thank you for a brilliant topic to cover, and a great list of things to ask

[paruff]

In the US I recommend using a “fee only” financial planner. Not for a fee, fee only. This is I play a fee and you provide me a financial plan. Then I consider a different choose consider the services, insurance, tax planning, estate planning etc.

[XXXTickerXXX]

I work in pensions and advice. We have a cap on how much we charge a client. But had someone trying to get advice on a defined benefit transfer of £130K and no one would help her. It was below our minimum and they had spoken to 5 FA's off Unbiased who wouldn't help either. It's hard to get advice on DB transfers less than 250K. Of course the default advice is don't touch it anyway.

[nikki_jp]

When we had a financial planner, inwas really frustrated as I wanted more advice and guidance on retirement planning (is ouur budget good enough, how much cash we needed, etc) but focused on the investment of funds. Maybe it was a mismatch of understanding between him, my partner and i but in the end i decided just to take matters into my own hands, and ensure i could understand what needed to be done and asked the Pension craft or Meaningful money community instead. I think we could have done with some advice specific to retirement but nit with the IFA we had. So ... I guess you need to be really clear what you want and whether the advisor really understands that

[stephenknig]

Great video. I just can't decide which IFA to choose. Not sure that I ever will. Some wealthy people drive old cars.

[alwinschiphorst]

Do you have a Yacht? Hahahaha, briliant!

[khiburgess]

In fairness to advisers regulatory costs and burden is so high and onerous the poor bastards seem to be forced down the AUM route.

[anthonymarler]

Ramin, should you ask; is the IFA regulated / Licensed, as the first most important question ?

[MARTINA-gctq]

Questions in order: 1. How much? 2. HOW MUCH!

[Andygb]

Question 1. Are your fees cheaper than those of an S&P 500 ETF?

[fasthracing]

An issue I have is that I took out a pension with a Financial Adviser about 10 years ago, (pension transfer) and I have seen from my latest statement that says I am paying him £700 a year yet he doesn't do anything at all. Not a thing. Thoughts?

[fredatlas]

How is the Vanguard Wellington fund run in the US. It appears to have done very well over a long time period. It looks like it has beaten Vanguards lifestrategy and balanced fund which are funds of passive funds automatically rebalanced