In this latest video in our Getting Started series for first-time investors, JONATHAN HOLLOW takes us through the process you can take to find the right financial adviser for you and your investments.
TRANSCRIPT
In our book, How to Fund the Life You Want, Robin Powell and I devote a whole chapter to the question of how you find a really first rate financial adviser, and we take it in three stages. So the first stage is to document your financial life in the round – your savings, your investments, your plans – so that you can show this documentation to the adviser and help them to form a quick view.
Secondly, book some initial meetings with, say, two or three advisers, and these meetings should be free and they should last between 45 minutes and an hour. And then in each of those meetings, you’re really asking yourself several questions at once. So you’re saying, can I work with this person? Are they good at explaining things? Are they bought into the evidence based principles that we set out in our book? Are they always looking for ways to reduce the fees that I have to pay? And in the course of this first hour, have they actually provided any added value based on the information I’ve supplied them?
So it may take you a while to find a really good financial adviser who’s willing to work with you at a price that you want to pay. But I can assure you that when you find that person, it really will be well worth it.
ABOUT JONATHAN HOLLOW
JONATHAN HOLLOW worked for the UK Government’s Money and Pensions Service and is a writer and commentator on consumer education and protection. He is the co-author, with Robin Powell, of the award-winning book How to Fund the Life You Want, which is published by Bloomsbury.
ALSO IN THIS SERIES
Do I need a financial adviser?
When markets tumble, what should you do?
Should you invest in actively managed funds?
FIND A FINANCIAL PLANNER
It’s not essential nowadays to seek professional financial advice before you start to invest, but it is definitely a good idea to do so. We also recommend that everyone has a financial plan.
If you would like us to put you in touch with a financial planner in your area, who shares our evidence-based investment philosophy, just click here and send us your email address, and we’ll see if we can help.
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