I'm getting to that age where I really need to think about what to do with my money when I retire. The pension pot isn't huge, but should be enough to keep me housed, warm and fed.... I think. And I've a few years of earning left (min 5, Max 10) that I can keep putting in money.
I am, I'll admit, a bit clueless when it comes to finances, and the options available to me to seem confusing and vague.
I clearly need some sound financial advice.
So, how do I make sure the IFA I go to is the right person for me? What are the things to lookout for, both good and bad?
Is there an equivalent place to STW for money that I can go to without fear of mockery and derision?
I'm not looking for any financial advice directly, just how to select the right person to talk to. Any knowledge shared gladly received.
I don't have an answer to your question but I like Meaningful Money and James Shack on Youtube for general financial advise. Both have lots of video's regarding pension/retirement advise.
I'm not really a fan of financial advisors, I've seen relatives receive poor advice and their fees will eat into your investments.
As above there is a wealth of information out there (I like James Shack too), you should educate yourself on it whether you decide to use an IFA or not. If you do decide to use an IFA then being armed with knowledge will help you decide if they are right for you.
At very least understanding where your current pension is invested, what fees it has, and whether that is appropriate for retiring in 5-10 years should be a priority.
Duplicate post, this site!
I've just turned 60 & have dropped to a 4 day week for a couple of years before retiring.
I wanted to consolidate 3 old pension pots into a sipp to prepare for retirement keeping my drawdown options flexible to provide an income to get me to state pension age of 67
Pensionwise was useful & free https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pension-wise
Martin Lewis website was full of useful info
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/pensions-annuities-retirement-planning
Unbiased were not very unbiased (only suggested one IFA) who I went see for a free consultation but they didn't fill me with confidence & wanted >£3k in fees to consolidate my pensions - I decided to do it myself & opened an Interactive investor sipp, all was straightforward & I've no regrets.
Drop me a message if you want a referral link to ii.
OP, please make sure you FULLY understand the real cost of an IFA in £ terms rather than merely in % terms.
For the huge majority of people, the information is in the public domain and is relatively simple to get access to.
What's important is to understand your objectives and future needs, understand wrappers and understand what risk level you're happy with.
If you haven't done it, you need to create a spreadsheet encompassing this to give yourself clarity.
All of the above shouldn't need the huge cost of an IFA.
Yes, you can DIY but not everyone is happy to. You can service your own car too, there's loads of videos on line for that. And, unpopular as it sounds as a regular reader of the 'How much do I need to retire?' thread I'm not convinced that a self selecting group of recently retired MTBers are quite as sorted as they think, yes their pensions are serving them admirably now but in 20 or 25 years time, I worry some will be running out and wish they'd been more careful or taken advice.
There's also whenever a thread like this is posted a bit of a rush from those that self-manage, telling how easy it is and only a fool would PAY someone to do it for them, so much so that as someone who isn't confident to make the right choices, lacks the time to research it all properly, doesn't know the implications of future potential IHT changes, etc., etc., agonises over whether to post at all because I'll just be called a fool again. I don't know how many others feel the same and so whether you get a real balanced answer. Vis a vis, asking for help to choose an IFA and up to me starting this post the first 4 answers are telling you not to.
So. To answer the question asked; I asked around a few places, including in my cycling club which had a few high net worth individuals (Surrey cyclists, who knew!) and from that spoke to a shortlist of recommendations. In the end I chose a firm with a premises and a history, and the adviser there being not too old (so will be retiring themselves and passing the account on to someone I didn't connect to) and dare i say it, not too young. So, talk to a few and see which one listens to you and understands your assumptions, plans, aspirations, etc. I 'knew' fairly quickly which of the two on the very shortlist I was considering and then looked at fee structures. I also knew which it wasn't going to be.
Yes, I paid a sum for the survey and recommendations and they are taking a % on the investments, which is costing me money vs DIY. but I consider it worth paying. As is clear OMMV.
And don't be afraid to argue and challenge. They are making a cut on your money so make them work for it, and they may recommend additional investments too but if you can't afford them don't take them (not mis-selling, rather 'this is your projections, but if you put some more in this is the difference it makes' - and I am savvy enough to be able to check the maths on that)
So, how do I make sure the IFA I go to is the right person for me? What are the things to lookout for, both good and bad?
I'm not looking for any financial advice directly, just how to select the right person to talk to. Any knowledge shared gladly received
As is so aften the case, many of the replies above haven't actually answered the question that ( I think ) the OP actually asked. < Exc JohnVwhose past I didn't see before posting here>And the reason for that is covered in those very same answers.
Unless you know / can learn a reasonable amount about it yourself then it's very difficult to know if an FA is providing value. Like so many things in life, you need a recommendation from someone you trust with good financial knowledge. Ask them for a recommendation or a contact who had a recommendation.
The problem you'll have is that many people will make a recommendation based on lack of knowledge. They don't know enough to know they're being ripped off. They might happily say X is excellent and made me y amount of money, but if they don't understand finance then it's worthless.
My mum for example is paying an FA about 2% PA to manage a small portfolio which includes some ridiculous bond and an ISA. She is well happy with it but the fact is that the FA made far more over the last 6 years than she did.
Apart from recommendations, the other ( not very good) option is to force yourself to learn a bit about a particular area and then discuss that with them without letting them know you know... Are they bullshitting you? Does what they day tie in with what you know? Are they evading questions? If the answers are positive then perhaps you can trust them with your finances.
I'm not really a fan of financial advisors, I've seen relatives receive poor advice and their fees will eat into your investments.
Mainly agree
As above there is a wealth of information out there (I like James Shack too), you should educate yourself on it whether you decide to use an IFA or not. If you do decide to use an IFA then being armed with knowledge will help you decide if they are right for you.
At very least understanding where your current pension is invested, what fees it has, and whether that is appropriate for retiring in 5-10 years should be a priority.
Totally agree
decided to do it myself & opened an Interactive investor sipp, all was straightforward& I've no regrets.
Totally agree
OP, please make sure you FULLY understand the real cost of an IFA in £ terms rather than merely in % terms.
Totally agree
and understand what risk level you're happy with
This is one I would be careful with. <IMHO>Bear in mind that when people talk about lower risk investments what they mean is the risk of it tanking is low. What they probably won't tell you is that the risk of it making a very mediocre return is actually very high and that if your goal is to get a decent return over a long period then " low risk " investments are actually very high risk </ IMHO>
Keen to get others views on this last point.
Theotherjohnv makes a good point here:
bit of a rush from those that self-manage, telling how easy it is and only a fool would PAY someone to do it for them,
I just want to qualify/ correct it. I self manage my finances and will continue to do so. There is no way I would hand it all over to an FA to manage, BUT I sure as hell will engage one at the time to tell me what they know, pick holes in my plan and offer advice on the other bits I need. The thing is that I will independently check and challenge everything he says.
I will use their knowledge to add to mine. I will use my knowledge to assess theirs and then happily take on the good bits of what they say. I will happily pay them for that knowledge.
But I won't blindly pay and trust them
The OP however probably doesn't want to go through that shit, so he has a challenge. Which I think is best done by finding an ( informed and c*****) acquaintance who has and aski him
I’ve got one, and I’m paying for their service. As mentioned above, you can do it yourself, like most things in life, or pay someone to do it, who does it for a living. I was in a particularly chaotic part of my life though, coming up to 55 and losing both parents, and Mrs Rocks remaining parent in the space of 18months. So we had inheritance to manage, and where best to put that. We met two recommended Advisors and one I gelled with, so went with him. Consolidated some old workplace pensions and got excellent advice on tax minimisation. So that paid for itself in a time of confusion. I’m currently on a three-day contract with my employer, and will probably leave at the end of this year and start to draw from the pension. I think, at that point, the value of the IFA may be questionable, so that might be the time for me to leave them.
Is it good value, it doesn’t feel it tbh, but had I not gone to one, I would have been in a much worse financial position now. So I suppose it is good value. They didn’t do anything magic, but good advice and clarity was worth it when I couldn’t think straight for myself.
On that last point above, one of my previous workplace pensions that was looked had had started “lifestyling”, effectively moved into safe assets, but wasn’t going to grow much better than a cash ISA. As above, it’s very safe to put cash under the mattress, but it won’t be worth anything in ten years.
TL:DR. Ask around and get recommendations. A decent IFA should really offer a free overview meeting. See who you gel with and gets what you are looking for.
Vis a vis, asking for help to choose an IFA and up to me starting this post the first 4 answers are telling you not to.
I didn't tell them not to. I said I didn't like the ones I had seen and that you need to educate yourself anyway, whichever route you choose.
About 30 years ago I used an IFA to set up a mortgage and was talked into an endowment and a whole life insurance policy.
In retrospect the advisor selected products that gave him the highest commission rather than those that fitted my needs. Endowments were just starting to be seriously questioned at the time. I was mid-20s with no dependents so the whole life cover was over the top.
I was royally ripped off and it was made worse by the fact that the advisor was the brother of a close friend so I thought I could trust him. He even got me to install a network linking their offices PC's together and allowing them to share a printer. I had to get the train from Reading to London to do that and spent a whole Saturday doing it. In return I got bought a curry - no refund of the train ticket or any other compensation.
After a few years I cashed in the endowment and moved to an offset mortgage which worked brilliantly for me. I researched that myself in a few hours and it saved me thousands in interest payments.
The whole life thing ran for maybe ten years until I reviewed my direct debits and questioned what I was getting. It was very expensive and I got better cover for less than half the price after a bit of internet research.
I am sure that there may be honest IFA's out there who genuinely try to do the best for clients but for the average person I think spending time researching the options yourself is a far better choice.
About 30 years ago I used an IFA to set up a mortgage and was talked into an endowment and a whole life insurance policy.
As someone whose work is financial services adjacent, financial advice was very much Wild West 30 years ago. Any experience pre-RDR (2012 I think) will be very different to what you get now.
In terms of finding the right one, I'd be looking for someone who's chartered and not just has a diploma. At very least that says they care about their professional development. Bar that it's as above, get some recommendations and have some initial chats.
I'm into dodgy territory here, but some people in the industry would say to look at their age/year of experience. Someone who's been doing it 30 years may not be as up to date as someone who's not been in the game as long. There's clearly a balance to be made but I'm not sure I'd be using someone close to retirement age or someone with 2 years post qualification experience. (Let the flaming commence...)
we went to 2 different advisors recently (one for us one for the wifes parents) both were scarily crap and both came across like they were on the comission game.
There are a few youtube and podcasts that are really quite good. rebel finance school etc. dont say anything groundbreakign but its nice to be re-assured.
Any thread about financial advice is fairly self-selecting as people who know (they think) about investments etc it will jump on and tell you what they (think) they know, and people who don't (who are the people most likely to need advice) will not.
The former group are the most likely to self-manage, the latter are the most likely to need advice. The problem is that, if the latter group read threads full of the former group saying "it's dead easy, don't pay an advisor, you just need to {insert financial waffle here....}", they may think...
- I shouldn't get an advisor, I should do it myself
- it sounds a bit complicated, I need to do some more reading up
- I'll definitely get around to that at some point
... and then do nothing, which is the worst thing to do.
If you know nothing or very little about pension finances, there's nothing wrong with getting advice, in the same way that if you know nothing about plumbing and you had a leak, you'd get a plumber. There's nothing wrong with paying for that advice in the same way that there's nothing wring with paying for someone to service your car, even though you could do that yourself if you wanted to.
I've worked in financial services for about thirty years and my take on financial advisors is this - they are like any other sales role (because that's what it is); 90% of them are interested in making the sale, 10% are interested in giving the customer the best advice. So, as above, speak to a few before committing. I would treat personal recommendations with a pinch of salt, cos how many people are going to tell you, i.e. would they actually know or admit, that their financial advisor is not very good.
And avoid SJP.
I would say that you are *unlikely to find the right financial advisor without educating yourself financially. If you sit down at the Poker table and can't work out who the Patsy is...
And once you've educated yourself financially, a lot of the need for a financial advisor disappears.
If I were starting again, I'd start by reading Morgan Housel's "The Psychology of Money". Then I'd follow up with Tim Hale's "Smarter Investing".
The second one is much more technical, but it does include a chapter on whether you should use an IFA and a checklist to maximise your chances of finding a good one.
Monevator is a useful site.
Avoid Reddit like the plague.
I also wouldn't take any advice from anyone on this site who's not directing you to other specific resources, there's some terrible advice given.
I find the Youtubers ok, but prone to recency bias and optimism - S&P tilts, moneymarket funds and cryptocurrency to give some examples. You also need to be aware that what may be good advise to Americans doesn't necessarily apply to the rest of the world and vice versa.
TL:DR read "Smarter Investing" by Tim Hale to both give you a far better answer to your question than you'll get on here and some knowledge to inform your decision - I'll not copy it because I don't think it would be ethical.
*edited to remove hyperbole
90% of them are interested in making the sale, 10% are interested in giving the customer the best advice
........coming from someone who's in the industry, they're really shitty odds.
Your investments, especially when it comes to your retirement are about as important as it gets, and can mean the difference between purely existing or enjoying your retirement, which could be 20-30+ years of your life.
Whether you're going to use an IFA or not, everyone should spend time to understand their options and what's available to them. There is a huge wealth of knowledge at our finger tips, You tube, MSE forum, even here, it's never been easier, but it takes time to learn and understand.
I'm another that wont use an IFA due to past experiences, caught up in the Equitable Life mess early days, an endowment policy that the FA at the time did very well out of and the company appointed IFA linked to our stakeholder pensions who never actioned anything discussed in meetings.
Find an independent one and have a chat. Costs nothing.
When I mean independent, not linked directly to the funds like SJP, Pru etc
I used unbiased.co.uk to find a suitable IFA - there were none local, so I went nationwide. I’m now working with an IFA to consolidate 4 private pensions into one. The old products were pretty limited in that they only offered an annuity purchase whereas now I have flexible drawdown plus the option to pass it on to Mrs DB. I also have a defined benefit pension plus other investments plus planning on still working at least part-time. Previously I did get mis-sold an endowment mortgage back in 1990 that underperformed by £35k and only received £8k in compensation.
I'm in a similar position to the OP - mid-50's, 5 pensions and wanting to know what best to do with them for the next decade or so. I find it hard to be interested in this sort of thing, and so will probably procrastinate the years away if not guided.
The IFA I got from Unbiased want approx £12k to do the initial review (while quoting £200 an hour for ad hoc work... so the review is going to take 60 hours, is it? Really?) which has already scared me off them. Most don't publish fees in advance, and I've not got a load of free weekday time to take up all the free first meetings. I'm sure that an IFA will more than likely leave me better off in the long run, but £12k is just taking the mick.
(Incidentally, the will/trust/LPA company that IFA mentioned I could use wanted £3.5k to write a standard will with trust inclusions for our disabled daughter and got a bit pushy when I said leave the consultation until I've researched if that is a reasonable rate... puts me right off)
What's really annoying me is that it seems very, very difficult to find out the fees, performance and any other features of the pensions I have now, they all seem to bury this info very deep and then don't make it obvious what applies to you and what doesn't, etc etc, so I am struggling to even know how what I currently have is doing.
If all you need to do is consolidate a few different pensions into 1 provider then that really is something you can do yourself at no cost and really very little effort.
If you dont understand what happens to DB or Sipp funds when its time to start getting money out ( now , or in 3 -5 years time ) then by all means pay professional for advice on the details of drawdown , annuities , risk exposure V growth and tax implications.
Some people can build a wall , but most will pay a bricklayer. Finding a good bricklayer is where the problems start.
Always remember though , No IFA owns a 100% accurate crystal ball and any recomendations for specific funds will be based on a hunch / guesswork / commision . Just because you are paying them does not make them any better at picking funds that will even match the market , let alone out perform it.
I'm getting to that age where I really need to think about what to do with my money when I retire
Better late than later.
first gather your own financial information. List what pensions you have, what kinds of pensions they are, who they are with, what value the have, what their terms are, and so on. Assess your incomings and outgoings and assemble a budget. List your other accounts and their values. List your main assets and their values. List your liabilities/commitments and their costs.
you’ll need that kind of stuff in any reasonable IFA discussion. it’s best if you have seen it and done some work to understand what your status is before being set a ‘deadline’ to gather it together for any subsequent meeting.
Some of your pensions may offer good terms for consolidation and it is helpful to know about these before being sold on a new platform.
some of your pensions might be Defined Benefits and it is usually ill-advised to meddle with these. If some have extra features like death benefits or spousal pension benefits even more ill-advised to meddle.
Picking an IFA is just like any looking for any other service like choosing a surgeon, bricklayer (as folks have said), or garage mechanic. Shop around for the one that meets at least a minimum standard, that you can have informed discussion with, and whose record is OK. As folks have said, avoid certain companies based on reputation and go for someone who is not tied to any particular company’s products.
I’d agree with folks who’ve advised you attain some level of financial/pension literacy and the resources mentioned all could help. Pension wise and money helper might be your best early stops. https://www.moneyhelper.org.uk/en/pensions-and-retirement/pension-wise
edit. This long ramble of course ignores your plea for the name of an advisor. Honestly, get some education first and then you’ll know what you’re looking for. I’ve had several advisors over the years. I could recommend either of my two most recent ones. In my 20s my first advisor was ‘independent’ and contacted via my union. I got some good products but some poor advice on pensions that it took me a decade to realise how poor. I had plenty of time to learn and get that fixed. You might not have as much with your plan to retire soon.
Always remember though , No IFA owns a 100% accurate crystal ball and any recomendations for specific funds will be based on a hunch / guesswork / commision . Just because you are paying them does not make them any better at picking funds that will even match the market , let alone out perform it.
The same caveat applies to people picking their own funds/investments.
Be mindful also that FAs will have access to products and some investments that are not generally available to Joe public and are accessible via an 'adviser led' route only.
Having worked in the advice sector for 25 years in a number of roles from advising to compliance and advice checking, there are scenarios where an adviser can add real value but in general (especially in pre-retirement accumulation phase), you could get away without advice if you are financially literate and prepared to do the legwork. Its like basic plumbing or electrical work that there's no point in paying a professional for when you can DIY.
However, for high earners/high net worth or post retirement, I would urge people to seek advice as there's higher complexity and a good adviser can really make a difference. Ideally look for an adviser who charges flat fees for work rather than percentages and check to see that they are truly independent, not wedded to some platform/centralised investment proposition that's always employed.
Bear in mind that when people talk about lower risk investments what they mean is the risk of it tanking is low. What they probably won't tell you is that the risk of it making a very mediocre return is actually very high and that if your goal is to get a decent return over a long period then " low risk " investments are actually very high risk
You are correct. Cash in the mattress could be considered the "lowest" risk investment of all, when in reality you're losing money every year. Even cash in the bank barely beats inflation, and has had decades when it has been behind in the past.
The reason that we get better than inflation returns with investments is because we are taking on risk due to price volatility and we get paid for it. The trick is finding the optimum way to get paid for taking on that risk.
Lots of talk about consolidation of pots. Çan I ask what the benefits of this is?
Is it simply ease of administration or am I missing something big?
I've got my pensions scattered between 6 different providers and my ISAs split over 5 because:
- It seems safer in case one goes bust
- It seems safer if one of them ( including me,) makes some shit investment decisions. ( Looking at you here L&G you useless tossers)
- It seems safer if someone manages to hack into my password and drain the account
- The fees all seem to be percentage based so makes no difference if to hey are separate or one ( unless one charges higher perc obvs)
Pensions invested through a provider, whether DC or DB are covered by FSCS. DB may only be to 90%, if no-one offers to take over the scheme. DC, 100%. There are some exceptions but generally very safe.
SIPPs are limited to 85k (per provider I think) - bear in mind those that are self investing.
https://www.fscs.org.uk/what-we-cover/pensions/
So there's no real harm to consolidating from that PoV. You can split your funds within a consolidated pension still to diversify risk, my pension is in multiple funds covering a variety of risk profiles, etc. but managed within one wrapper.
One thing I was unaware of, is that some company / group pension plans are cheap because they are all about paying in and growing, and not about getting out. So some of the 7 that I consolidated were limited in future withdrawal options, and you might need to transfer them at retirement to enable more flexible withdrawal. If you're paying a % of the pots for that, you might consider doing it before the pot has reached its max.
And yes, you need to be aware of fees vs return; cheapest or most expensive may not actually be.
You also need to be careful that you do not lose any "protected rights" when you transfer a pension - older ones can have higher tax free cash options eg 33% or 50%- if you transfer the pension it will drop to 25%.
Another meaningful money fan here. It really is worth listening to.
Fwiw I DIY too. Best thing is on the above pod listener questions, where the answers are what I m already doing.
Really good info on there and v little jargon.
I can see why ifa s exist, various family members use them as they just have no interest in DIY. I actually enjoy it and researching new ideas.
I believe that if a platform goes bust, your investments are (mostly, dependent on their exact type) ring fenced, so it's not so much that you'll lose them, just that it may take you some time to access them again.
I can see why ifa s exist
So can I, it's just their marketing and billing structure/opaqueness that I have a problem with, plus for the majority, the advice they give is absolute gash. The problem is, once you know enough to not be taken advantage of, there's very little value for them to add IMO.
they just have no interest in DIY
That's pretty much why I have a "money man". I have a maths degree, worked in data analysis, have traits of obsessive hyper focus so on paper I should be able to harvest all the information I need and diy, but the financial world has always had absolutely zero appeal for me. I've got some DIY investments but have learned that I'm crap at managing them so taking charge of the whole lot is a recipe for disaster.
Maybe it's just me, but I *cannot* understand the mindset of perfectly intelligent and capable people not wanting to spend a few days effort for a marginal rate of possibly 10s-100s £thousands per day.
And that's really NOT an exaggeration.
Some products you can't buy direct, only sold through ifa s. Admittedly they are pretty niche so not for the mass market.
Ifa fees for transacting these are 3%.
Nice work if you can get it. Client takes all the risk, ifa gets paid on day 1 irrespective of future law changes.
I *cannot* understand the mindset of perfectly intelligent and capable people not wanting to spend a few days effort for a marginal rate of possibly 10s-100s £thousands per day.
Ok, and how do you feel about non numerally intelligent and incapable people not wanting to etc?
I'm not referring to anyone in this thread but it may come as a shock to you but not everyone is good at numbers and can understand finance.
Rustynissanprairie ( and others) would be utterly gobsmacked by my complete and utter lack of knowledge about cars and my complete inability to do simple jobs on them. To me it's a no brainer that I need to put myself at the mercy of someone who does fully understand them and is capable of fixing them.
I stress over finding a garage to take my car to as I'm completely at the mercy of the garage.
I can totally understand that there are people with a similar view on investments and pensions.
Vive la* difference.
* Le, la, I dunno I don't speak Italian.
But that's the whole point, you don't need to be good at numbers and understand finance. There are levels of complexity and sophistication in investing, but companies like Vanguard have made it really simple to set things up for yourself.
If you're intelligent enough to post on a forum and use the internet, then you can manage your own finances. Set up a target date retirement fund, pay into it, save yourself 1% per year IFA fee, buy an annuity when it's done. The fund will do pretty much everything for you.
Do these ' special ' ifa only portfolios have access to shares and bonds that are unavailable to Joe public to buy on aim or FTSE ? Or are they actively managed funds with a fund manager/ team who trade daily and try to beat the market return by day trading options or long , short stock movement.
Investing is the most basic form of financial planning and not worth paying for unless you're very high net worth or want to access specialist investments.
Changing an oil filter on a car is the most basic form of mechanical maintenance and not worth paying for unless your car is exceedingly expensive or you want access to special performance engine oil
Do these ' special ' ifa only portfolios have access to shares and bonds that are unavailable to Joe public to buy on aim or FTSE ? Or are they actively managed funds with a fund manager/ team who trade daily and try to beat the market return by day trading options or long , short stock movement.
In part yes, they may utilise institutional share classes that you can't access directly. Some may have in house investment manages that again you can't access on a platform directly. Advice firms can also negotiate discounted platform terms, which can be significant.
In terms of pension consolidation, it's always worth looking at any existing workplace pensions as a vehicle first before considering a third party contract. Whilst some may have limited benefit or investment flexibility, they are generally very cost effective as employers can subsidize (sometimes all of the plan charges) and you only pay for investment costs.
Changing an oil filter on a car is the most basic form of mechanical maintenance and not worth paying for unless your car is exceedingly expensive or you want access to special performance engine oil
I'm sure I could do it. However I'd need suitable tools, containers and a safe place to do it. It's also a dirty job, and there's the hassle of disposing of the old oil. Also as it gets bundled in with a lot of other jobs that are done when the car is serviced, I suspect that the marginal cost of having someone do it for me is low.
Hi everyone and thanks to you all for the advice posted so far.
It's been a busy couple of days, so I haven't had time to properly read and fully digest what's been said, but I'll get there in the end.
My personal situation is actually very basic. There's only one main pension scheme to deal with, and it's been performing well. Any losses have always bounced back in the long run and achieved there stated growth targets. I have a very small pension in an Australian scheme, (I lived in New Zealand and worked for a few years on ships in the Australian oil fields).
My parents house is held in trust between them, my brother and myself. Nothing complicated there.
We have a quite healthy pot of savings, which we probably could have invested. However, I work in a very dynamic "Hire em/Fire em" industry, so we like to have a decent amount to fall back on that's not locked away in a hard to access fund/scheme.
As for the advice I'm looking for, it's more along the lines of:
- what are my options,
- what are the pros and cons,
- what risks are involved.
As quite a few of you have mentioned, I'll be best placed improving my financial knowledge and getting a better understanding of investment jargon etc etc. Unfortunately, for my most of my family and close friends have all landed in jobs where they have nice final salary pension schemes to look forward to, so have had no real need for IFA. Therefore, they have no real knowledge to share. They all know that when they hit age X, they will get a known income for the rest of their days, (lucky buggers...).
I'll keep returning to this thread and comment/reply when I get the chance!
