Our family finances have got to the point that I’d really like to seek some professional advice about how to make everything work together – tax, pensions, mortgage(s), property equity, cash savings, investments, the kids money, etc etc.

My question is…. who should I be going to for this?

I suspect I need an accountant, rather than a financial adviser – but how does one choose an accountant (or a financial adviser for that matter)? Reluctant to just pick one from google.

Does anyone know what sort of an accountant I should be looking for? Or anyone have any direct recommendations? (“local” is not a requirement – as all our dealings with them would be remote anyway).

I appreciate that this is a bit of a first-world problem, but would appreciate some advice before doing the digital equivalent throwing a dart at the yellow pages.

Hargreaves Lansdown?

https://www.hl.co.uk/

https://www.hl.co.uk/financial-advice

Unless you have a LOT of money.

Unless you have a LOT of money.

I can confirm that I do not have A LOT of money!

Do Hargreaves Lansdown come with your recommendation?

Are you self employed/ltd company? If yes see an accountant who will help make you as tax efficient as you can

If you are just wanting to make the best use of disposable income, savings, investments etc then it’s a financial advisor

I can confirm that you will.never have enough money to suffice the children’s needs 😳

You need an IFA I’d have thought, that’s certainly who I’d be talking to.
Get local recommendations if you can, for individuals rather than for a firm in general, you’ll want to put some time aside to meet them and discuss rather than doing it online.
I know a good one in Birmingham if you’re in the midlands.

If you have the time and the inclination just about everything is available on the internet. Hargreaves Landsdown would be investment advice only.Don’t use a banks adviser as they are rebadged salespeople.Speak to a few IFA’s face to face and go with a gut feeling.You may find its less complicated than you think.

Yeah – the reason I’m slightly reluctant to just go down the ifa route was because (I think) they are primarily focussed on investment products, and what I’m looking for is somebody to take a more holistic view across our finances.

Happy to be told I’m wrong – maybe an IFA can/will do this?

IFAs are also rebadged sales people; they all hope to sell you a policy or two.

If you don’t want that you will probably need to agree to pay them a fee.

Happy to pay for advice

There are definitely some investment focused IFA’s but plenty offer a holistic service. Make sure they’re independent so an IFA not a “financial adviser”.
I work in the industry (sort of, on the edge of it anyway) and personally I’d avoid Hargreaves Landsdown and head to a local guy.

Thanks Lunge. Any opinion/experience of “chartered financial planners”?

Have a look at pensionwise, you have to be over ?55?, but they will review pension stuff and we also discussed other money stuff, get one hour free, the person I got knew the subjects well

Sorry, seems to be over 50

Sign up to the forums at Money Saving Expert. Lots of varied knowledge on there and it sounds like much of what you need is their sort of subject matter.

Chartered financial advisor is someone who’s quite high up the qualification pathway so they should know what they’re doing.
They may or may not be independent though.
Where are you based out of interest?

Thanks Lunge. That’s part of the complexity – we are currently based in Australia, but we are planning a move home relatively soon (brexit shenanigans permitting). The move back has got us thinking about our financial options in general

You might need to see more than one adviser. For your tax status you need a good accountant (ideally one with Chartered Tax qualifications, which most don’t have). Pensions and investments are more the realm of financial advisors (can of worms), but a good accountant will point you in the right direction after reviewing your estate. So in summary I would start with a Chartered accountant, the initial meeting will be free.

Thanks moshimonster, that’s kind of what I was thinking. Any idea how one goes about selecting an accountant…. short of googling it?

Avoid HL.
As for chartered financial planner, I use iWealth in Leeds; they are independent.

Thanks frank… will check them out

Avoid HL like the plague. They were peddling Woodfood funds right up until they tanked (whilst selling their own shares in his funds at the same time as promoting them).