So I’m down at my parents and they’re off to nat west tomorrow to talk about investing nearly 100k that it turns out has been sat in their current account for over a year.

They’re not doddery old fools but have just never had this much money before.

3 months ago they started trying to get some financial advice off nat west, 3 months down the line and the **** there keeps rearranging appointments, having meetings without supervision which leads to having to have the meeting again and changing his mind on what they should invest in. They have no confidence in the individual but keep reassuring themselves that because its a big name bank they’re not going to be **** about.

Anyway, what I’m after is advice on where to get financial advice really for a couple of risk averse old folk, one retired and one higher rate tax payer in south London that won’t dick them about. They’ve already paid nat west 500 quid 3 months ago and still not got any advice!

We’ve been impressed by HSBC. They have very low fees (for the financial industry) and some interesting products, which have done well for us.

However with the recent changes in commission for financial investments there seem to be lots of changes going on. Maybe that is part of the reason why NatWest have been so poor?

I’d get both their limits into an isa right now. Go and do it online. then do the same again next week in the new tax year.

If you have that much to invest you really need Independant advice. Natwest will only be able to sell you their products and not offer anything else which may be on the market (and maybe a better deal)

I used to work with these guys
http://www.theovalgroup.com/people

Get intouch with either Gill Millen or Jonathan Howard and they’ll be able to give your parents some independent advice. Probably at the same cost as Natwest as well

do not get financial advice from a bank, they can only advise on products offered by that bank, and this might not always be best.

try unbiased.co.uk – to find a local independent financial adviser

but yeah fill up ISA’s as above, is a good start though

Nickjb speaks wise words! Good way to take care of a decent chunk of it.

Def the ISA plan, think a couple can put just over £11k in per year, do the same again next week and thats £23k ish tax free and getting around 3% (which isnt a lot but all you cn get these days)

Be wary of some advice, after my mam died at New Year I found out she had been advised by her bank (northern rock) to invest £10k she had in an isa with L&G bond (not tax free, and not exactly low risk) not very happy with the whole thing and have spent some time trying to make appointments with those responsible.

good luck

I know a few people who are sticking any spare money they have into premium bonds as they think that the stock market is a bit volatile at the moment.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket and spread it around in different types of investments. And only the first 50k is protected if the bank goes bust.

And if its too good to be true, it probably is – anything paying more than 5% over a couple of years probably is.

Try fundsmith – the T class in an ISA would be good for maybe a third? v low cost and low risk investment but v savvy.

otherwise, just spread it around. Really you / they have to ask – what do we want? (steady income for rest of our lives, leave a bit to the kids etc) and then how much risk can they handle? If low risk (logical at older age) then all the cool stuff like developing markets or mining shares or commodities or Ukrainian land speculation etc is off limits. I would hope!

Whatever they do, avoid Bonds of all varieties and avoid anything that sounds too good to be true. And don’t leave it in a bank.

Good luck.

As others have said, you’re not getting financial advice from the bank. They can only sell you their own limited range of products.

Given the amount of money it sounds like they need some proper advice. Find an independent advisor.

From my own dealings with Natwest I wouldn’t touch them.

£22k into ISAs
£50k into gold
£25k into premium bonds
£3k for a new bike for you
easy

The protection level is now £85k.

Be aware that the guarantee is per institution – e.g. if you have £100k total saved across two banks which are in fact the same institution then only the first £85k will be protected. However, the protection is per person so if you save as above but split it between accounts in two different names the full amount will be guaranteed.

Have they got any mortgage/debt? Getting rid of that would be my #1 priority, then think about investing.

£22k into ISAs
£50k into gold
£25k into premium bonds
£3k for a new bike for you

the 1st (and last) sound fine to me.

Cash ISAs can only have 1/2 what can go into a shares ISA; I’d be maxing out on Unit Trusts for each financial year and keeping the rest in a 12 month savings account.

Before getting any investment advice, they should work out what they are looking to achieve, whether that be additional income now, or in the future, or leave money to children etc etc. A good adviser will help them do this.

Before getting any investment advice, they should work out what they are looking to achieve, whether that be additional income now, or in the future, or leave money to children etc etc. A good adviser will help them do this.

A good financial advisor will do all that, and then give you time to think about it.

Personally wouldnt go to Natwest, they will only sell Natwest products.

Plus £100k is too much with one bank, it wouldnt be protected if the bank went under. They need to get it out of 1 bank asap.

We’ve used the HSBC financial adviser.
The financial adviser was independant and commission went to HSBC not the adviser( although this may have changed to per hour fee and not commission).They do have in house advisers who sell only HSBC products.
Compared to my last adviser who worked independently from an office i had far more confidence in the banks adviser.
IFA’s will be tempted to push the products that pay the highest commission,as commission is generally paid to them each year the investment is running.
All the 5 investments advised to me by HSBC have been running for about 4 years,all with a very good return (so far ).