Finding genuine independent Financial Advice can help you, whatever your financial situation is, to help you make the most of your money and investments can be crucial to getting it right. An independent financial adviser can be useful for anyone regardless of circumstances, not only to help make the most of money and investments but also to give good advice on loans, mortgages and debts.

IFA’s often have years of experience in dealing with financial products and can offer unbiased advice on a wide range of options tailored to your personal circumstances. In most cases, they can give you better advice than most high street lenders who tend to just plug their range of products, reducing your choice and thus reducing your chance of making the most of your financial situation.

What’s an IFA?
The term Financial Advisor includes three categories of people. There are ‘tied’ advisors, who work for a particular institution such as a bank or insurer, and offer only financial products provided by that company. There are ‘multi-tied’ advisors, who offer a broader range of products, but are still limited to certain companies. Then there are independent financial advisors (IFAs) who are not tied to anyone and can therefore offer whole-of-market advice.

The advantages of this are obvious: with more products on offer, an IFA is better placed to find the one that will best suit you. But crucially, this independence also removes an element of self-interest, because the financial advisor is not necessarily paid by the owner of the financial product he or she recommends. The option to charge by fee rather than commission is one of the defining characteristics of an IFA, and the reason they can be considered properly independent.

Getting Genuine Financial Advice
If you are about to spend money on getting the right financial advice, you will want to make sure the advice they give is genuinely independent, rather potential influenced by the IFA’s own degree of self-interest. Buy selling you products that could earn him commission and tied benefits. Before you exchange any money for the services of a IFA – they should initial offer you a free consultation to discuss your financial circumstances and their fees. If you subsequently decide to take the advice offered, you will need to pay the quoted fee, or opt to pay by commission (which may affect the value of any investments over time, since it can come out of your regular payments). Many financial products can only be organised through the services of an IFA, which means you cannot simply take the free advice and arrange them directly yourself.

Above all, you should expect transparency from your financial advisor. Their job is to give you the best possible advice on matters of investments, pensions, insurance, tax, inheritance planning, and so on. You should receive illustrations and projections of your chosen financial products, as well as clear explanations for why these products have been chosen. There should be no reason to doubt their impartiality, which is why the elimination of potential self-interest by charging a fee rather than commission can bring peace of mind. In other words, an independent financial advisor works for you – not for a big financial institution.

This article was supplied by impartial, trusted financial advisors in Norwich, Norfolk, SGWealthManagement.co.uk who serve individuals and organisations throughout Norfolk, East Anglia and the south-east.

This article was supplied by FSA regulated financial advice Norwich specialists SG Wealth Management who serve individuals and organisations throughout Norfolk, East Anglia and the south-east.