Independent Financial Advisor Scotland

It is commonly held that IFAs can search the entire marketplace for the best products. However Royal Bank of Scotland private banking tell me their products (publicly advertised on their site) are not available to IFAs. Do IFAs know about these (potentially better products) or not? If a better product is available in the market but not to the IFA is it not a conflict of interest for the IFA to sell the customer an inferior product knowing there is a more suitable product they don't earn any commission on?

So RBS is trying to tell you that IFA's don't have Internet access or are too dumb to type YOUR details into RBS web site ?

What a load of b*llsh*t ... RBS is just trying to avoid you getting a better deal elsewhere i.e. con you into signing up with their 'secret' (only published to the whole world) 'better' (if only compared to other RBS) product ...

If you are with RBS Private banking you must be very rich (only the very rich and very poor** pay someone else to manage their finances) so I suggest you ask your Accountant

**'normal' people who refuse to learn how to manage their own finances soon end up in the 'very poor' category with an IVA ...

2007-09-10 15:28:31 by siliconglen

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How do i go about finding a decent IFA in the uk (scotland) and how much should i expect to pay?

All IFAs have to be registered with the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Check their website www.fsa.gov.uk You can find by name or town - eg. search for Edinburgh. It will give you a list of advisers in that town. Find out their area of expertise - if you want advice on pensions, make sure they have a G60 qualified adver, or investments etc.

The questions you need to ask are

Do you work on a fee only basis or fees/commission? For general advice you can expect to pay from £75 upwards for a consultation, depending on the level of adviser you speak to although this can be rebated if you place business with them and they receive a commission from a company.

Ask if they are directly regulated

Ask if they are tied to any particular provider - some IFAs will only use 3 or 4 providers who pay them the best commissions

Ask for references - a decent IFA will be more than happy to give you the name of a client or clients who they have done work for.

Make sure you are given a Terms of Business letter at the outset and read it before signing.

Make sure a Fact Find is completed thoroughly.

Make sure you have a written financial report before making a decision.

Never make a cheque or bank draft or transfer payable to the company for an investment etc.

Make sure you receive a proper invoice from the company for all work carried out for you.

Hope this helps

2007-09-11 05:25:58 by girlie

If as claimed by Westminster, Scotland receives a lot more money from Westminster than it puts in, why do English MP's always resist the idea of an Independent Scotland, surley this is bad management, most financial advisers would recommend getting rid of non profit making sections of a business, and at the end of the day thats one of the main functions of Westminster, to balance the books, the same as any other business

It is the same situation with the E.U, I think that we pay a lot more in than we get out of it to subsidise the uneconomic European farmers (especially the French) who according to the newspapers are laughing at us and also the ridiculous human rights clauses. Before the E.U. we were an independent nation now we seem to be controlled by Brussels. I suggest we get our Independence back then we can sort our own problems out

2006-11-26 09:17:37 by BobC