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The only way to choose a financial planner

by | Aug 6, 2018 | General News

You can spend your life working hard and following all the advice you pick up along the way. If you’re financially savvy, you might be able to pay off your mortgage quickly, put plenty into savings and build a nice nest egg to retire with.

Getting a financial planner to guide you through the process can be a great idea, but when you hand someone the keys to your capital, you want to make sure they know what they’re doing.

There are plenty of excellent financial planners out there whose services are well worth employing; there are also some that will unfortunately lead you into hidden fees and tax-planning blunders and not grow your nest egg as much as you’d like.

Picking the right one is important, so how should you go about doing that if you don’t have an adviser already?

The generally accepted theory is that a personal recommendation from a trusted friend or colleague is the most fool proof way to find a good financial planner. People often consider advice from those with high salaries as reputable, taking the “if they’re good enough for them, they’re good enough for me” approach.

We’re proud to say that we’re recommended by a very high percentage of our clients, but there are valid questions around whether this is the best way to choose your planner.

As a society in general, we’re not particularly financially literate. The chances of your next-door neighbour, sister in law or your colleague knowing what constitutes a good financial planner better than you do yourself might be considered unlikely.

Having the skills or knowledge to command a high wage is not the same as knowing what’s best to do with that money, or how to judge the decisions of your financial planner.

If you are sitting with the right financial planner for you the following should happen:

  1. You should feel that you’re being listened to;
  2. The planner should be asking you these types of questions TCFP_Questionaire;
  3. You should be discussing these outcomes TCFP_Great Planning Outcomes;
  4. You should start thinking differently about your situation, your life, your finances;
  5. New thoughts about what is possible should appear.

If these are missing all the technical ability and knowledge in the world will not be enough to help you.

Only once you’re there on these points should you contemplate any of these points:

  1. Are they going through their investment process with you?
  2. How often will they be providing you with forward planning meetings?
  3. Will they be giving you a full plan or just undertaking a single transaction, like transferring a pension?
  4. Can they provide testimonials from existing and past clients?
  5. What fees do they charge?

future proofing your finances

advice@townclosefp.co.uk

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