Preparing to see a Financial Adviser

Seeking the help of a Financial Adviser is something you may need to do at some point in your life.

A financial review can be complex. If you are seeking advice for a general financial review, planning retirement options or looking to invest a lump sum, there is some preparation you will need to do beforehand.

What are your financial goals?

What are your financial goals? Think about what you want to achieve financially and by when. For example:

If saving for your grandchildren’s university education, you may need the funds within 15 years.
If you are younger and investing for retirement, visualise the lifestyle you want to live!
Lump sum investment? Perhaps you want to grow your wealth.

By having these clear financial goals in mind, you can then work with your Independent Financial Adviser to achieve them. Your investments would then be reviewed regularly by your adviser to ensure you are still on track.

Organise financial paperwork

Knowing your full current financial situation is one of the core elements of meeting with your Independent Financial Adviser. For example, they will be looking at any existing investment, pension or retirement plans and insurance policies. Your financial adviser will work with you to establish if they are in line with your financial goals.

If your Independent Financial Adviser is visiting you in your home, knowing where key documents are, such as policy information and bank statements are is a start. If you are visiting your Independent Financial Adviser, making sure you have all relevant paperwork with you is important.

Think about your income and expenditure as this will be covered in depth. It is therefore important to understand what budget you have prior to the meeting. Your adviser can then calculate how much you can commit to your savings, pension and investments.

Questions to ask your Financial Adviser

Write a list of questions to ask your Financial Adviser. By preparing a list, this ensures that you do not forget anything during the meeting. Some questions you may wish to ask include:

Who are you regulated by? Anyone giving financial advice must be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Is your advice independent or restricted? Independent Financial Advisers look at the market as a whole and are not limited to what company or product they can offer. Restricted financial advisers are typically limited to a selected number of financial providers or products. This will help you understand the scope of the options available to your Financial Adviser.
What are your fees? An important question as Financial Advisers must tell you how much they charge before taking you on as a client. You could be charged a set fee or an hourly rate for the intial advice. It is also important to establish if you wish to have ongoing advice services, if so, what are the charges?
Who is in your team? It may be good to get to know your Financial Advisers support team as you may be dealing with them in future.

Think about investment risk

It is normal to be concerned about the security of your money. Understanding investment risk and how it relates to potential returns is an important element of any Financial Review.

Your Financial Adviser will discuss your attitude to investment risk. They will ask a selection of questions to determine the most appropriate approach for you. Not only will your Financial Adviser determine an appropriate level of risk, they will truly understand your capacity to sustain and adapt that risk based on your present and future circumstances and the amount of growth you are targeting.

To arrange a financial review with an Independent Financial Adviser at Eastern Financial Consultants call 01603 927760 or contact us via our website.

The value of investments and the income from them can fall as well as rise and past performance is not a guide to future performance. You may get back less than you invested as investment returns are not guaranteed.