Why should I use a financial adviser?

Having a financial adviser is like having your own personal finance instructor. They will encourage and remind you of which direction you need to be heading to flourish financially.

Many people will face important financial decisions and wonder whether they should seek expert financial advice. My own view is that the answer is a resounding ‘yes’. By using a financial adviser you should end up financially better off than you would have been had you not used one. Any good financial adviser should be able to demonstrate that, in numbers, as you will see below.

In my experience there are two reasons why you might not choose to work with a financial adviser:

1. You do not know who to trust with your hard earned money and the choice is so baffling that you simply give up trying.

2. You’re unsure whether you want to pay the fees that will be associated with the advice you receive.

These are two fairly easy considerations to overcome.

Choice

Yes, there are many financial advisers across the UK that you could choose from and some will be better than others. Some will be specialist in different aspects of planning and some will charge more than others. So where do you begin? Unbiased.co.uk will allow you to search for an adviser in your postcode, so it’s easy to meet them face to face. So check out financial advisers in your area. You should be able to get a good list from this.

Make sure you look at what qualifications they have. Unbiased.co.uk makes sure all the advisers profiled are authorised by the FCA (the Financial Conduct Authority) and are regularly checked. You would make sure to choose a qualified professional in any other industry, so make sure you do with financial advisers too.

Once you’ve decided on a shortlist, you’ll need to approach these advisers and ask them about their fees, their process and how quickly they get stuff done. Take a look at the unbiased.co.uk ‘find an adviser’ checklist, to help you.

If you are happy with one of them then bingo, now you just need to address issue number two.

Fees

Some people are put off from paying their financial adviser. You may think the fees are too high, you may feel like you should be getting this advice for free, or it may be a simple logistical problem in that you can’t afford the advice. Whatever the issue your adviser should be able to work with you to reach a solution you are happy with.

If you are worried about the level of fees being charged then don’t. Your financial adviser should easily be able to demonstrate the value you are getting from the fee you pay. If they can show you that you will be paying X and you will be saving or earning Y, then it’s straightforward. Obviously there will be a certain element of paying for the expert advice where numbers do not cover it. If you are concerned about paying a professional for their knowledge because you feel you can probably spend some time on the internet and ‘do it yourself’, then stay concerned. Because this type of approach can take time and be more stressful than the alternative of simply taking some advice.

Of course it is important that you are comfortable with the level of fees you are paying and they should be reasonable. That is your call. Your money and the decisions you make around it should make you feel good. Worrying about it is really the opposite of what you are trying to achieve.

Having a financial adviser is like having your own personal finance instructor. They will encourage and remind you of what you need to be doing to stay financially fit and well. Making the right decisions year after year will have a massive impact to your wealth further down the line. And that, could be priceless.

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About the author

Jaskarn Pawar is a Chartered Financial Planner and Certified Financial Planner. He has more than 10 years' experience and currently advises clients on integrating investment planning with financial planning.

Please note: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by our contributing authors do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of unbiased.co.uk.