In a survey by the FT, I’m hugely disappointed to hear that 1/3 do not know if advisers are independent or not, but not surprised. The FT report “About a third of readers who completed our survey confessed they did not know if their adviser was restricted or independent. One reader made the point that by restricting the range of investment options, “the term financial adviser is a misnomer; almost all ‘advisers’ are just product distributors or salespeople and need to be treated with appropriate care and caution.”
There were many other comments about readers’ dislike of “fee-driven advice to buy particular products”, the feeling that advisers were giving them the “hard sell”, and “hidden fees and unknown commissions” contained within charging structures. “Fees hurt,” wrote one respondent, bluntly stating the reason why 16 per cent of readers who did not have an adviser said they were put off from trying to find one.
Your question; Is your adviser independent or not? Actually, that’s one question of many you should know….but we’ll get to all the other questions you should ask another time.