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Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Now is by far the best time for good financial advice.

By Chris Clare

We tend to turn to professionals when it comes to needing advice with important things in life, such as doctors, dentists, accountants and the like. However a lot of us can be reluctant when it comes to seeking financial advice. People only use an independent financial advisor, or IFA, when they need something, and don't generally ask for their advice or expertise beforehand.

For those of you who don't already know an Independent Financial Advisor is a person who is independent of all the life insurance companies banks and financial institutions. A good one will actually work for you the client. Whilst a lot of them work on a commission basis this rarely effects the advice that they give you, due mainly to the fact that they are duty bound to give you best advice and furthermore they have to confirm why they have done what they have done for you in writing, and trust me if it is not the best advice then it is almost impossible to justify it.

So what exactly can these independent financial advisors offer? Well, they can offer almost all financial products on the market such as life insurance, pensions, savings plans, investments and of course mortgages. Some advisors have additional services such as inheritance tax planning and will writing services.

It has to be said that all these products and services can be found in most high streets so why are financial advisors better? Financial advisors don't just sell products, you don't walk into one of their offices and ask for life insurance. You generally walk in and ask them to advise whether or not you need life insurance and it is that reason alone that makes independent financial advisors different from all the other retails outlets of financial products.

An independent financial advisor will spend all the time necessary sitting down with you and going through every aspect of your financial life to assess any further financial services you may need. They will assess any policies you already have. They will gauge your attitude to risk to determine how much you are willing to risk in the hope of financial payout. Most importantly, they will assess how much you can afford to be spending on your planning for future security.

They will also ask what you are planning for exactly. Do you want to pay your mortgage off early, do you want to retire at a certain age, do you want to protect yourself against the possibility of illness in the future? Important factors to consider.

By doing this they can build a personal profile of where you are and where you would like to be financially. Armed with this information they can then go and find the products on the market that will be of best value and benefit for you and your budget.

Once they have done this they are then in a position to sit with you again and go through their proposals for you and if they are acceptable to you they can move it all forward and make applications on your behalf.

You would think that that is where it would end, whilst it probably would end there with most providers it rarely does with an IFA. Your IFA will generally speak to you every year or so and make sure that the recommendations they made all that time ago are still the most suitable for your ever changing situation. It has to be noted that peoples finances change frequently and as such these regular updates and financial heath checks are vital.

So it can be seen that the role of an Independent Financial Advisor is one that is vitally important with your regards to your financial wellbeing. They assess where you are financially, structure a plan to best suit your needs, source the products that best suit you financially, and are on hand in the future if you need to reevaluate your position due to changes in circumstances both personally and in general. You have to agree that this is the sort of professional advice that is well worth seeking out.

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