An independent financial advisor is someone who can give you advice about a wide range of financial products. They must be authorised to give advice, and are regulated by the Personal Investment Authority. They must be distinguished from tied financial advisors, who can only give advice on investment products offered by a specific company.
Brokers or other intermediaries who have access to all financial products on Webline including bonds, pensions, annuities and general insurance products.
Less well compensated version of a financial advisor. See Financial Advisor.
A financial advisor who is not directly employed by a company to market their products. However, it should be noted that these advisors may be paid a commission for selling certain products.
A person qualified to give financial advice to clients on a range of financial products such as life assurance, pensions and mortgages. They are not tied to any one financial institution.
An investment adviser who must consider to survey the whole financial services market for a product that best suits your particular circumstances. They are bound by their profession's rules to give independent advice.
Professional adviser duty-bound to survey the whole financial services market for a product that best suits your particular circumstances. Not to be confused with a tied agent, who only sells products from one company or a limited selection of companies. The problem with IFAs is that it is difficult to know whether we're getting good advice and whether that advice is truly independent, thanks to a continued reliance on commission from product providers as their main source of income. How do we know they're not just recommending products that pay them the highest commission? Fee-based IFAs are becoming more popular for this reason. But British investors are still unused to paying per-hour for advice, even though such costs are buried within the usual sales charges accompanying a commission-based product. It seems we'd rather not have things spelled out to us. Anyway, if you do seek advice - and it can be very useful at times - consider getting a second opinion from another adviser as well. Check the IFA Promotion web site ( www.ifap.org.uk) to find out details of three IFAs in your area.
This is a qualified person or firm that can give people independent advice on how they could save with life assurance and pensions. An independent financial advisor is not tied to a particular company. They are regulated by the Financial Services Authority .
An independent person who advises on a wide range of mortgage sources and schemes
IFA) Individuals who give advice about all aspects of finance. IFAs can advise and sell products for a range of insurance companies and investment companies. Generally, the companies pay them commission when they sell a product although it is also possible to obtain such services on a fee-paying basis.
