Working with young professional couples, most of them are in the early stages of their mortgage. They have this large amount of debt that they would prefer not to have, especially if interest rates go up and/or the economy turns. A high priority in their financial plan is to pay down their debt early.
Which takes me a a conversations I have had with a few new clients recently; “We talked to another financial advisor, told him we wanted to pay down the mortgage, boost our work pension and look at investments. The other advisor kept on ignoring the mortgage and pension and kept talking about investments”. It is immediately obvious what is going on. The advisor won’t get paid if they put the money into their mortgage. If he wasn’t the advisor of the work scheme, he wouldn’t get paid for them boosting their work pension either. He would only get paid by earning a commission from an investment bond; the lowest priority of the three for these couples.
That is why you want a fee based financial planner. Someone who doesn’t have to sell you something to get paid. A planner who will ask you what are the most important issues for you at the moment and who will then help you address them and find solutions for you.
In some instances, a product may be a solution; you may need life cover or a pension, but you will see from the financial planning process that it makes sense to do these. And you know you are getting independent advice because you are paying for it and your “advisor” doesn’t have to sell you something to get paid.
Would you prefer to pay for independent advice or rely on a third party to pay it for you on the condition of you being sold a product? Let me know what you think by emailing me at steven@bluewaterfp.ie