IFA Top Satisfaction League Table

IFA Top Satisfaction League Table.

A survey by Morgan Stanley has found that independent financial advisers (IFAs) topped the customer satisfaction tables when it comes to investing.

Morgan Stanley’s AlphaWise survey found in a survey of over 1,000 people that

• 70% were happy with the service offered by their IFA
• 63% were happy with their investment firm when going “direct” and only
• 43% were happy with their high bank handling their investments.

Paying for Advice

The survey also found a huge gap with what people were prepared to pay for their investment advice and what was being charged

• 13% were happy with a 2.0% fee
• 16% were happy with a 1.5% fee
• 38% were happy with a 1% fee
• 24% were happy with a 0.5% fee

Comment

The fact that yet again, IFAs were perceived to be offering the better service is no surprise.  It is a surprise though that the majority of people were only prepared to pay £100 (1%) to invest £10,000.  We suspect the question of fees to be somewhat mis-understood by many people.  This equates to investors not being prepared to pay more than a simple equivalent of a call-out fee for a plumber of electrician when investing £10,000.  The sheer volume of research, reports, work and liability involved means that most financial advisers charge much more than 1%.  We suspect, it may be that investing consumers are prepared to pay no more than 1% pa for their investment services.