Restricted Financial Advisers Claiming Independent

Restricted Financial Advisers Claiming Independent.

Problems have been uncovered after the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) revised how well advisory firms have taken to the Retail Distribution Review (RDR).

It was found that most firms have shown willingness and progress after implementing RDR rules, however some problems have also been found, for example some firms have been classing themselves as independent when in fact they were not.

In other problems found it was shown that some firms were confusing customers in the way that the client would be charged. Under RDR firms must agree a fee up front but some firms were providing these fees in percentages and confusing the customer.

Our View

Finding the right financial adviser is a complex business, much in the same way as other services.  There are good advisers, poor advisers, expensive ones and cheap ones.

The cheapest is not always the best.  The highest qualified is not always the best either. 

Whilst we are financial advisers, we accept that we are not right for all clients and not all clients are right for us.  Our advice is simple, do you research, compare fees, look for references and only ever use independent advisers. 

But as can be seen here, there are those that are more independent and unbiased that others.