Financial advisors

[NWpostie]

Has anyone been to a financial advisor and dud you benefit from it ?

How much did you pay or are you able to get it free, as it worth it ?

I'm looking at doing something similar.

[Wullie10]

Depends on your situation. If you own a lot of property ? Investments, paying to much tax regularly a F A would be a good idea. It seems to me a few posties are recommending useing a FA because the Royal Mail pension seems difficult to understand. In which case would be a total waste of time and money.
I wonder how many advisor's roll their eyes thinking here's another postie. Better to try and educate yourself by reading through the threads on this forum.

[Hitcher]

I found ChatGPT to be very helpful in navigating and understanding all the options available to me with my RM and Railways pensions. You just have to remember it can't actually give you advice on what to do but it can present you with all the calculations and options.

[RobertT]

Whether you use the various scheme websites, AI, this forum, the internet in general, annual statements, etc, all the basic information on how the RM pensions work is readily available for anyone who cares to look for it.

But with there being several schemes, sections, AVC's, etc, it's not always easy to know how they all fit together and how and when it's best to access them. Plus you might also have pensions from previous jobs, ISA's, etc. Perhaps even an inheritance.
Which is where an IFA can be useful.

Amongst other things, they could help with the tax side of things to make sure you're being as efficient as possible. or how to invest a lump sum to make it work best for you.

Some people will see the benefits of advice and some won't!

It's probably important to say there's basically 3 ways you can go in search of professional help:

Guidance – Often free but will only give you basic general info, not specific to you. Pension Wise is an example.
FA – Usually tied to banks or similar and only offer services and products linked to those companies.
IFA – Often a one man band or small company with access to the whole market. Usually the most expensive but should be able to tailor everything to your individual needs/situation. Some will provide a free initial consultation.

[Tman]

As the old saying used to be, "Free financial advisers are worth exactly how much they cost you".
IFA's are better, but probably OTT for most RM employees.

[Hyrrokkin]

It is like everything else - educate yourself on the basics and then work from there.

I have no time for people who say 'i do not understand/have a clue about pensions etc etc' but have done nothing to educate themselves on the subject.
You do not have to be an expert (i am certainly not - much i do not understand) but at least i did some basic research.

[wallop]

I've actually found the AI on google to be very good with understanding how the RM pensions work,You have to ask the right questions and have some idea of what you want and not be afraid to ask questions about the answers that are given as sometimes you can point out things that are wrong but it's quite helpful.If you bookmark the "conversation" you can hop back in at any point.Personally i've been using it to try and come up with the most tax efficient way of taking the pension and investing the lump sum to offset the tax that will be paid when the state pension kicks in.It's still a work in progress but the strategy that we've been working out i'll admit is not what i would have thought at first but it's an interesting way of looking at the whole picture going forward and has certainly given me insight into things like the best date to start taking the pension for my personal circumstances.

Obviously this is not financial advice,Do your own research etc etc but its certainly more advanced than the people i've seen with their options forms at work going well "that one and that one cos it gives me more" sealing the envelope and sending it off.

[twoloops]

Has anyone been to a financial advisor and dud you benefit from it ?

How much did you pay or are you able to get it free, as it worth it ?

I'm looking at doing something similar.

To answer your original question I used a financial adviser via my bank which was free, where you gave him every bit of information about yourself, partner, in comings, outgoings, pensions, savings, kids etc, he did say everything we were doing mostly okay AVC's ISA's etc, but he could offer & manage things better for a one off payment of £2,000.00, we had taken enough information on board from his chats & questions asked & decline his offer, so might be worth asking your bank first?

[heapsy]

A bit late for those nearing retirement, but people shouldn't rely solely on the works pension. Where a lot seem to be struggling, is the issue of taking pensions early. Especially getting heads around the 65 pension. It is, like the 60 pension, a Defined Benefit scheme. The main thing to remember is that not only is it guaranteed, but that the valuation is far bigger than the contributions. In other words, don't look at the figure, say, £50,000 and think, "Ive put all that money away" , panic, and take the pension early. Think carefully. You can't change your mind. Also, there could be tax implications, due to the tax code being frozen. Consider, if you are retiring, trying to bridge the gap. It only takes about 6/7 years to get all your money back.