Investment Advice - Make Sure You Find The Best

Investment advice can be crucial if you are faced with a major investment decision, or if you’re not certain what your next step should be.  For instance, you may have acquired a lump sum which you want to invest; you may need to choose a personal pension; or you may be interested in a pension, life insurance or life assurance product.

With any of these issues, making the wrong decision could be disastrous.  So you need to get the best investment advice – but how can you know for certain that what you are getting IS the best advice?

There are certain things you can look out for that can reassure you that you are getting good investment advice.  For instance:

• Does the investment adviser start by making sure you are clear about your own wishes and your reasons for seeking advice?  The adviser should clarify whether you are looking for long-term investment planning, or seeking help over a single investment.  He/she will also ascertain whether you are interested in speedy returns, or whether you are content to wait for good returns over the long term.  Many people start looking for investment advice without being at all clear what they want, so the first step should be to make sure you know what your requirements are.

• Does the adviser analyse carefully your attitude to risk and how you cope with loss?  You yourself may believe that you want investments with high returns, but you may not have realised fully that the higher the returns, the higher the risk.  A good adviser will ask a range of questions to determine how risk-averse you are.

• Do you get the impression that the adviser has gained a good insight into what sort of person you are, and has the ability to sum you up accurately?  What is good advice for one person isn’t necessarily right for another.  The adviser should be able to tailor his/her investment advice to your specific situation and needs.

• Can the adviser think out of the box when looking for investment products?  It will benefit you if the adviser is able to source overlooked products that are not the same old products that everyone else is investing in.

• Is the adviser able to explain the products, and the advantages and disadvantages of each, in clear, non-technical language?  It is usually true that the better someone is at doing this, the better his or her own understanding of the issues. 

Of course nobody is perfect, but the more of these questions you can answer “yes” to, the more confident you can be that you will be getting the best investment advice.  You should also of course do all you can to find out about the adviser’s track record – both in recommending the right products, and in keeping the funds under constant review in case of changes to the market.  There is plenty of excellent investment advice out there – it’s worth doing your homework to make sure you find the best.

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