Six important things to know about your financial advisors

These facts will help you choose the most ideal financial adviser

10:48 07 November 2013

At the start of this year, financial advisors were not supposed to continue collecting commissions but rather charge their clients a fixed fee for their advice. They were also required to be more distinct about their services and meet basic qualifications before they can render services but some advisers are still not playing by the rules. Below, are six questions you should ask your financial advisers as regards their services after the rules changed:

• Their advice process: Be sure to know if the advisor will offer you an initial phone call or a meeting in order to plan what the way forward for your situation is. You should also find out if you’ll be signing any document; and what documents you may need to come with.

 

• The services they provide: Find out if their services include finding out the details of your financial situation and if they’ll scan through the whole market in order to get the best product for your needs.

 

• Who gives the advice: Find out who is in charge of monitoring your savings and investments. You can also ask if they tailor to any preference you may have.

 

• What their qualifications are: Your advisor must be properly qualified so request to view their professional certificate as all advisers are required to always have one handy.

 

• Cost: Their services are not free so find out if they will be charging a fixed fee, project fee, or hourly rate. After knowing their charging methods and costs, it is left for you to decide to choose them or not.

 

• Regular reviews: Find out how often they do their reviews and if it is always conducted by the same financial adviser. Also make sure you ask them what is likely to happen if your personal advisor retires, or changes firm.