You might want to consider choosing an adviser who can deal with a wide range of product providers for the product they are recommending – and not just one or two. Independent financial advisers (IFAs) can recommend all types of retail investment products and pension products from firms across the market without restriction. Restricted advisers might either be restricted in the type of products they offer, the number of providers they choose from, or both. Many offer holistic financial planning, where they’ll advise you on all aspects of your financial needs.Īdvisers in this category are classified as either independent or restricted. Instead, they charge a fee for the advice they give but there might be different options for how you pay the fee.Īdvisers who provide advice on the products listed above might also provide advice on protection insurance (such as life insurance) and sometimes mortgages. Any properly qualified adviser will show you their certificates if you ask them to.Īdvisers recommending these types of products must carry higher levels of qualifications and can’t receive commission from the products they sell. This gives you the chance to get a sense of whether you're comfortable with them and how they work. Most advisers will offer you a free initial meeting. They might also have specific qualifications covering the areas they specialise in, such as long-term care, equity release and pension transfers. Most will have achieved benchmarks above that, such as the Chartered Financial Planner or the Certified Financial Planner qualifications. There are minimum qualifications that all regulated financial advisers need to have achieved. This means there are rules they must follow when dealing with you. Whatever they might be called, what all financial advisers in the UK do have in common is that they’re regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Sometimes, they are known as ‘brokers’ – often when dealing with products such as:

Instead, they’re sometimes named by their specialism, such as ‘mortgage adviser’, ‘investment adviser’, ‘pension adviser’ or ‘financial planner’. Financial advisers aren’t always called ‘financial advisers’.

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