A financial adviser aims to make sure you invest your money to suit your lifestyle plan. He or she can help you better understand your finances and suggest different financial products to match both your short and long-term targets. In doing so, they can help you draw up a lifetime financial plan.
The best type of financial adviser sits down with their clients and really gets to understand their needs and the type of future they would like to have. They should also be able to work out whether their client is a risk taker or prefers to play it safe where money is concerned. The type of financial investment products they show their client should attempt to tick all of those boxes.
The type of financial products an adviser will show often relate to pensions as well as general fund investments. Some advisers are restricted in terms of the products they can present to their clients. These are advisers hired to promote particular products. An independent financial adviser, on the other hand, can choose from as wide a range of products as he or she likes.
Why chose to use a financial adviser?
Because it is their day to day job, a financial adviser will have a much better idea of the type of financial products available on the market at any given time than you yourself will. This in itself saves you hours of time spent on research that you can instead devote to building your property portfolio.
Another advantage of using a financial adviser for investment purposes is that they are regulated, so if anything goes wrong with the deal he or she advised you on, you could have access to recourse under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
Financial advisers and property
Some financial advisers specifically deal in mortgages and re-mortgages. This can be for individuals who find it difficult to access standard high street mortgage products such as contract workers and those who are self-employed, UK citizens who live abroad and want to buy property in the UK, or buy to let landlords. It could also involve equity release and whether you can afford to buy another property at a particular juncture.
There are also financial advisers who deal specifically in property investment funds, which look at large-scale developments or shares in serviced apartment schemes.
Then again, your financial adviser could help you plan when it comes to tax matters such as helping you weigh up whether you should hold on to a property or sell it, and pay capital gains tax. The whole issue of property inheritance is another difficult and complex area, one where your financial adviser can help you learn how to protect your family financially in later life.
Perhaps the most essential job a financial adviser has though, is to provide a financial health check every now and again. Not only does this mean really sitting down and looking at your finances cover to cover, it also involves making sure your property portfolio, and therefore future lifestyle, really is going according to plan.
Author
Chris Kirkwood
