Pointless to seek a Financial Adviser? DH adamant we can ‘self serve’

@MidnightPatrol Why?
The mortgage was the biggest bill and took a chunk of my salary. The IFA advised me about paying it off without penalty and put to good use any money I had left over. I now have balanced savings which have proved “Trump-proof” and am retired.

The type of person who thinks an IFA is needed (in most cases it's not) is probably also the sort of person who recommends paying off the mortgage based on absolutely no information whatsoever.

Do they even have a mortgage? If they do, what's the interest rate? Chances are they can get more interest by saving separately so overpaying the mortgage is a waste of money. Plus they might decide to just let it run it's course and concentrate on investing, which is likely to be much more lucrative over time.

But MN is weirdly obsessed with IFAs and overpaying mortgages.

Why focus on paying off the mortgage?

It’s incredibly easy to find out information these days but it really depends on how good you are as an individual or couple at making decisions with that information. We have never paid an IFA and we have retired early. However there is the accident of birth year and what all of us live through depending on what money markets do at a macro level regardless of individual decisions.

What sort of pensions come with your jobs?

On a simple level if you can make AVC then great plus save your ISA allowances and do what Rachel Reeves wants us all to do go stocks and shares ISA.

We don’t do risky stuff anymore. You need time to recoup so now we are older we just don’t do that.

If you stay together that’s one of the best ways to build wealth, I have three friends divorcing in their fifties and it’s mighty messed up their retirement plans. So always communicate with each other.

An IFA and paying off the mortgage is my advice.

Tbh if self researching I guess I shouldn't rely on any single source of info, but I'm sure you wouldn't anyway. Tbf I HAVE sometimes relied on a single source and it has been fine, eg having decided that I need a six-months-outgoings accessible cash fund but would like it to earn some interest, I looked at what Martin Lewis recommended for that situation and went with one of his top three accounts. Lazy but it's worked out absolutely fine.

I would in particular want backup if trying AI because I see it as a manipulable source - GIGO type scenario.

DH works in financial services and had access to a pensions advisor via one of their HR benefits nice to haves. It was quite useful actually, but only to back up what we had been doing via the advice already out there.

I would also see if you can get a free initial consult with a FA (I got one through my Union). They might just throw up something you hadn’t considered (critical health cover). But if you don’t have much to invest then probably not worth it too much. But don’t cash in pensions unless you have advice.

Another recommendation for the Meaningful Money podcast and also Rebel Finance.

Years ago IFAs were more useful for retirement planning, but the rules and the market changed (call RDR if you want to look it up), and ‘normal’ (sorry!) people can’t really access advice in the same way any more.

And look up the Which ! Information about how much you need in retirement. It links to a National wotsit that gives how much you need for a modest, comfortable or luxurious retirement.
then you know how much you need, so can work backwards.

assumes no rent, and mortgage free, so that becomes a priority when working.

He needs to step away from ChatGPT but MSE is a great starting point, also the financial flow chart and the Meaningful Money podcast, which is basically an IFA giving the knowledge you need so 95% of people don't need an IFA because all they're going to do is say put money in a pension or an ISA and for most people it doesn't really matter which. IFAs don't really add significant value until you're looking at six figure sums.

ukpersonal.finance/flowchart/

If small sums, I don’t think a FA will add much value.

Reddit is very useful for this kind of financial planning - they have an investment flowchart which basically gives the information you are looking for.

The biggest q for you is probably around retirement time and therefore the benefit of saving in a pension (tax free upfront but age limit) vs an ISA (only tax free on way out, but accessible whenever).

Only based on my experience - I agree with your dh. I did speak to an FA when I had some (any) spare money for the first time, as I was completely terrified of screwing it up and being penniless again. But I'd say if you're reasonably intelligent and have only some money, rather than lots of it, what he told me was exactly what I'd have done myself- ie distinguish between money I need to be able to access and money to lock away, use my ISA allowance to the max, and in general that stocks and shares are better for long term savings. Your situation sounds a bit different but not that complicated.

How much are you talking about? Less than about £150k and a financial adviser won’t be worth it in the slightest (and probably wouldn’t take you on). And it really can be totally straightforward, MSE will help.

If you’re talking millions the answer is different!

How much money are we talking?

There is a wealth of information online re: FIRE and broader investment.

I think unless you’ve got >£20k a year each to invest (minimum), you don’t need advice - and anything a FA will tell you is what you can read online.