Finding a financial advisor in my town please

[Idontbuythejellybaby]

We earn £160k/annum between us, DH is employed and I'm self-employed.
We're about to buy the flat underneath us which we'll probably have to rent out (would prefer to have the extra bedrooms but we aren't millionaires).

I did try to find a financial advisor a year or so ago but at that time my only real questions were about my choice of private pension fund. The advisor asked me to authorise him going on the record (in some way) with the pension. I never replied - I felt he wanted to get a cut of my pension as advisor without having really done any work.

I'm going to try again now as our finances are getting more complex. Are there qualifications/professional bodies I should look for? If I want to pay someone for their time rather than through a cut of my income how do I phrase that?

Thanks for advice in advance. It isnt' something I can ask about in rl because lots of my friends have financial anxiety at the moment

The Personal Finance Society website has a directory of their members who are qualified, regulated financial advisers, and you can search this by postcode to find ones local to you.

Most advisers now will have a charging structure that is based on fixed fee work for initial advice, and either fixed fee or a percentage of funds under management for implementing any recommendations that they make. Beyond the initial work, you may be offered the option of an ongoing service too, usually charged as a percentage, but this is not obligatory.

Chartered advisers have more advanced qualifications than non-chartered ones. Charges can vary quite widely, and speak to more than one adviser if you're not comfortable with the first one you find. No harm in having a comparison of quotes just as you would for trades.

If you don't understand something they say, ask them to explain it to you again.

thank you sunseed.
fixed fee for initial advice sounds good.

PFS only covers advisers under one examination body - unbiased.co.uk covers all advisers chartered by other notable organisations

But unbiased.com isn't truly unbiased as it's a pay-for site.