DIY financial planning

[Estherpologist]

Getting divorced. Expecting a clean break / lump sum settlement in my favour. Need to plan what I do with it.

Spoke to an IFA who said £1000 for a "financial health check" then £250/hr. At more than 10x my hourly rate, that feels expensive to me. The only time I've spoken to an IFA before (15+yrs ago), they took a % or were paid commission.

I can work out what life costs day to day, but any tips on how to do some of what an IFA would do for myself?

Depends what you need.
Amy idea of what things you need?

Change income protection insurance, life insurance - I would contact a specialist broker.

Investing... I would maximise your current allowances. Do you have a workplace pension, do you have a SIPP, do you have an ISA.

You could certainly learn to do things yourself. It may take time, do you have the time to learn?

Podcast about using an adviser or DiY: meaningfulmoney.tv/TT5

In the past they would make money by selling you particular investments and services for which they got a commission. That could affect what they said you needed. So that has changed... now you pay for initial advice and for time to implement, and on going advice.

Unless your lump sum is in high 6 figures/7 figures you can probably sort most stuff through reading money websites and spread your risk across Pensions, ISAs and other appropriate schemes

There's a lot of advice out there, unless you have large sums to invest (and even then it's worth covering the basics yourself)

www.clevergirlfinance.com/blog/financial-check-up/ (US based but sound)

www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/investment-beginners/

www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/money-help/

forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories

The 3 above are all Martin Lewis, I would actually start with the middle one and do the financial health check yourself, then have a look at investment for beginners. The forums are an amazing source of help (final link), Ty the Savings and Investments forum.

IFAs are great if you want to buy a product, but you can get to the point of deciding if you need a product on your own