Decent sum to invest - how do I choose the best advisor?? One I can trust.

[MoneyFem]

This is not about advice on how to invest my money, because I am not going to follow a few lines on an anonymous internet forum. What I want to know is what should I look for in an investment adviser who I am going to shortlist, select and meet please?

To add a bit more useful information, my brother was very successful in his own field. Far more successful than we thought. He sold his business 12 years ago and reinvested the money in some start-up stocks, one of which outperformed. He cashed it in and one thing he said to me was to never try to do it myself. I need to find some proper management and a friend we trust advised to set up a family investment company (OIC?). This is a family company who can hire directors with a track record, but we can vote them off if they poorly perform.

Where do I go to set up this kind of company? Should we get an IFA to advise or go to a law firm or FCAs regulated company who can put the thing together. We need to spread the risk and maybe we should put 50% into property and 50% into blue chips and have a director who is an estate agent and the other an IFA. We could pay them salaries and give then 20% of the company if they beat the Indices over 10 years. Just an example. But is this approach right?

This podcast episode from a UK Financial planner may be of some help, as it goes though things to consider when looking for an adviser: meaningfulmoney.tv/2021/05/04/the-financial-advice-checklist/

You do not need someone local. These days financial planners can work remotely, doing a lot of things via phone, email and zoom.

You should make a list of people to 'interview' and see whom you get on with.

Family Investment Company... no idea why you would have that. You have not given a figure for how much you have to invest, if that is £millions then maybe there are things to use for inheritance tax planning purposes, but I would spend a lot of time talking to financial planners before deciding to go down the route of a FIC or Trust to make sure you understand the benefits and drawbacks, plus the costs involved. One good rule of thumb is, don't do things you do not understand. One role of the adviser is to teach you about financial management, so if they cannot explain to you such that you understand it, don't do it.

Family investment company is probably only worth it for over £10million (maybe more).

My investments (over £1m but well less than 10m) are with a small broker who invests it in standard ETFs and trackers. The philosophy is that you can't beat the market- no one can. So it is better to stay safe and track the market and minimise your annual fees.

If you could have
A) A tracker with a 0.5% annual fee.
Or
B) a fancy managed fund with a 3% annual fee

Then B has to beat the market by 2.5% per year every year to beat A. And that is v v unlikely.

What your brother did was very risky, ploughing money into individual stocks. That's gambling.

Most of us on here have followed our own route to investment enlightenment through reading and listening to podcasts and learning ourselves.

Sensible investors buy baskets of stocks through etc etc.

At my stage I certainly wouldn't turn down free advice from a so called professional like nanny nick said for tax stuff and there is always more to learn.. However generally I don't think most people with modest amounts need it.

Look at the Martin Lewis website for advice on how to find a financial adviser.