How do I find a good independent financial adviser?

[gallicgreetings]

Now I have a child, I need to sort out legal and money stuff to make sure she's looked after.

I've been in contact with someone about making a will (if she ever gets back to me!) but I realise I should also arrange life insurance and critical illness cover.
Can a financial adviser do this and how do I find a good one?

Any other tips are appreciated. Thanks

Yup - a financial adviser can do this. The first time they meet with you thought they have to go through all your money matters (e.g. how much debt you have, how much you earn, what your monthly bills are etc) because they can't advise you to take up a product if you can't afford it/if you should really be thinking about another product. It can feel like a bit of an intrusion into your finances, but its necessary for any advice to be pertinent.

As to recommendations - alas a personal one is going to probably be the best. The chap we have is similar in age to us, has kids the same age and gets what we need to protect for (life assurance, trust fund etc). You need someone you are comfortable with. What postcode are you in ?

Wills: I know that solicitors around here often run a will-month where they write up simple routine wills for a discounted fee with a % of the fee going to charity if that's your thing www.willaid.org.uk.

I think will aid is only in November?

The recommendation I have for that is great - the office is just closed for Christmas. I do however have to get the pointy stick out to persuade DP he must do all this too.

Thanks for the info about the finances. I can at least get all that together. I'm in South Essex - can PM you if you need to know specifically for a recommendation.

You can get a financial adviser to help you and, if you're talking about significant amounts of money, it's probably worth any fees. But you can get life insurance fairly easily by doing a little online research. As with anything - and even if you go with an adviser - check the small print to see what is covered and what is excluded.

Tip... Think carefully about exactly how you want to set things up. In hard-headed financial terms, what do you want life to look like for those left behind after you die? In couples (assuming a child means you're part of a couple?) where there is a higher and lower wage-earner, for example, it makes sense to cover the life of the higher earner a bit more comprehensively because the family would be hit hardest if they went. If there are two equal wage-earners and there is a mortgage on a property, covering the outstanding balance might be all that's needed rather than anything more lavish because the surviving partner could manage. And a word on critical illness cover. If you take it out be scrupulously accurate about your medical history. Claims can be rejected if they find any discrepancies.

I doubt it will be huge amounts of money and DP and I earn similar amounts of money. He has life insurance and critical illness cover as part of his mortgage but has yet to have this overhauled since the birth of DD to check it's all still relevant - hence need for pointy stick!

I think I need to start to sort things out for me and then have a good chat with him.

I saw a watchdog type programme about critical illness cover and it was really useful in terms of what should be covered.

Due to dh I know a lot of financial advisors!!

Whoever they work for they all go to Hargreaves Landsdown.

I assume they will have someone in your area? If I were you (but having listened to dh and friends chat!) I would see a couple, one HL and another, have a good read of moneysavingexpert website to make sure you are asking the right questions and then decide. Getting sorted is a fan plan, rushing is not.

Oh, another thing. Those so called independent financial advisors, most have only a few products they can sell and different products that attract different commission for them. It can be really tricky to get independent (truly) advice. Hence doing your own research (like this :) ) is essential.

Had a read of Martin Lewis and I'm a bit confused so perhaps you can tell me if I've got it straight.

DP has life assurance as part of his mortgage so that will simply pay the remainder of the mortgage should he die and therefore value will decrease as the mortgage decreases. He also has critical illness cover that I imagine will pay the mortgage solely on his illness, so that's the mortgage covered.

Other than that we both probably need life assurance that will pay a suitable sum to cover our salary should one of us die. That way, the remaining partner can continue to work and pay bills and childcare.

It looks like critical illness cover tends to have so many get-out clauses that it's not worth bothering with.

Does that sound about right?

If your mortgage is in DP's sole name it may be an idea to add yourself to it and then have the mortgage insurance apply to both of you. That way, whoever dies, the mortgage is paid off. You can either set the mortgage insurance to be on a decreasing basis or on a fixed basis for the duration of the mortgage. So that can double up as life insurance.

If the mortgage is in his sole name are you on the house deeds? Noting that he is a DP rather than a DH... should you split up, let alone should he die, then it isn't a given that you have any claim on the property. Plus, as an unmarried partner, you could find yourself having to pay inheritance tax on his estate if it is over the threshold whereas spouses are exempted. If you're not planning to get married, it's worth thinking about if you're sorting out wills, insurance and so forth.

You can get life insurance just for yourself or as a couple. If you're relatively young, in good health and don't have any bad habits like smoking then it should be pretty cheap. Personally I've never taken out critical illness cover for roughly the reasons you describe.

Cheers Cogito - trust me, inheritance tax isn't an issue and I'm aware of the pitfalls of cohabiting, thanks to threads here. We're planning to buy together in the next 12 months so not worth bothering with his mortgage. He has a fabulous rate which we'd like to keep as long as possible so not sure if adding me to a mortgage is technically a new mortgage.

Is it possible or desirable to get insurance which pays out in case of life changes? Thinking about illness or redundancy.

Hi, I have read your original question and wanted to add to the messages, I work for an independent financial adviser in Bridgend, South Wales, and can confirm that we do work independentely, so therefore advising the best product on the market for your individual needs.

You can get Life and Critical Illness covers that protects you and your family in the event of death or critical illness, it is a great way of ensuring your family is protected for either event, most people dont tend to think about what would happen if you became seriously ill and couldnt work.

Hope this helps....

If you're starting from scratch in your search for an independent financial advisor - one place to look is MoneySavingExpert.com.

Having that said, there are plenty of advisors around so please be careful. You need to make sure that your advisor is FSA registered (because anyone can be an advisor).
Before you pay anything, please go over how your advisor is getting paid. This is so that you can verify there is no conflict of interest. For instance, when we were looking for a mortgage, we know that our advisor gets paid a certain fee by any of the lender we use. So the incentive is for us to find the best deal out there so that we will go back to the same advisor for future needs.

I have other tips for searching for accountants if you need.

Hope that helps