Does this professional exist and how do I find them?

[adjsavedmylife]

I look after our family finances. I also recently started to run a small business. I am a long way from expert in either of these. I feel like I’ve topped out in terms of what I can do alone.

What I would really like is someone to give me really tailored advice based on our unique circumstances. Do we overpay the mortgage, put more in pensions, invest what little we have? Given our medium term aims etc.

DH has zero interest which I genuinely don’t mind. I find personal finance interesting but I have two under 5s and zero time to keep on top of every little thing.

Any ideas?

An accountant who knows when to refer you to an IFA

Financial Planner. Some charge a fixed fee for the initial fact find consultation and coming up with a plan of action. You can then implement the plan yourself or pay them to do it. I would expect the initial fee to be £1.5-2k if it's not too complex a situation.

Another option is to learn yourself more about the investing side and planning for the future. Podcasts like Money to the Masses and Meaningful Money can help with that and also online training courses like Meaningful Academy (Build Wealth) which I think is due around Easter.

For your business having an accountant or bookkeeper may be useful if you are finding it too much to do yourself.

Thank you! So helpful.

Seconding a financial planner with formal qualifications. Ours has been brilliant

Oh thank you! Seriously looking at this now. Do you need to have cash to spare i.e. invest to get the most out of them? We are not high earners by any means...

Go to an IFA (Independent Financial Adviser) and they will be able to help you. You can arrange to pay a one-off fee, if you ask, they'll tell you what they charge.

I'm very interested.... thank you

I have tried a couple of different IFA's and not been impressed, for example

one insisted the mortgage providers insisted that I buy life insurance from her, which one call to the mortgage provider disproved

One recommended a short list of mortgage providers of two, one of which I had already identified so went with that. I asked him for his 'agent code ' so he would get the payment from the mortgage provider but he refused saying there was only any point if we had taken out an endowment mortgage. A paltry £800 one off payment was not worth applying for.

How does one find a really good financial planner. Don't mind paying but would hate to be £2k down on advice that was no news or I knew to be wrong. Sigh.

We hired an independent financial advisor for similar reasons, we have a rental property with some complex financial arrangements, as well as looking to invest for our kids futures, manage my multiple workplace pensions into one pot etc. He's also sorting out life insurance for us both too, and arranging a remortgage on our home. He's been a godsend really. I have the interest in getting it right, but limited time with two kids.

I found ours on vouchedfor.co.uk. I picked and spoke to several based on the summary of their work, and went over our needs with each one. I disregarded the ones who didn't have expertise, gave bad info, or didn't come back to me in good time, and hired the one who was left!

Thanks @Katmarie looks like that is indeed the way forward. Pls keep your fingers crossed for me, for a good outcome