UKH

How would I find a decent local IFA?

My current FA is tied and I'm increasingly concerned about the company behind them.

https://www.unbiased.co.uk/pages/home?utm_term=unbiased&utm_campaign=Br...

Websites like that send shivers down my spine!

I'm sure they want to be the 'uber', or 'amazon' of personal finance.

What I see is: 'Please tell us how much cash you have. Please tell us your net worth. And your name and address.'

'We will farm that out, for a fee, to brokers who will pass the fee onto you. There is no guarantee that the brokers will be any good. But they will charge you a percentage of you assents under management. Oh, and your data will be stored in the EU, except where its not.'

And the site is protected by a free LetsEncrypt SSL certificate. They can't spring ~£100 for a paid for one, that validates the businesses identity.

Nothing bad could come of that information falling into the wrong hands.

I may have missed it, so apologies. If there was a page that listed financial advisors in your post code. Along with user ratings, fees etc. that would make more sense to me. It seems that every page links back to some sort of 'Please give us financial information about you'.

Apart from the address, which also hosts a co-working space, it could be run by any dubious outfit.

They have existed for years and are based on a directory, which is searchable here for free without giving info.

https://www.unbiased.co.uk/advisers

I agree, the site is now pushing you down a more ‘data hungry’ route but I’ve used their directory before and I believe it is indeed unbiased in the sense it’s not tied to any investment company and neither are the people listed. I believe IFAs pay a fee to be listed.

Thanks for that. As I said, I may have missed it.

It seemed to me a site designed by sales managers, trying to get lead commission.

Any site that badly designed from a UX experience, is probably badly designed in other ways. But as the list is available, along with some details one could google for the FA's own website. They seem to stop a little short of a trustpilot ratings system.

I also note that one of my 'local' advisors, is actually 300+ miles away at the other end of the country.

You can try searching the database on the FCA website.

It is a real pg distinguishing between an IFA and a tied rep .

https://www.cisi.org/cisiweb2/wayfinder/home