Independent Financial Adviser

An Independent Financial Advisor gives you financial advice on your savings, investments, insurance and protection and advises on how you reach your future life goals by managing your money wisely.

How does an Independent Financial Adviser know what advice to give?

At Seventy Financial Planning, we undertake an exhaustive ‘Know Your Client’ session with our new clients via a Fact Finding exercise. This allows us to gain a full understanding of our Clients' circumstances.

What should a Client Fact-Find cover?

We start our fact-finding exercise by covering the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulatory requirements – the ‘know-your-client’ requirement, which all advisers have to meet. We ask for all the basic information – full name, date of birth, national insurance number and so on – and financial information, including details of assets and existing investment schemes.

As part of the know-your-client requirement, we ask the client to appoint us as an adviser on all of their savings investment and insurance arrangements. This stage is important because it provides a full and accurate picture of clients’ current investment situation.

Why does an Independent Financial Adviser do a Client Fact-Find?

A key aim of the fact-find is getting to know the client better. That means it’s not just about having data on the Client, it’s about understanding them as an individual, and getting to know their goals and objectives. Among the questions we need to find answers to are:

Are they a risk taker?
Are they experienced in business and have relevant professional qualifications?
Do they have a degree, higher education or suitable skills?
Do they have experience in the market?
How often do they review their finances?
Do they want to meet with you frequently or do they not take an interest?

Does an Independent Financial Adviser need to know my ethical views?

Discovering facts about Clients’ personal objectives will start to reveal their ethical views, and this is important to a good Independent Financial Adviser so we ensure we’re recommending companies and products with similar world views, ethical patterns etc.

Does an Independent Financial Adviser need to know about my health?

Health factors are important to an Independent Financial Adviser for a number of reasons, for example: are we planning for a period of ill-health in the future say for example for a degenerative condition, or is a long-term stay in care or assisted living more of a likelihood?

Often clients are encouraged to say they’re in good health when it comes to buying insurance. However, at times it is important to be absolutely clear about their state of health: for example, when they are retiring, so we can be clear what type of future we’re planning for with them.

What financial information does an Independent Financial Adviser need?

We ask for information about clients’ assets, pensions, property, savings, protection and inheritance tax. We ask about their Wills, and if they expect to receive any inheritances in the future.

We’ll need to know about your income, outgoings, loans, debts, bills etc – basically, we need the full facts of your monthly living costs.

What personal information will an Independent Financial Adviser need?

A good Independent Financial Adviser will need a lot of personal information for you. This includes, but is not restricted to:

Proof of ID (passport / driving licence)
Proof of Address (utility bills / bank statements)
Your recent bank statements
Income and outgoings as a comprehensive monthly expenditure list

Will an Independent Financial Adviser need to know about my home?

We always start with property. One of the most common concerns for clients is ensuring property is passed down through generations, in the correct manner.

So we’ll need to find out:

Is there debt on the property?
How do you protect against the debt?
Do you have life assurance for that?
Do you have income protection?
Whose names are on the deeds to the property?

What can an Independent Financial Adviser do for me?

Always make sure to keep your options open as your financial planner will help you to prioritise your life according to your aspirations. So, if you have dreams that you think are unaffordable or unattainable, don’t rule them out as this is what your financial planner is there for; to help you achieve your future goals and to make sure you have enough money so that those goals are achievable for you.

What will an Independent Financial Adviser need to know about me?

Health & lifestyle - Retirement is a key age to focus on your health. Inform your Independent Financial Adviser of your current health status, along with any previous issues and procedures you may have had.

Assets - A Client must provide as much information as possible about their existing and previous assets, this includes; bank accounts, savings, shares, property and ISAs. If you are unable to provide this yourself, or don’t know how to go about it, with your permission, your adviser can contact the providers and seek that information themselves, in order to advise you appropriately.

Dependants - There has been a significant increase in the amount of people who reach retirement and then dedicate their time to looking after either elder or young relatives. If this relates to you then you must let your Independent Financial Adviser know, also informing them if you would like plans to be made to secure your relatives’ financial future, as well as your own.

Your Independent Financial Adviser will then make changes according to your requests; this could be things such as saving to pay for a younger relative’s wedding or an older relative’s care costs.

Liabilities - If you are going into retirement with outstanding debts, credit card bills and interest rates on loans which must be paid then it’s important to inform your Independent Financial Adviser, as they may be able to help you with debt repayment strategies.

Pensions - When meeting with your Independent Financial Adviser, provide as much information as possible about your current employer schemes and any preserved benefits. Bring as much evidence as possible about your current expenditure such as monthly bank statements.

Your state pension, along with any existing pension schemes you may have are an important part of your retirement income, so always remember to inform your Independent Financial Adviser of these, no matter how small you think the income will be, you may be surprised.

Income and expenditure - Your spending habits will most likely change during retirement. Rather than your income being used on commuting and work clothes, it’s more likely to be used on club memberships or holiday funds. You may wish to receive different levels of income over different periods of your retirement. For example, you may want to work part-time and have your pension income just to top it up, until a more substantial employer pension scheme then comes into payment.

In summary, your Independent Financial Adviser must have an explicit understanding of how much ‘essential income’ you need as a minimum per month, along with how much ‘lifestyle income’ you would like. You must always make sure your lifestyle income reflects the life you want to lead.

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