A financial adviser can recommend products and services that will help meet your financial needs and goals. Find out how to choose a regulated adviser that’s right for you, including the key questions to ask.
What’s in this guide
- What is a financial adviser?
- What is an independent financial adviser?
- Check if you need a specialist adviser
- Search for regulated financial advisers
- Create a shortlist of potential advisers
- Ask your shortlisted advisers for quotes
- Select an adviser and get advice
- If you get bad advice, complain and ask for compensation
What is a financial adviser?
A regulated financial adviser is qualified to:
tell you what’s best for you and your money
recommend suitable products and services to use, including setting them up for you
make sure you take advantage of opportunities, such as tax allowances.
They must be registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to provide financial advice.
What is an independent financial adviser?
There are two main types of financial adviser:
Independent financial advisers (IFAs) can consider products from across the whole market.
Restricted advisers can recommend products from a certain number of providers and or within a specific product area.
For example, a mortgage adviser working for a high street bank can usually only recommend that bank’s products and investments.
Both types of advice will be tailored to you, so the quality of advice should not be affected. But if you want the greatest choice across a range of products, an IFA might be able to find you more options than a restricted adviser.
Do I need financial advice?
Paying for financial advice can help you meet your financial goals and needs. It can also save you time and money in the long run.
You can usually get financial advice as a one-off or ask an adviser to help manage your money on an ongoing basis.
With some financial products, getting financial advice first is mandatory. But for most things, financial advice is optional and can be costly, so you’ll need to weigh up if it’s right for you.
For more information, see our guide Do I need a financial adviser?
Check if you need a specialist adviser
Many financial advisers are qualified to give general advice on all areas of financial planning, while others might specialise in a certain area.
This guide can help you find an adviser that can cover multiple topics. Our other guides can help you find a specialist financial adviser.
| What you’d like help with | Where to find an adviser |
|---|---|
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Pensions or retirement planning |
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Mortgages or equity release |
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Insurance |
Search for regulated financial advisers
You can search for regulated financial advisers using online directories. It’s worth trying a few as they all work slightly differently.
| Online directory | How it works |
|---|---|
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Both let you search by advice type, contact method and location. You can also choose to be matched to an adviser. |
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Specialises in accredited advisers who understand financial needs in later life. You can search by location and advice type, including paying for care and equity release. |
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Run by the professional body for financial planning in the UK, you can search by location, areas of expertise and contact method. |
You could also:
ask friends and family if they’d recommend an adviser they’ve used
check if you can get special deals with financial advice firms by going through your employer, trade union or a similar organisation.
Create a shortlist of potential advisers
Next, create a list of financial advisers you’d like to contact for a quote, based on what’s important to you. For example, advisers in your local area who specialise in the type of advice you’d like.
It’s a good idea to shortlist at least three.
Check the adviser is authorised to give advice
Financial advisers are qualified professionals who are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This protects you as you can complain and ask for compensation if their advice turns out to be unsuitable.
To confirm you’ve found a regulated adviser and avoid potential scams, use the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA’s) Financial Services RegisterOpens in a new window to check that:
- the adviser (or the firm they work for) is listed as being authorised to provide advice
- you have their genuine contact details.
If they’re listed as an ‘appointed representative’, they can provide regulated advice on behalf of another firm.
If the firm does not appear on the register, do not use them. It’s likely a fraudster trying to steal your money. You can contact the FCA to report unauthorised financial advisers
Scams warning: never take advice because of a cold call, email or text
A fraudster might target you by offering fast or high financial returns – often pressuring you to act quickly. This might be via an advert on social media or by calling, emailing or texting you.
Never make any payments or access any of your investments or pensions because of this type of contact. It’s likely a scam and you could lose your money and face a large tax charge.
Find out more in our guides:
Ask your shortlisted advisers for quotes
Many financial advisers do not list their fees online. Instead, they’ll often offer a free meeting to:
understand your situation
work out if advice will help you
explain how much you’ll pay
answer any questions.
Try to contact at least three advisers so you can compare their costs and level of service.
| Question | What you want to find out |
|---|---|
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Do I need to have a minimum amount in savings for you to help me? |
If they require you to have a certain amount of money before they will give you advice, such as a pension worth over £50,000 or £100,000. |
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Do you offer independent or restricted advice? |
If they can search the whole market to make recommendations or if they’re restricted to a certain number of providers or type of advice. |
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What qualifications do you have and what do they mean? |
If they have the qualifications for the type of advice you’re looking for, such as pension transfers or equity release. |
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Are you an appointed representative? |
If you could only find the adviser’s firm listed on the Financial Services Register, not the adviser, this helps you check how they’re authorised to provide advice. |
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How much will the advice cost me? |
If they charge a fixed fee, an hourly rate or a fee based on the value of your investments. Plus, how much any ongoing advice would cost. |
For more information on financial adviser fees, see our guide How much does a financial adviser cost?
Select an adviser and get advice
When you’ve found a regulated adviser you’re happy with, you’ll be asked to provide information so they can:
understand your situation and plans
give you tailored advice to meet your needs.
The written advice report and any recommended actions should be clearly explained to you. If you do not understand anything, ask the adviser to explain it differently.
If you’d like to go ahead with the recommendations, you can usually choose to:
set things up yourself
let the adviser do it for you – just check if this will be an extra cost.
You can choose to end the advice there or ask for the adviser to continue monitoring your plan on an ongoing basis.
Do not continue if you feel uncomfortable or rushed
You should always expect professionalism from your adviser, with honesty and respect for your right to decide.
If an adviser pressures you, does not explain any recommendation clearly or will not provide a written report, these are warning signs that the adviser might be a scammer.
Do not continue and report the adviser to the FCAOpens in a new window
You can also report the potential scammer to:
Report FraudOpens in a new window if you live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland
Police ScotlandOpens in a new window by calling 101 if you live in Scotland.
If you get bad advice, complain and ask for compensation
If the advice you get turns out to be unsuitable, you can complain and ask for compensation – especially if you’ve lost time and money due to it.
For example, unsuitable advice might include being told wrong or misleading information or mistakes being made. But you cannot ask for compensation if your invested money just does not perform as you’d hoped.
How to complain about unsuitable financial advice
All regulated financial advisers will have a complaints process they’ll follow.
Tell your adviser’s firm why you’re unhappy with the advice
Provide as much evidence as you can and explain what you’d like them to do to put things right. For example, giving you enough compensation to put you back to the same situation you were in before taking the advice.
If your adviser’s firm has gone out of business, you can complain to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)Opens in a new window instead.Wait up to 8 weeks for them to reply
The firm has 8 weeks to respond to your complaint. If you’re unhappy with their resolution, you can ask them to do more.
Your provider will then send you a final response which explains the maximum they’re prepared to do.
Take your complaint to the free Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS)
If you’re unhappy with the final response, or they haven’t replied within 8 weeks, you can take your complaint to the FOSOpens in a new window
You usually have 6 months from receiving the firm’s final response to do this. It also needs to be within 6 years of the problem first happening, unless you were not aware of the issue when it started.
Your case will be investigated to decide if your adviser has acted in a fair and reasonable way, or whether they need to do more to put things right.
If the FOS sides with your adviser, this is usually where a claim ends – you could choose to go to court, but this is expensive and you might not win.
Find out more in our guide Claiming compensation if you’ve been mis-sold.
