Independent Financial Advice FAQ

If you drop into your high street bank, you may be greeted by a financial adviser who offers to help review your investment options, if you have time.

These advisers are ‘tied’ to that specific bank. They can recommend the products of that bank, or a single insurance/investment company with which the bank has an alliance. That’s all.

As the name suggests, an independent adviser – like us – is free to recommend a product from any provider, matching the best product to meet your specific need and your current circumstances.

With such a wide choice of investments and savings tools on the market, you are benefiting from personalised advice with an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA), which is only provided after we collect certain details about you and your circumstances. That should be reassuring.

We provide every client with full details on the services we provide, how we are paid for each service, our complaints procedure, Data Protection, and your protection under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). You can ask to see our disclosure documents at any time, simply contact us for an up-to-date copy. 

We not only offer independent advice, but are specialists in supporting doctors, dentists and other healthcare professionals who benefit from an NHS pension.

We will always ensure the products we recommend are suitable for you, based on the information you share with us. This personal information is held securely on our system, and we comply with all requirements under the General Data Protection Regulations introduced in May 2018.

When we advise you on regulated products (including investments, insurance and some forms of mortgages) you have the protection of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) and the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). 

We think it’s unlikely, but if you are unhappy about the advice or service you have received for any reason, please contact us directly in the first instance. This gives us the chance to put things right and/or to provide a fuller explanation of why we believe a product was right, based on the information available at that point in time.

Should you remain dissatisfied, you are entitled to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service at www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk, or by contacting them on 0800 023 4 567. FOS will investigate your complaint independently and make a ruling. When they do make a ruling it is binding upon us.

Our contact details can be found on the contact us page. In addition, a summary of our internal procedure for the reasonable and prompt handling of complaints is available on request.

If the firm has ceased to trade, or was unable to meet its obligations for some reason, you currently have recourse to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Its service is funded by levies on firms that are authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority, and it protects customers where firms have closed or gone into liquidation. (Subject to any future change in regulatory structure.) 

Some advice we offer is not regulated by FCA – such as general taxation and some Buy-to-Let mortgages. This means you may not have the added protection of either the FOS or FSCS when dealing with some unregulated products: if this applies to any specific advice we are providing, we will always make it clear to you before you commit to any decision.