An independent advisor can nominally give you advice without you having to worry that they are pushing you towards a product that isn't right for you. If they are not tied to using products from a particular company, they are free to look at the various products on offer, and make suggestions based on what is best for your particular circumstances.
They can give advice on a variety of products. If they give advice on investments such as pensions, life insurance, unit trusts and shares, then they and the company they work for must be authorised by the Financial Services Authority, and must abide by their code of conduct. Those advising on loans, most mortgages, non-investment ('general') insurance, term insurance or bank and building society accounts need not currently be authorised, though from 31st October 2004 all mortgage advisors will have to register and be authorised by the FSA. From early 2005, general and term insurance advisors will also have to be authorised.
If you want to check to see whether a person or firm is authorised by the FSA, you can use their Firm Check Service (Website: http://www.fsa.gov.uk/consumer/).
Some care has to be taken when taking such advice. While an advisor may not work directly for a particular company, they do often have relationships with companies (sometimes with a suite of companies). Often companies will offer bigger commissions or other such inducements to advisors in the hope that that will encourage them to promote their product.
The only truly independent financial advice you can get is when the advisor has no stake in your final choice of product. This can only come about if you get advice from one source, and buy your product or service from another with no connection between the two.
However, financial services often will prefer one product over another because those products genuinely are better than their competitors � the advisor's reputations is founded on giving the right advice and achieving good results over time. In a sense, the advisor acts as a filter, discarding poorly performing or sub-standard products and focusing on the products that do perform.
When considering what advice to take, always establish what the point-of-view of your advisor is, and how that will affect the kind of advice they give.
You pay advisors in one of three ways: a one-off fee, a commission on any products bought, or a combination of the two. Always establish from the start what the deal is. The Financial Services Authority has decreed that from late 2003 all independent financial services must let you pay them with a flat fee if you wish to. This removes the temptation to recommend a product that pays them better commission.
Finally, it is always worth asking whether the advisor will be prepared to take a cut in their commission in order to give you a better deal (called a 'commission sacrifice'). They won't always agree, but if you don't ask you certainly won't get. Sometimes they will consider it worthwhile in order to get your custom.
