Have you been asking: do I need a financial adviser? JA Book Keeping Services provide financial advice In Perth, Perthshire and Kinross. We look at what services financial advisers offer and  the benefits of getting financial advice. 

What services do financial advisers offer? 

This article will take you through the numerous things that qualified financial advisers provide to their clients. There are different types of financial advisers, whether independent or otherwise, each of which provides a different range of services. However, what ties them together is in their name - they offer professional financial advice.

Depending on your situation in life, financial advisers can assess your finances, incomings and outgoings to offer bespoke recommendations to help you make the most of your money. 

What Are Typical Bookkeeping Services?

From specialist tax advice on being more tax efficient to arranging your assets and investments, your financial adviser can evaluate your financial position to help your money go further.

Expert financial advice is important since the financial products available to most people are often complex and difficult to understand if you aren't familiar with them. 

This is where your financial adviser comes in, informing you whether a particular product is right for you at a given time, and how you can better prepare for the obligations and tax implications suitable products usually entail.

If you are considering a financial product for yourself, seeking the right advice is the best way to go about it. Independent financial advisers can determine if your situation is suitable for products such as:

Once your financial adviser has analysed your personal circumstances, they can search the market for the right financial products and investments that suit you best. They can liaise with brokers to find the best deals and have them personally tailored to your particular circumstances.

Whatever your financial plans or investment strategy for your financial future, a qualified financial adviser can help you make the right steps towards those goals. Of course, not everyone will need financial advice, and you're entirely free to purchase any financial products you wish without that ongoing advice.

If you feel confident enough in your own understanding, you can use investment platforms to purchase any number of products. Stocks and shares ISAs are very popular with most mainstream banks, as are Sipps (self-invested personal pensions). But if you're at all nervous or unsure about the high risk involved, we recommend you seek financial advice. 

Types of financial advisers

The first type of financial advisers to be aware of are Independent Financial Advisers. These specialists have the widest purview, allowing them to advise you on a complete range of financial products, brokers and providers on the market. If you want comprehensive advice that covers all aspects of your financial affairs and goals, then an independent adviser is the one to choose.

The second type of financial adviser to know about is Restricted Financial Advisers. These qualified professionals can only advise you on a restricted set of financial products in different markets and services they specialise in.

While they only cover a small range of products, restricted advisers can often provide greater insight into those products, giving you the best mortgage advice or pension advice, for example, to decide whether they are right. When you contact a financial adviser to seek their impartial advice, they will explain to you which type of adviser they are at your initial meeting.

They will tell you whether they are restricted to a set of financial products and what they are at this first meeting. This way, you can quickly determine if a financial adviser is right for you and whether they can assess the types of products you want to invest in. 

How to check a financial adviser's qualifications

If you have a good financial adviser in mind to help you, there are two places you can go to check their qualifications and accreditations. This is an important step when seeking advice for your finances, as ensuring your adviser has the right qualifications means you can trust their advice. This goes for the professional status of individual advisers and financial firms.

The LIFB (London Institute of Banking and Finance) Professional Services Register is the first place to find a financial adviser. This register lists the names of advisers who hold a professional services certification, whether one or several. There is even a useful search function to help you find financial advisers of professional standing in your area. 

You might also think to consult the Financial Ombudsman Service for further advice on what qualifications your adviser should have. The second place you can find information on financial advisers is the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) Financial Services Register. Certified financial planners and advice is a heavily regulated industry overseen by the FCA.

Therefore, this register is among the most trustworthy places to find information on financial firms and individual advisers. If you require advice but find that the adviser, firm or body you have chosen to advise you isn't registered with the FCA, then we advise you not to use their services. You won't be able to claim compensation if something goes wrong. 

What are the benefits of getting financial advice? 

Investing your money in the right financial products is the best way to put passive savings to work. Your savings can outgrow inflation when placed in the right situations. With independent financial advice, you can be sure that your money is going in the right direction.

However, as a basic rule, most profitable investments need to be held for at least five years, so make sure you have enough money to tie up for that amount of time. Alongside ensuring you have enough money saved to tie some up in your investments, you need to be prepared for the possibility you could lose money and get back less than you put in.

Investments are never a sure thing, as their value depends on larger movements in the market. However, you can make more sensible and reliable choices with the right financial advice. Additionally, adviser's fees will be involved when seeking financial advice for investments, and there will be a minimum amount of money you need to invest, but don't let these put you off seeking professional advice.

If you're wondering why you wouldn't just make your own investments, given the flat fee structure or monthly retainer and minimum monetary contributions, here are some of the benefits of taking advice before making financial investments:

Time Saving

Doing your own research for investments and gathering enough information to make the right decision for your money can take a lot of time, especially if you're already busy with your work.

Delegating this information gathering to a qualified financial adviser who has spent years honing their skills can save you the hassle. With your financial adviser assessing your finances and determining the best investments for you frees you to spend your time elsewhere on more important matters. 

Making Things Simpler

If you've never made a sizeable investment before, it's very easy to feel overwhelmed by the complexity of the process. The information you need to gather to make an informed decision, not to mention all the jargon used by the investment community, it can often go straight over people's heads.

Whether you choose to take advice from an adviser in person or through an online service, it can help to make things easier. In either case, they'll ask you questions to determine your current circumstances and what you want to achieve. They will then provide bespoke solutions to help you meet your goals, making everything a lot more manageable. 

Be More Decisive

While having a breadth of choice can feel like freedom in most situations, when it comes to making responsible decisions with your money, it can often feel more stressful. With so many investment options open to you, it can be difficult to process them all simultaneously and find the right place to invest.

Essentially, the more information we have to analyse, the more stressed and anxious we are likely to be, meaning our decision-making is slower and more likely to land on the wrong solution. While it's impossible to remove all the risk from any investment without breaking the law, there are ways to act more decisively when it comes to your finances and investments.

Having received financial advice from a financial adviser, you can save yourself from overthinking your position, allowing you to make a decisive move forward. But why is this important for investing? It's impossible to step into the same river twice, and the financial markets are just the same.

Everything in investing is about timing. If you see the right opportunity and fail to take it, you risk losing out. Therefore, if professional advice gives you the confidence to make a decisive move, it can end up being a great benefit to your financial goals. The earlier you start investing, the more time your money has to grow, returning you greater profits.

Boost Your Confidence

It's healthy to have doubts about decisions you make, especially when they're as potentially significant as investments. Outside of professional wealth management specialists, people are often at a loss when deciding what to do with their money. So, to avoid the "have I missed something" feeling, relying on advice from a qualified financial adviser is the best course of action.

Once they have checked your thinking and provided a professional investment recommendation, you can rest assured that your investment is the right decision for you. Taking informed decisions like this is the best way to make the most of your money. 

Additional Support

Making big financial decisions alone is uncomfortable for most people. In most cases, our financial decisions involve not only ourselves but also our partners and family members. Whether they are affected directly or indirectly by our decisions, it's an important factor that can cause uncertainty.

Therefore, much in the same way as professional advice can make you more decisive, it can also support you in making the right decisions for you and the ones you love. Not only this, but modern life is becoming increasingly fast-paced, meaning we often don't look further down the line.

Focusing on what's right in front of you is great for short-term goals, but investments are about the future. Knowing what goals you want to hit down the line and taking the right steps to get there is a lot easier with professional advice. Financial advisers spend their days learning what you want for your future and supporting you in making the right decisions to reach your goals.

Recommendations from a trusted adviser can help you feel like someone has your back, telling you frankly how much risk is involved and how much you'll need to commit to reach your goals.

The realism and honesty advisers provide are among the best ways to gain a realistic overview of your financial situation and future plans. Their objective and unbiased advice with your best interests at heart means independent financial advisers are often the best people to tell you where your money should go. 

When do I need a financial adviser?

People often find they need the services of a financial adviser when they've reached a point to have enough expendable income to make investments. If you're lucky, you'll have had a cash windfall, meaning you're now wondering what to do with the money. 

This is where professional financial advice comes in, helping you make the most of your new money. 

Alternatively, you may have faced a significant financial loss, causing you to reassess your situation with professional help. Some other significant life events that may cause you to seek professional financial assistance can include the following:

1. You receive a promotion in your work or have been accepted for a new job, changing your salary or the benefits you'll receive.
2. Your employers or the owners of the company you work for change, meaning changes to your salary or the benefits you currently receive.
3. You lose your job, are made redundant or suffer other interruptions to your working life, impacting your current lifestyle, financial situation or retirement plans.
4. You've hit the jackpot, won the lottery, received a lump sum from an inheritance or other source of cash windfall.
5. You receive inheritance money, properties or assets from a family member or friend, and you need professional advice on how best to invest that money and ensure it is protected for future generations.
6. You want to make plans for early retirement and take steps to provide for yourself later in life.
7. You are approaching retirement age and wish to ensure you have enough money saved in your pension pot so you can stop working.
8. You've recently married, been divorced or have lost your partner and need to assess your current financial situation with a view to the long-term future.
9. You have elderly parents or loved ones and need help managing their finances and yours.
10. You want to be in a position to be able to pay off your mortgage, purchase a home or fund your children's further education in the future.
11. Suppose you are self-employed and want to ensure you are financially secure in later life or through periods of ill health when your regular income is interrupted. In that case, a professional financial adviser can help you put your affairs in order.

Are you looking for financial advice In Perth, Perthshire and Kinross? If you require further assistance or believe that your small business can benefit from bookkeeping services, please reach out to our professional team.