Choosing a Pensions Adviser

Although you can take out a stakeholder or personal pension simply by shopping around, it's a much better idea to consult with a financial advisor before you buy. Not only can they explain the pros and cons of various products and recommend a scheme that best suits your circumstances, you have fewer rights to complain or cancel if you buy an investment product without taking financial advice.

Finding a Financial Advisor

You can find a financial advisor through the investment pages in major newspapers, in specialist investment publications, or though trade bodies such as IFA Promotion or the Personal Finance Society. Your accountant or solicitor may also be able to recommend someone suitable.

In order to advise on financial products such as personal pensions, a financial advisor must be authorised by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). This means they must follow certain standards and rules when dealing with you. They may only advertise that they offer independent advice if they recommend from the whole market and offer you the option to pay a fee rather than commission.

What Should You Expect?

When you meet a financial advisor for assistance with your pension, they should look at your individual requirements and circumstances and recommend a suitable pension product to meet them. They will ask you questions about your financial circumstances, your goals for the future, and your personal circumstances, and they will recommend financial products that are suitable for you.

The advisor should also provide you with three important documents about the financial advisor, and about the product they recommend.

1. Key Features Document

This document explains important details regarding the pension scheme, such as:

• the benefits and aims of the pension plan
• the level of risk
• the charges and commission you will have to pay the product provider to manage the product for you
• an illustration showing how the pension might work for you

2. Key Facts: About Our Service

This document explains the type of service the financial advisor offers (advice or information) and whose products they choose from (just one provider from a limited range or from the whole market).

3. Key Facts: About the Cost of Our Service

This document explains you're being charged for the service (fees and/or commission).

Before you meet with the advisor, you should make sure that you have thought about what your aims are for the future, and how you feel about risk. You should also make a list of any questions you want to ask.