Independent Financial Advice

FAQs

There are a number of things to consider before you get financial advice. For example, do you want financial advice or information about financial products? Different advisers offer different levels of service and different ranges of products. We explain these here with some questions to ask yourself and your financial adviser.

Do I need financial advice?

A financial adviser can give you advice about managing your money as a whole, or help you with specific needs or goals. You may decide you want financial advice if for example, you want to start saving for a pension, are considering protecting your family in the event of accident, illness or death, you inherit a lump sum of money, or are coming up to retirement and want help in converting your pension fund into retirement income.

What types of service are available?

Decide if you just want to buy a particular product or if you want your adviser to provide you with an ongoing service. Make sure the service the firm is offering you meets your needs. Firms may either give advice or provide information about financial products or offer both advice and product information.

Thomas, Carroll can offer 'one off' advice if you have a particular need such as buying a competitive annuity or arranging life cover to protect your family.

We specialise in providing ongoing advice to personal and corporate clients and you can find further information about our Wealth Management Service.

What products can an adviser offer?

What advisers offer will vary, for example:

• some only offer advice on products from the firm they work for or firms within that group of companies;
• some offer advice on products from a limited number of providers;
• some offer advice on products from the whole market.

Thomas, Carroll Independent Financial Advisers Ltd offers investment advice on products from the whole market. We hold specialist retirement planning and pension transfer qualifications. We also specialise in providing advice to businesses and their employees.

We do not offer mortgage advice.

How can I find out what the letters after my financial adviser's name mean?

Independent Financial Advisers (IFAs) can pass examinations relating to a wide variety of topics. To help you understand which qualifications your adviser holds, see the list on IFA Promotion's website. You can also check the Chartered Insurance Institute website for details of Chartered Firms and Chartered IFAs.

Details of the qualifications held at Thomas, Carroll can be found in Meet the IFA Team.

What will I have to pay?

You will have to pay for the advice you are given as well as charges on the products you buy. Your adviser may also offer other services that could cost extra. For example, the firm may offer an ongoing review service.

You can pay for financial advice in different ways. The main ways are:

• by fee - normally you pay this directly to the adviser; or
• by commission - this is paid to the adviser indirectly from the money you invest or spend on the financial product you buy or from the return on the product; or
• by a combination of fee and commission.

Some advisers may not offer you a choice of how to pay, so you need to check.

Thomas, Carroll offers all of the above payment options and will agree the payment method with you before you incur any charges. If you wish to pay by fee or a combination of fee and commission we will provide a written agreement detailing how much we will charge and the method of payment.

If you require an ongoing review service, such as our Wealth Management Service we also offer a monthly fee payment, known as a retainer, to spread the cost of your advice and review service.

Further details about our service and charges can be found in the 'Guide to Our Services'.