Financial Advisor

arbitrage · 28-01-2012 12:34am #1

I'm looking for an independent financial advisor in Dublin.

I would appreciate recommendations based on personal experience.

Thanks.

guile4582 · 08-04-2015 5:00pm

any luck?

looking for same

Duckett · 11-04-2015 11:00am

The Central Bank has registers for all financial service providers and schemes regulated by the Central Bank. Whether you are a consumer, part of the financial services industry or any other interested party, their website should help you find the information you need on all regulated financial service providers and collective investment schemes operating in Ireland.

FURET · 12-04-2015 10:37am

Why specifically do you need an adviser?

guile4582 · 13-04-2015 9:15am

Pension mostly but just in general someone to look at my finances and give me advice on mortgages maybe too

never been good with money until maybe the last three years, want to put things in place

FURET · 13-04-2015 9:58am

I think you should avoid all financial advisors. Most of them are nothing more than salespeople masquerading as impartial experts.

The truth is that you can gain an equivalent to superior level of financial acumen by reading a few key books.

The problem with finance is that people think it's a bit like medicine. I mean, if you have a medical problem or need medical advice, you go to a specialist medical professional and you tend to trust what that professional says.

Many people assume that financial professional are the same as medical professionals. But they're not. They generally have huge conflicts of interest. Fee-only advisors are certainly better than commission-based advisors; but the fees are generally not justified.

Regarding a pension, the rules are pretty simple: Pick tax-efficient, low cost (< 1%) passive "indexes" that aim to track a benchmark such as the FTSE Developed Europe, the S&P 500, or a combination of global stocks. If your employer matches your contributions, contribute as much as possible so that the employer matches your contribution to the max.

Regarding your personal finances in general, the rules are also pretty simple:

Avoid debt, forget what the Jones's are doing, and don't spend more than you earn.
If you have debt, pay down the highest interest debt first before investing.
And don't borrow for things like cars, holidays and weddings.
Aim to save 20-30% of your salary, firstly to build up a cash emergency fund equal to 6 months living expenses.
When that's in place, direct the savings strategically into your pension plan.
Do an annual budget for the coming year in Excel in late December (with 13 sheets; one for each month, plus one sheet to see the consolidated numbers) and stick to it. Aim for a slight monthly surplus.
If you are planning on starting a family, do a simulated budget first, factoring in childcare costs and hypothetical reduced income scenarios, such as less income coming in from your spouse, pay cuts, interest rate hikes, etc. If the numbers aren't adding up, reconsider your options.

Regarding a mortgage, think carefully about this. Do you really need a 4-bedroom house vs a 3-bedroom house? Is the house to be a home or an investment? Will you definitely be living in that area for 10 years or more? If you take out a mortgage, be sure to take advantage of the low interest rates and pay down as much as you can as quickly as you can. Also do a simulated budget factoring in a doubling of interest rates - can you still meet the payments without falling behind?

This level of planning seems anal to many people. But if you want to be prudent, sensible and responsible, you have to do it.

guile4582 · 13-04-2015 10:05am

sound advice thanks

but I honestly don't know what this means, but like you say, i should read up

Regarding a pension, the rules are pretty simple: Pick tax-efficient, low cost passive "indexes" that aim to track a benchmark such as the FTSE Developed Europe, the S&P 500, or a combination of global stocks. If your employer matches your contributions, contribute as much as possible so that the employers matches your contribution.

I will be savvy with a mortgage, its a 3 bed all day long!
My employer doesn't offer any pension plans or matching of what i put in

FURET · 13-04-2015 10:20am

guile4582 wrote: »

Regarding a pension, the rules are pretty simple: Pick tax-efficient, low cost passive "indexes" that aim to track a benchmark such as the FTSE Developed Europe, the S&P 500, or a combination of global stocks. If your employer matches your contributions, contribute as much as possible so that the employers matches your contribution.

Ok, so this will be quick. There are many pension products available from different providers. Each product can be thought of as a goody bag containing many different treats: US stocks, European stocks, Japanese stocks, emerging market stocks, UK stocks, some bonds, some gold, some property.

But every goody bag has a cost associated with it: we call this cost the "Total Expense Ratio". If the TER is, say, 2% and your goody bag increased in value by 10%, you would only get 8%, because the provider (such as Irish Life) would claim 2% as their fee.

So here's the rule of thumb...
Every goody bag on offer has a "Fact Sheet" describing the goody bag and how much it costs. Select a goody bag that has the following attributes:

Contains a broad selection of stocks (AKA "equity") from all around the world. The US should not be more than 55%; Europe including the UK should not be less than 20%. Emerging markets should not be more than 10%.
Optional: Should contain some bonds, but not more than 30%.
The goody bag should be "passive" (the one you don't want is "active")
The total expense ratio of the goody bag should be well below 1%; in fact the closer to 0% the better. You should be able to find some as low as .2%.

Now, to find the companies that provide the goody bags, go onto the Irish Pensions website and dig around. There should be little to no charges for depositing money into your goody bag (some providers charge 5%, meaning if you want to contribute 100 euro, they will take 5 euro before they even invest it for you).

You probably want a self-directed pension plan where you can choose the goody bag yourself, making sure it has the attributes I mentioned. You will have to do some research, but it will stand to you.

Finally, let's say you contribute to your goody bag and now you have 10,000 euro in it and the stock market crashes, and now your goody bag is only worth 6,000. Do not panic! Instead, contribute more, as much as you can in fact. Why? Because you're a long-term saver and the market has just given you a sweet but temporary 40% discount. So buy, buy, buy.

guile4582 · 13-04-2015 10:44am

thanks very much, that's very simple, will get researching

FURET · 13-04-2015 11:00am

guile4582 wrote: »

thanks very much, that's very simple, will get researching

You should read a simple little book called "Millionaire Teacher" by Andrew Hallam. It costs around 10 euro on Amazon and explains the concept of pension planning in very accessible language. The book will take about 6 hours to read - despite its title, it is backed up by tonnes of referenced academic research - and you're right, the whole process is actually very simple.

For advice on the other stuff (budgeting, personal finance, mortgages etc), sign up to Bogleheads.org and start a thread for questions you have. It is a US-centric forum, but the principles are the same no matter where in the west you live. The guys who frequent that forum are some of the financially shrewdest people on the planet and they are generous with their knowledge.

Duckett · 07-05-2015 5:48pm

an interesting article for info

http://www.myfuturenow.co.uk/blog/your-private-pension-with-or-without-advice/

Frogdog · 08-05-2015 6:26am

I've had a very good experience with a financial advisor in relation to both pensions and investments. Send me a pm if you want any details.

syntheticjunk · 08-05-2015 8:14am

Duckett wrote: »

an interesting article for info

http://www.myfuturenow.co.uk/blog/your-private-pension-with-or-without-advice/

But it's written by financial advisers and I have doubts about their charts where "adviced" households had 1000% more investable assets than "non-adviced" households. Looks like they compared households investing vs spending. Anyway - I would take this kind of information with a grain of salt.

mitresize5 · 08-05-2015 12:09pm

FURET wrote: »

You should read a simple little book called "Millionaire Teacher" by Andrew Hallam. It costs around 10 euro on Amazon and explains the concept of pension planning in very accessible language. The book will take about 6 hours to read - despite its title, it is backed up by tonnes of referenced academic research - and you're right, the whole process is actually very simple.

For advice on the other stuff (budgeting, personal finance, mortgages etc), sign up to Bogleheads.org and start a thread for questions you have. It is a US-centric forum, but the principles are the same no matter where in the west you live. The guys who frequent that forum are some of the financially shrewdest people on the planet and they are generous with their knowledge.

So you want a guy with no financial back ground to buy a €10 book that will take him 6 hours to read and then use this as a background to make the biggest financial decision of his life, one that will affect how he gets to see out his golden years :mad:

OP - my advice to you is go with one of the standard off the shelf pensions. Its galling to pay 5% commission and fees on top of that but if you have little or no experience of investments you're playing with fire if its your pension.

By all means dabble with a a few shares with your disposable income and if in a few years time you want to be more hands on then do, but only then

FURET · 08-05-2015 6:34pm

How much do you think it costs to get an excellent knowledge of something that is fundamentally simple?

topper_harley2 · 08-05-2015 8:59pm

FURET wrote: »

How much do you think it costs to get an excellent knowledge of something that is fundamentally simple?

Fundamentals are simple, but when youre investing 25K of your own cash, then it becomes somehow more complex!!

Sonnenblumen · 08-05-2015 10:30pm

topper_harley2 wrote: »

Fundamentals are simple, but when youre investing 25K of your own cash, then it becomes somehow more complex!!

Why so? I would argue the more one has at one's disposal, the more options are available, risk spreading etc etc.

I too would be very sceptical about FA's most of them for a very long time were tied agents, new rules apply but little has changed in 'sucker base pension industry'. Extortionate handling charges but often piss poor returns. One definitely does not get a commensurate level of service or advice for the fees paid.

I would say to the OP do your own research, invest directly in global blue chips, build a fund and in a few years set up a self administered pension fund. I would favour direct investment, and the fewer snake oil sales people
involved the better.

FURET · 09-05-2015 6:11am

topper_harley2 wrote: »

Fundamentals are simple, but when youre investing 25K of your own cash, then it becomes somehow more complex!!

It doesn't matter if it's 5k, 25k, or 5bn. The principles are exactly the same and just as simple.

Talk of "off the shelf pensions" just means people are afraid to handle their own money and therefore outsource the responsibility to people who don't have their best interests at heart. If someone knew how much most existing off-the-shelf pensions in Ireland truly cost, they wouldn't recommend them; doubly so if they knew the simple principles behind managing one's own portfolio, regardless of its size.

2012paddy2012 · 09-05-2015 6:27am

FURET wrote: »

Ok, so this will be quick. There are many pension products available from different providers. Each product can be thought of as a goody bag containing many different treats: US stocks, European stocks, Japanese stocks, emerging market stocks, UK stocks, some bonds, some gold, some property.

But every goody bag has a cost associated with it: we call this cost the "Total Expense Ratio". If the TER is, say, 2% and your goody bag increased in value by 10%, you would only get 8%, because the provider (such as Irish Life) would claim 2% as their fee.

So here's the rule of thumb...
Every goody bag on offer has a "Fact Sheet" describing the goody bag and how much it costs. Select a goody bag that has the following attributes:
Contains a broad selection of stocks (AKA "equity") from all around the world. The US should not be more than 55%; Europe including the UK should not be less than 20%. Emerging markets should not be more than 10%.

Optional: Should contain some bonds, but not more than 30%.

The goody bag should be "passive" (the one you don't want is "active")

The total expense ratio of the goody bag should be well below 1%; in fact the closer to 0% the better. You should be able to find some as low as .2%.

Now, to find the companies that provide the goody bags, go onto the Irish Pensions website and dig around. There should be little to no charges for depositing money into your goody bag (some providers charge 5%, meaning if you want to contribute 100 euro, they will take 5 euro before they even invest it for you).

You probably want a self-directed pension plan where you can choose the goody bag yourself, making sure it has the attributes I mentioned. You will have to do some research, but it will stand to you.

Finally, let's say you contribute to your goody bag and now you have 10,000 euro in it and the stock market crashes, and now your goody bag is only worth 6,000. Do not panic! Instead, contribute more, as much as you can in fact. Why? Because you're a long-term saver and the market has just given you a sweet but temporary 40% discount. So buy, buy, buy.

Sorry for cutting in here! I have a little pension query could I get your thoughts on it! Had advice from a pro as you say told me nothing I could not find myself again sorry for butting in paddy

topper_harley2 · 09-05-2015 12:10pm

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

Why so? I would argue the more one has at one's disposal, the more options are available, risk spreading etc etc.

Its fear! I think most people are not going to be comfortable with reading a couple of books and then going off investing their life savings.

I'm 33 years old and in full time employment. I have a work pension where I contribute 9% and company contributes 6%, making 15% in total. I don't think I need to do anything with this, as the contributions are good and its managed by Irish Life - I cant take control of this AFAIK, due to company contributions. To be honest, I don't want to anyway.

Outside of this, I have 50K in savings. Earmarking 10K of that for an emergency fund, I'm left with 40K savings. This has recently wound up from various term deposit accounts, so its currently sitting in instant access account waiting for me to do something with it. I also save 1300 a month.

The above is a decent amount of money, for me anyway, and it has taken me ten years of work to be in the position of having it. I know the 40K is doing squat in my deposit account, but I am afraid to invest it on my own, basically for fear of losing it. I think this is surely something everyone can relate to?

I don't like the idea of buying individual shares so I have looked into ETFs and index funds. I bought a very small amount of Rabo funds, but even then I found the transaction cost of .75% on purchase and sale to be quite high. I have thought about buying some TDWaterhouse ETFs with 5K amounts every couple of months (to offset E15 cost, and for dollar cost averaging), but basically I'm afraid of buying a particular fund, as I don't really have any knowledge of WHICH fund to buy.

e.g. how does one decide to but a fund that tracks the DAX vs the FTSE100 etc.

Decisions like the above are very difficult for most people, even if the basic principle of buying a low cost index tracking fund is simple. When its your money that you've saved up over 10 years there are alot more factors at play than the basic principles.

FURET · 09-05-2015 12:35pm

topper_harley2 wrote: »

Its fear...
Decisions like the above are very difficult for most people, even if the basic principle of buying a low cost index tracking fund is simple. When its your money that you've saved up over 10 years there are alot more factors at play than the basic principles.

It's not fear - it's ignorance first and foremost. You ask the right questions yet you ridicule the very book that would answer them.

Sonnenblumen · 09-05-2015 1:55pm

topper_harley2 wrote: »

Its fear! I think most people are not going to be comfortable with reading a couple of books and then going off investing their life savings.

I'm 33 years old and in full time employment. I have a work pension where I contribute 9% and company contributes 6%, making 15% in total. I don't think I need to do anything with this, as the contributions are good and its managed by Irish Life - I cant take control of this AFAIK, due to company contributions. To be honest, I don't want to anyway.

Outside of this, I have 50K in savings. Earmarking 10K of that for an emergency fund, I'm left with 40K savings. This has recently wound up from various term deposit accounts, so its currently sitting in instant access account waiting for me to do something with it. I also save 1300 a month.

The above is a decent amount of money, for me anyway, and it has taken me ten years of work to be in the position of having it. I know the 40K is doing squat in my deposit account, but I am afraid to invest it on my own, basically for fear of losing it. I think this is surely something everyone can relate to?

I don't like the idea of buying individual shares so I have looked into ETFs and index funds. I bought a very small amount of Rabo funds, but even then I found the transaction cost of .75% on purchase and sale to be quite high. I have thought about buying some TDWaterhouse ETFs with 5K amounts every couple of months (to offset E15 cost, and for dollar cost averaging), but basically I'm afraid of buying a particular fund, as I don't really have any knowledge of WHICH fund to buy.

e.g. how does one decide to but a fund that tracks the DAX vs the FTSE100 etc.

Decisions like the above are very difficult for most people, even if the basic principle of buying a low cost index tracking fund is simple. When its your money that you've saved up over 10 years there are alot more factors at play than the basic principles.

I think you are grossly underestimating the ability of most people to make decisions. The two greatest con artists tricks to get people to pay fat cat 'fund managers' to supposedly manage the pension fund are (1) fear of no income in retirement (2) tax breaks.

A casual glance of the two biggest concerning developments in the pension fund industry of recent years are (I) declining returns some have run out of money etc (ii) reduction in tax reliefs. More fundamental changes are coming, so what you see as 'complex', I see 'black arts' at work, and the punters pay upfront all the time. So let's agree to disagree. I'm not wasting time on this trivial debate.

BTW if you believe your pension is safe with Irish Life, you need your head examined. I wouldn't trust them with a Life policy never mind a pension! :eek:

topper_harley2 · 09-05-2015 2:48pm

FURET wrote: »

It's not fear - it's ignorance first and foremost. You ask the right questions yet you ridicule the very book that would answer them.

Oh OK well if you say its ignorance then it must be that. So excusing my ignorance, where exactly did I ridicule any book? Please post the comment to which you are referring.....

topper_harley2 · 09-05-2015 2:54pm

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

I think you are grossly underestimating the ability of most people to make decisions. The two greatest con artists tricks to get people to pay fat cat 'fund managers' to supposedly manage the pension fund are (1) fear of no income in retirement (2) tax breaks.

A casual glance of the two biggest concerning developments in the pension fund industry of recent years are (I) declining returns some have run out of money etc (ii) reduction in tax reliefs. More fundamental changes are coming, so what you see as 'complex', I see 'black arts' at work, and the punters pay upfront all the time. So let's agree to disagree. I'm not wasting time on this trivial debate.

BTW if you believe your pension is safe with Irish Life, you need your head examined. I wouldn't trust them with a Life policy never mind a pension! :eek:

I never said it was "safe". I said I don't want to do anything with it as I get the 6% from company by being in the administered scheme. If you are indicating I should throw away a free 6% every month just for the benefit of managing my own pension I think you need your head examined!

If I am grossly under-estimating people's ability to make these huge decisions, then why is there a new thread almost daily on this forum from someone asking "where to invest 20K for ten years"?

FURET · 09-05-2015 3:00pm

topper_harley2 wrote: »

Oh OK well if you say its ignorance then it must be that. So excusing my ignorance, where exactly did I ridicule any book? Please post the comment to which you are referring.....

Apologies - it was someone who posted prior to your first post on this thread. Yet your self-confessed fear does stem from a lack of knowledge (aka ignorance) about investing.

topper_harley2 · 09-05-2015 3:26pm

Fair enough

Sonnenblumen · 09-05-2015 4:00pm

topper_harley2 wrote: »

I never said it was "safe". I said I don't want to do anything with it as I get the 6% from company by being in the administered scheme. If you are indicating I should throw away a free 6% every month just for the benefit of managing my own pension I think you need your head examined!

If I am grossly under-estimating people's ability to make these huge decisions, then why is there a new thread almost daily on this forum from someone asking "where to invest 20K for ten years"?

Investing € 20k is a huge decision! That's funny

topper_harley2 · 09-05-2015 4:58pm

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

Investing € 20k is a huge decision! That's funny

Wow, how condescending. I'm not sure of why you think its funny.....perhaps you only invest minimum E200K, I don't know. However, for most people in the real world I think you'll find it is a pretty big decision to invest E20K in something.

FURET · 09-05-2015 5:31pm

topper_harley2 wrote: »

Wow, how condescending. I'm not sure of why you think its funny.....perhaps you only invest minimum E200K, I don't know. However, for most people in the real world I think you'll find it is a pretty big decision to invest E20K in something.

Well I do understand your initial apprehension but honestly, if you spent just a few hours researching some basic concepts I am confident your fear would evaporate. I think you should continue your employer scheme - the 6% contribution from the employer is good. But you should look at the Irish Life fund into which you're paying and ensure it is passive and low-cost (<.5%).

Depending on the IL options, you may only want to contribute 6% of your own funds into it and redeploy the rest - plus 30k of your cash and ongoing savings - into a self-directed broadly diversified fund for your pension.

You should not be concerned about losing your money. Properly invested, your money would buy you ownership of hundreds or even thousands of robust businesses like Coke, Volkswagen and Walt Disney. As long as those businesses make money, so will you.

And Topper: your savings are admirable. Properly investing a principal of 30k now and 1200 every month for the next 20 years will build you real wealth - much more than you probably realize (~750k by my calculations at 7% per year EXCLUDING employer pension scheme and state pension). It is therefore possible for you to retire a millionaire. But you can't leave it sitting in an account.

2012paddy2012 · 10-05-2015 8:51am

FURET wrote: »

How much do you think it costs to get an excellent knowledge of something that is fundamentally simple?

I agree 100% with this. All you have to do is look at various celebs (radio in particular) to see how useless financial advisors are. I paid a guy who is a money expert and has a weekly show on a radio talk in , in Dublin who sent me a budget planner (free on net) and told me what I already knew. Useless neck like a jockeys u no what.

stick with sound safe advice as in here paddy

topper_harley2 · 10-05-2015 4:24pm

FURET wrote: »

Well I do understand your initial apprehension but honestly, if you spent just a few hours researching some basic concepts I am confident your fear would evaporate. I think you should continue your employer scheme - the 6% contribution from the employer is good. But you should look at the Irish Life fund into which you're paying and ensure it is passive and low-cost (<.5%).

Depending on the IL options, you may only want to contribute 6% of your own funds into it and redeploy the rest - plus 30k of your cash and ongoing savings - into a self-directed broadly diversified fund for your pension.

You should not be concerned about losing your money. Properly invested, your money would buy you ownership of hundreds or even thousands of robust businesses like Coke, Volkswagen and Walt Disney. As long as those businesses make money, so will you.

And Topper: your savings are admirable. Properly investing a principal of 30k now and 1200 every month for the next 20 years will build you real wealth - much more than you probably realize (~750k by my calculations at 7% per year EXCLUDING employer pension scheme and state pension). It is therefore possible for you to retire a millionaire. But you can't leave it sitting in an account.

Yeah I used money chimp compound interest calculator and it came in at circa 700K alright for 20 years @ 7%. Getting the 7% every year (or any year!) is the problem though.

Regarding my pension, I only need to contribute 3% and I would still get the 6% from employer. I only recently upped my contributions to 9%, so I technically have 6% to play with.

If I was to stop that 6% AVC, wouldnt I need to have a second pension in order not to pay tax on the investment? Otherwise I'd pay PAYE and then invest it myself from net salary. I'm not sure if this would make sense as I'm on 41% tax?

Yeah I agree with you about diversification etc, I understand the principles, its just doing it! I've been humming and hawing about this for over a year at this stage. I realise I need a JFDI approach - just f****** do it!!

Financial Advisor

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