What does a Financial Adviser do?

Sarah Tucker:
Hello and a very warm welcome to today’s episode of the Mortgage Mum podcast. Today’s episode is a little bit different, and we’re very excited to finally tell you that we have been working on something special at The Mortgage Mum in 2024.

We’re now ready to launch this exciting new space – that we really believe is going to add to The Mortgage Mum service and help you on your finance journey.

The lovely Tessa, who joins us on most episodes, will be interviewing someone different today, a member of our senior team. Please welcome Dinta to the podcast, to open up the conversation about our brand new company coming in 2025. And that is, drum roll, please…..The Mortgage Mum Wealth.

Wealth is a wonderful word suggesting that we have an abundance of financial assets. The wealth space is about pensions, investments, ISAs and all of the different facets that includes.

There are incredible opportunities in this space. The information out there is not being translated in a way people understand. We are so looking forward to being able to do that for you.

To celebrate the launch of The Mortgage Mum Wealth, we are asking Dinta some of the main questions people Google on this topic. So without further ado, let me hand over the episode to the wonderful Dinta and Tessa.

Please send in your wealth questions. Let us know what you want to know more about, and we will cover it in future episodes and on our social media.

Thank you. So let’s get straight into these questions. First, what exactly does a financial adviser do?

Dinta: A financial adviser provides a professional service to individuals, their families and businesses. We help them organise and optimise their financial affairs to achieve their financial and lifestyle objectives.

In essence, we help people make decisions about money, and our service adds value for people at various different stages in their life. It could be someone starting to put money aside for retirement, investing money for the future looking at inheritance tax planning.

We can look at personal situations and circumstances, recommend products accordingly and develop strategies for people.

What services does a financial adviser offer?

Pensions are top of the list, especially for the self-employed. If you’re employed, you’ll be automatically enrolled into a pension by your employer, and they make monthly contributions.

If you’re self-employed, you’ll need to set up a pension yourself and make payments into it monthly, annually or ad hoc. Many self-employed people aren’t aware of this, and don’t know it’s something that needs to be done.

We also analyse current pension pots you have and recommend how to optimise your contributions and investments to make sure you’re on track for your retirement income goals.

For those planning on retiring soon, you can get personal advice on the best ways to start taking an income from your pension. We’ll also consider a broad range of providers from a fully researched offering that is representative of the whole market available.

How can a financial adviser help with investments and savings?

When we arrange an investment for you, it will be typically made into a multi-asset fund or a managed portfolio service. These funds and portfolios have a range of different investment strategies.

We’ll only recommend those that align with your attitude to risk, your personal investment objectives and the period of time that you want to invest for. It’s very personalised.

Just like with pensions, if you already have arrangements in place, we will first conduct an analysis of what you have, and advise you on how likely you are to achieve your long term goals in that current position. If we feel that what you have is suitable, we may recommend that those are kept.

However, if we find clear indicators that your interests will be better served elsewhere, we will recommend that you take action.

You also offer wealth management. What is this and how does it work?

That’s where we advise on financial plans using our knowledge of tax, investment strategies, security, insurance, pension plans and property. It’s a fully holistic approach. That’s wealth management.

When should I see a financial adviser?

It’s not just at retirement age! Everything should start much earlier than that. I’d recommend life events as a trigger – graduation, getting married, expanding your family or starting a business are just some of the life events that might cause you to reevaluate your financial situation.

We can help you manage those life events, while making sure you stay on track for your goals. You don’t need a certain amount of money to be doing this. You can be at the start of your journey – because we all have to start somewhere.

What’s the process for wealth advice? What would happen if I called you up today?

There’s a structured process. Initially, we’d have a chat with you to find out what you want to do. We get that understanding of your hopes, goals and objectives. The first step is all about you – not your finances. Then we’ll establish your current financial position. We’ll work out your assets, liabilities, income, expenses and understand your overall situation.

We’ll then assess all the information we’ve gathered to consider what’s working and what can be improved, and we’ll create your financial plan. We’ll arrange a meeting with you to deliver that financial plan to you, which will include our recommendations.

That will be a fully detailed report, including justifications for the recommendations we give you. Then, you can agree how you’d like to proceed. If you want to go ahead, we take the responsibility of putting all the changes into action, and that will be done with great care and attention.

After that, you should be on the right track, but the process doesn’t stop there. The best results happen when we revisit the plan regularly to make sure that it continues to work for you long term. We do this by conducting ongoing annual reviews.

Does it cost for an initial conversation or consultation with you?

No, the initial conversations are totally free. We only charge a fee once we’ve agreed a plan of action and we’re implementing it.

What else do we need to know about wealth management and financial advice?

We understand how important this is, and we’re committed to providing the highest standards of financial advice and service. The interest of our clients is our primary concern.

When we’re working with you, we’ll be open, honest, and transparent, and we’ll communicate clearly, promptly and without jargon. Financial education is very important, and this service offers that.

I would encourage people to begin their wealth journey as soon as possible. I’m always available to answer any questions, so just get in touch.

The value of pensions & investments and any income from them can fall as well as rise. You may not get back the amount originally invested.