Financial Adviser Question

Piranha510

Registered User
Messages
6
Hello,

This is my first post but I've been reading through some of the threads on here for a couple of weeks and the information has been invaluable. Thanks to everyone for posting.

I'm a secondary school teacher living in Mayo. A Cornmarket rep called to our school two weeks ago trying to get us to buy into AVCs, and it got me thinking that I know absolutely nothing about my financial future

I'm looking to buy a house in the next couple of months. I have a decent amount of savings that I would like to get advice on what to do with. I also would like info on AVC's as I would like the option to retiring early. Basically I want to get my finances in order.

I've been reading up on financial advisors and it seems I need a fee based advisor that has the CFP qualification. Is this correct?

I have also seen that financial plans cost in the region of €2000. My question is do financial advisors only do out full finacial plans or can I meet with them for a couple of hours to get guidance on my future? I would then go through them to get the mortgage, invest savings, or pay into AVcs if I felt these products were right for me.

Any info would be a great help
Thanks
Conor
 
1. Qualifications matter , but not as much as a good recommendation from colleagues.

2. You can agree an initial discussion fee with any advisor, I would be slow to go the full (hog)on advice until you have good general info.

3. Your colleagues would have signed into AVC,s, Insurance etc, so take their advice.
Beware of the hard sell merchants on AVC,s/Insurances.I believe a lot of people sign AVC,s/Insurances and don,t know what they have!

4. Consensus in AAM, seems get your mortgage and pay it down as quickly as possible.

5. If single Life Cover ? does it matter? If married it does matter.

6. Since you are a teacher (I hope full time) , your financial future ,unless Ire falls off the cliff again, should be fairly secure. What AVC,s could do is to give you a bit more cover in retirement.
That said, if the state is banjaxed by retirement we are all goosed! Avc,s or not !
 
Hello,

This is my first post but I've been reading through some of the threads on here for a couple of weeks and the information has been invaluable. Thanks to everyone for posting.

I'm a secondary school teacher living in Mayo. A Cornmarket rep called to our school two weeks ago trying to get us to buy into AVCs, and it got me thinking that I know absolutely nothing about my financial future

I'm looking to buy a house in the next couple of months. I have a decent amount of savings that I would like to get advice on what to do with. I also would like info on AVC's as I would like the option to retiring early. Basically I want to get my finances in order.

I've been reading up on financial advisors and it seems I need a fee based advisor that has the CFP qualification. Is this correct?

I have also seen that financial plans cost in the region of €2000. My question is do financial advisors only do out full finacial plans or can I meet with them for a couple of hours to get guidance on my future? I would then go through them to get the mortgage, invest savings, or pay into AVcs if I felt these products were right for me.

Any info would be a great help
Thanks
Conor


Hi Conor

You can get advice on whatever you want. A full financial plan works as a roadmap for your financial future. It is not fixed though, so as life changes, your roadmap will too so it needs to be revisited.

If you just want some advice on certains areas, plenty of good advisors will be able to help you out.

If you want good advice, agree a fee with the advisor for the work that they do for you. That way they don't have to try to sell you something to get paid.


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie
 
Thanks to everyone for the reply. Yes I'm a full time teacher with 9 years done. We can't draw down our pension until we are 65, so I was thinking of paying into AVCs so that I would have the option of retiring at 60. My father is 63 and I can't see myself in a school dealing with 12 year olds at his age!

I am going to buy a house before the summer. Houses are cheap here - €130 000 for a 3 bed semi detached which is pretty cool. But I don't know weather to put my saving into this house to get a better rate with a lower LTV ratio. Or to keep as much of my saving as possible as long term(5+ years away) I plan on buying a site and building a house.

Can anyone recommend a fee based financial adviser in the Mayo area? Is it better to go with someone with the CFP qualification, or is QFA ok?

Thanks
Conor
 
You can't draw down your AVC's before the main scheme. They have to be done at the same time. But they will make up for any shortfall in years you may have.

I don't know any advisers in Mayo. With a CFP, he is likely to have more knowledge and better able to do more for you that someone with just a QFA (There are plenty of very good QFA's out there too)

Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie
 
Thanks again for the replys. I'm going to buy a couple of books from amazon, try to learn a little here, then I will give a financial adviser a shout.
Thanks
Conor
 
My question is do financial advisors only do out full finacial plans or can I meet with them for a couple of hours to get guidance on my future? I would then go through them to get the mortgage, invest savings, or pay into AVcs if I felt these products were right for me.

Cornmarket - there were loads of threads on this a couple of years ago, cannot fully remember, but it was linked to civil servants and it was not positive (open to correction)

No idea about qualifications but someone who knows their stuff, with or without qualifications is the best bet. Preferably with a proven track record - there are a lot of cowboys. You might find a good advisor from the posters who are professionals on AAM and on this thread.

Do not see how anyone will be able to do anything other than guide you in hopefully the right direction but there are no guarantees. Diversification seems to be key, as in don't have all your eggs in one basket.

Agree that reading up on it is a good starting point. You could also post on the money makeover thread and get advice there.
 
No idea about qualifications but someone who knows their stuff, with or without qualifications is the best bet.

Agree 100%. There are a lot of people with the CFP qualification who scraped through, getting 40% in most of their exams. Then there are plenty who got 1st class honours. Both are CFP's but in all likelihood, only one of them knows what he is talking about.


Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie
 
Back
Top