Faceless financial advice?

On 31 December 2012 the landscape for giving financial advice changed drastically. The Financial Services Authority, now Financial Conduct Authority, brought into effect the Retail Distribution Review (RDR).  The intention of the RDR was to raise professional standards in the financial services industry and introduce greater clarity with the cost of advice.  In addition, commissions were effectively ended.

This change has led to many big names on the High Street no longer offering face to face financial advice due to the new standards required.  The High Street banks which do continue to offer advice are likely to have a limited range of products which fall under the new “restricted advice” offering.

An alternative is to seek the advice of an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA).  An IFA is required to research the whole market of products which may be suitable for clients’ needs and is not tied to a particular company or one particular product.  Birkett Long LLP has been offering independent financial advice for nearly thirty years and is able to provide unbiased and unrestricted advice, having analysed all the client’s existing holdings and future needs.  In addition, as part of a legal practice, we offer fixed fee and hourly rate charging methods and have long implemented the FCA requirement of prior agreement of confirmation of charges before any advice that is given.  All the advisers at Birkett Long have attained the new, higher, professional standards benchmark and are in an excellent position to deal with the changes implemented by the RDR.

If you are looking for independent financial advice then it is important to have assurance that the adviser will be around for years to come.  Many of our independent financial advisers have been at Birkett Long since the department was opened.