Even though I have been in the IFA industry for a relatively short time, I was aware of Informed Choice and their reputation.
I have frequently seen their name in the financial press and was aware of their award winning status.
Being able to tell my clients I am part of a firm who has won IFA of the Year in 2010 and the Gold Standard for Independent Financial Advice in five of the last six years is a huge benefit for me and will allow me to stand out from the crowd.
Clients need to know the firm behind you is of a high standard.
Having worked very hard to achieve Chartered Financial Planner status myself, this is very important to me.
Moving to a different firm at this stage of Retail Distribution Review (RDR) implementation could have been quite tricky since my concern was that every firm would advise me they were RDR-ready and I didn’t want to find out once I had moved that this wasn’t the case.
I had no such concern about Informed Choice.
Informed Choice has been using a fee based approach since 2004. They will have independent status next year rather than restricted.
I was confident that their standing within the profession and the fact they are noted as strong influencers within the industry meant that they would be fully compliant and 1st January 2013 would not herald any problems.
Informed Choice provides a robust, system based approach to Financial Planning.
My role is to meet my clients and discuss their needs and priorities. The team at Sundial House in Cranleigh is then responsible for administration, research and report writing. I then present the report and recommendations to my clients.
As a result of my move to Informed Choice, I have now dropped responsibility for various areas that I didn’t really enjoy and didn’t feel I was particularly skilled at doing. This frees up my time to do the things I enjoy doing and allows me more time to prospect for new clients and build strong relationships with existing clients and contacts.
Finally, from my very first contact on the phone with Nick I was aware of a warm, friendly, supportive atmosphere.
My intention as a Chartered Financial Planner was to stand out from the crowd and provide a service significantly better than would be provided by the average financial adviser. In my view Informed Choice are the perfect firm to help me achieve that aim.
Find out more about joining Informed Choice as a Financial Planner
