OpinionMay 15 2013

The need for professional advice

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The problem is that individuals need a solicitor to cut through all the legalese that prevails. They cannot do their own conveyance and they cannot do 1001 things that solicitors do. Likewise individuals also need accountants as they cannot deal with the revenue themselves.

Individuals do not appear to need financial advice and therefore simply going down the route of charging a fee the moment an individual crosses the threshold is not going to work for the bulk of the population.

I have just had someone in to see me, recommended by an accountant, to sort out her pension sharing order on divorce, only to find that she is 35 and does not even have a pension. The point I am making is that she will come and see me now because she cannot do it herself but she has not had to take advice in the past and therefore she has never had a pension ‘sold to her’.

I would ask is it better to have no pension at age 35 or have one sold to her that paid commission in the past?

Bob Donaldson

Director

AG Financial Planning

Bridgend