QROPS Advice and what you should get : 2010-08-17
Independent is best
If you’ve ever been tempted to buy a pension or other financial product from a bank that already has you as a customer, you may have considered how easy and convenient it would be. However, taking a moment to look around for someone else could pay dividends.
This is because a tied agent is, by definition, tied to offering only those products that their bank or building society has available. Accordingly, this means that they may not be able to offer the most competitive deal for you on the market.
By getting an independent QROPS adviser to look around on your behalf, they can use their knowledge of the products out there on the market to find the best deal for you. Whilst independent agents may be paid commission, they are bound to look for the best deal for you.
Specialist in pensions, specialist in offshore pensions
Some investors tend to use the same financial adviser for everything. But getting a QROPS from one is rather like asking your GP to perform open heart surgery on you. Admittedly, not quite as risky, but getting a specialist is still worthwhile. Pensions are their own specialised niche of the financial world, of which QROPS and offshore investments form a sub-niche.
A general independent financial adviser may be quite right for day to day domestic financial decisions, but when it comes to retiring abroad, the consequences of making a mistake could affect your whole future.
Plain speaking
The days when professional advisers like surveyors, doctors, lawyers and accountants laid down their instructions to be blindly followed are long gone, and rightly so. As a modern investor you want to understand which QROPS is best for you, and what the tax and investment implications are of making that decision.
So when you choose QROPS advice, rather than picking an adviser who speaks only in technical jargon, choose someone who can explain things in normal, everyday language.
Efficient
When you have decided on which QROPS to get, your adviser should do all of the work involved in contacting the providers and making the arrangements. Accordingly, it is important to get an adviser who is efficient, to make sure that these things happen as quickly as possible.
International rescue
Finally, if you are working abroad rather than retired, you may want a firm of QROPS advisers who have international reach, so that their advice can follow you wherever you go in the world. A firm with advisers in a variety of places should be able to look after your financial planning for the rest of your life.
