5 Reasons Why You Should Use a Financial Adviser

You’d have to be a particularly incredible person to go through life not needing to call upon the advice, guidance and support of someone else – particularly in challenging periods, or when you’re dealing with complex subjects.

For many, navigating the world of finances, for instance, is a huge challenge. Research for Talk Money Week has suggested that a staggering 24 million adults in the UK – 45% of the population – don’t feel confident when it comes to managing their money, day-to-day.

Are you one of those people? If so, there’s a type of professional who could help you – financial advisers.

Financial advisers – regulated professionals who are trained to provide guidance and advice to people managing their finances – can make the process a whole lot easier.

Here are five reasons that you should consider using a financial adviser.

1.   Specialist knowledge

Navigating the world of finance can be a bewildering experience if you don’t fully understand how the system functions. At best complex, at worst, downright confusing, there’s no denying that making important financial decisions calls for a sophisticated level of expertise – a level that’s usually beyond the knowledge of ordinary people.

That’s where financial advisers come in – they are experts when it comes to providing guidance and well, advice, about how to manage your finances successfully. They undergo rigorous training in order to qualify to become a financial adviser – for example, by studying benchmark industry qualifications like the LIBF Level 4 Diploma for Financial Advisers (DipFA®) that are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

The purpose of a financial adviser is to translate finance knowledge into something more easily digestible, ultimately enabling you to make more informed decisions about your money, finances and investments. A financial adviser will provide clients with guidance about how to get the most from their money and how to manage risk effectively. As a result, they’re a specialist with very valuable information and skills when it comes to financial management. 

2.   They can help to manage your investments

Modern life is a whirlwind. In between working a full-time job, raising a family, maintaining a home and socialising with friends and family, we don’t really have much spare time. And any spare time we do have we’re unlikely to want to put towards a ‘dry’ topic like investment management.

Investments by their nature require you to remain an active part in their management, monitoring their performance and adjusting them accordingly if you need to. To really make the most of your money you need to be monitoring your investments over the short-term and the long-term, ensuring that they’re on track to achieve your goals. Engaging a financial adviser to do this for you is one way that you can monitor your finances without the hassle of having to do this entirely yourself.

For a small monthly fee, financial advisers will monitor and analyse the performance of your investments and recommend a course of action to help you make them go further.

3.   They can help you reach your financial goals

Having a dedicated financial adviser can help you stay motivated, focused and, ultimately, accountable, when it comes to achieving your financial goals.

Turning to experts for their advice and for their motivation is something we do all the time, and we often don’t even realise it. For example, those of us who are trying to lose weight, improve our fitness and get in shape often turn to personal trainers – experts in all of the minute details of gym routines and how to help you reach your body goals through exercise. If you’re looking to buy a house, you might turn to a solicitor or a mortgage adviser– someone who is knowledgeable about the law and the detailed processes and complex stages that go along with buying a property.

A financial adviser performs the same function. Whilst they won’t be able (usually) to give you advice about how to hit your personal best on the bicep curl, they will be able to advise you on the best way to manage your money when it comes to hitting your financial goals. They will also help you stay accountable and on track.

4.   They can help you plan for your retirement

Managing your pension can feel like a huge challenge, with every decision you make having the potential to cause huge knock-on effects to the value of your future investment. It’s not a task that should be taken lightly – and research suggest that many of us are burying our heads in the sand when it comes to retirement.

According to research by Standard Life, an average of 75% of adults in the UK don’t know how much money is in their pension pot. A survey by Opinium Research on behalf of Wealthify found that 58% of people were ‘not comfortable’ setting up their own personal pension. Add to that worrying indications that around 21% of adults in the UK have no pension savings, and it suggests that a lot of us lack the knowledge and expertise to confidently manage our retirement plans.

Step in, the financial adviser. Many financial advisers are experts when it comes to managing pensions. They’ll be able to help you manage your existing schemes and advise you on the best course of action to take to maximise your investment and increase their value. A financial adviser will be able to break down complicated financial concepts into an easy-to-understand format, helping you make more informed choices about your retirement.

5.   They can teach you

You must have noticed that strange phenomenon when you’re working closely with someone who knows more about a particular subject than you. After a while, you can find that their knowledge and skills start to rub off on you.  You seem to know, or understand, more about that subject than you ever remembered than before – and you’re not sure when you picked up that knowledge. This isn’t just a figment of our imaginations. Scientists have found that it’s a key part of learning and it’s even got its own dedicated name: learning by osmosis, or learning by proxy.

Learning by osmosis is when you seemingly assimilate the knowledge of someone else after you spend time with them. It’s a very natural way of learning and it reflects our biology and evolution. After all, when we’re babies and infants, we primarily learn through mimicking and copying other people. Learning through osmosis is similar, except we’re completely unaware of the fact that we’re learning when it’s happening. If you want to learn more about the world of finance and managing money, working with a financial adviser could help you learn through osmosis.

Engaging a financial adviser who has years of specialist knowledge of the financial industry, products and services, regulation law and tips/tricks under their belt, and working with them over a period of time, is a great way to unconsciously build your own understanding of finance. You might find that as well as helping you, a financial adviser can also teach you quite a lot too!

Build your financial confidence with a financial adviser

If you’re struggling to get a grip of your finances, enlisting the help of a financial adviser could help you make sense of the process. We hope this blog has given you an idea of some of the key reasons why you should use one.

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