I am looking at my all round finance and have a number of ways in which i would like to sort my finances out and looking at various ways to invest etc to make my money work best.  I have never done this before and wondered if anyone can help at all.  Would i need to see a financail advisor (only seen them in the past for mortgage advice) or bank manager or who?...im lost can anyone help?

Your best bet would be to contact an IFA who can advise you on all current financial services products which should include pensions, mortgages, life assurance etc.  To get the best info you need to make sure they are independent & not tied to anyone in particular (e.g. I am only regulated to sell Friends Provident products but am an Independent Mortgage Advisor!! ) & if you can avoid it don't pay them a fee - most IFA's make their money from the commission they will receive for you taking out a specific policy or charge a fee...if you take out any policy make sure you're not tied in for a period of time (e.g. if I sell a life product & the customer cancels that policy in the 1st 4 years I get the commission revoked & the client must pay a fee to cover this loss)...remember nobody does something for nothing in the financial services world anyway!

If you're just after savings, investment such as ISA's you're best bet would be your bank as they already have a record of your outgoings/incomings etc...

If it's general mortgage advice PM me & I'll happily help where I can FOC of course!

I think if you have a good relationship with your bank, thay may be the place to start?? Or a recommendation of a very good FA from someone you know and trust? To be honest I lost a lot of money a couple of years ago by following the advise of a FA!!! He worked for a building society too!! The only thing I would invest in againi s property, as over a long term it is still the best investment you can ever make!!! Over 10 or 20 years, it is still best growth factor for  money. All the best, Dawn X

We took some advice and got a tax free home plan,  but we didn't do as well as we'd hoped; in fact we were very disappointed, I'd always put money in property if at all possible ;)

Lindsay
x

I agree Lindsay, property is still one of the best investments :)

OYE!!! I mentioned property first!!! :P :P :P lol

I love my property investments but don't lets get too excited about them ;)  The general advise for any portfolio is spread it about with nothing making up more than 50%.  As many of us already have, possibly, 100/200K in property these days are we really talking about the investment of an equal amount?   Some investment plans do perform less well than we hope but I remember a time when property was a bit scarey too.  I'd say, listen to professional independant advise, but spread it about a bit :)