Why independent advice?
Your choice is between an independent financial adviser (IFA) or a tied agent, who may also appear as the representative of a bank or building society, or a specific firm that is itself tied to one of the main life insurance companies - look at the small print on the business card and letterhead.
Only the IFA has access to all companies and contracts on the market, and the legal obligation to act as your agent. The tied agent is responsible to his employer to meet his sales targets (ethically, of course) and has only one set of products from which to choose. The investment elements of this may be very wide, bringing in a selection of outside fund managers, and giving the appearance of independence. To check whether your adviser is independent go to www.fsa.gov.uk and select FSA register from the top menu bar. You can look up "Credenda" and see us, or check any other companies in the same place.
No individual insurance, investment or pension company is best at everything, but most of them, and certainly those with their own sales forces, need to have the full product range, so that they can have a product to satisfy your need - even if it is at twice the going rate. We use our computerised quotation, product selection and fund performance systems to select the right product and the best company for you.
We will show you the premiums lists to demonstrate why we recommended a particular company for a life insurance contract, and you will see the wide difference in cost between the blue chip name at the top and the blue chip name at the bottom of the list. This can be as much as 100 % !!!!
We will show you the analysis of charges of the different pensions contracts, the effect of performance and which companies have the best performance records.