So what does a financial advisor spend their time doing?

How is your fee spent? If you thought the role of an IFA solely involved talking to clients at a desk, you’d be wrong. In actual fact, your face-to-face encounter with them is merely the tip of the iceberg; the serious ‘stuff’ occurs afterwards behind closed doors and out of sight. Once you’ve discussed with them your financial situation and needs, then the hard work begins in securing you the best possible options for your future.

Read below for one of our Case Studies/ the typical diary of an IFA with a client (text marked in italics is the time spent with that client). You’ll be surprised at how much happens behind the scenes that you might not be aware of.

Monday 7th January
Called Steve (our client) to arrange meeting
[5 mins]

Prepared paperwork (Personalised fact-finds and printed off IDD & Date Protection)
[1 hour]

Wednesday 9th January
Drove to Steve’s work
[10 mins]

Met up with Steve for a catch-up (holidays, kids, new school etc) He told me his current fixed rate expired at the end of the month and needed it sorted out asap!
Completed Mortgage & General Insurance fact-finds with Steve to find out exactly what sort of mortgage he wanted and his attitude to mortgage risk (repayment or interest-only). Explained the differences and what they meant to him, how to protect his new mortgage in the event of his or his wife’s death or critical illness and how this may affect him and his family.
Summarised what he wanted (fixed rate mortgage over 3 years on a repayment basis for 20 years) and that he wanted to fully protect his mortgage against death or serious illness (mortgage protection insurance with critical illness insurance over 20 years) and he wanted to insure his Building and Contents insurance with me. Agreed a follow-up meeting next week to go through what mortgage rates I had found and the protection illustrations, and if he was happy to complete the paperwork. 
[2 hours]

Drove back to the Office
[25 mins in busy school traffic!]

Thursday 10th January
Uploaded completed fact-finds onto our system, completed relevant sections about his current mortgage and protection plans, what his attitude to risk was and what he wanted to do  [2 hours]
Began researching mortgage using Mortgage Brain, inputting parameters Steve had set; 3 year fixed rate mortgage over 20 years on a repayment basis.  Noted his family’s personal details, such as his & his wife’s date of birth, salaries and children’s ages. I suggested that they didn’t want an overhang period after the fixed rate had expired and they were looking for a fee-free remortgage (no solicitors’ or valuation fees).  Preliminary placed mortgage with Abbey National, printed off my research.  [1 hour]

Called Abbey National to confirm the rate was available and Steve did indeed qualify for it.  Abbey confirmed the above.  Completed on-line decision in principle to confirm Steve’s credit was ok and the Abbey were happy to proceed (at face value, subject to application)
[30mins]

Called Steve to confirm what I had done and the rate I had found for him – he sounded like a very happy man!
[20mins]

Printed off the mortgage illustrations for Steve’s perusal and the mortgage application form to complete with Steve
[30mins]

Next, I researched the protection policy for Steve’s mortgage; I used Assureweb, again inputting the parameters he had set me (repayment mortgage over 20 years with critical illness cover, both of their dates of births and the mortgage sum assured). I found that for what Steve wanted, Norwich Union were the cheapest at £80 per month.  Printed off the illustrations for Steve’s perusal, saved the research as a PDF file, printed a Key Features Document to explain what conditions/illnesses were covered and printed off an application form to complete with Steve.
[1hour]

Prepared our Fee Agreement for Steve to sign confirming how we get paid. The full £500 fee I had initially agreed with Steve that we normally charge for mortgages would not be applicable as he was taking out a protection contract. Instead, a revised fee of just £200 applied, which he agreed with.
[15mins]

Wednesday 16th January
Checked I had all the relevant paperwork ready for my impending appointment with Steve – application forms, money laundering documents, illustrations etc.
[5mins]

Drove to the appointment
[10mins]

Met up with Steve, ran through what we agreed at our last appointment concerning his mortgage and protection policy – had anything changed? No it hadn’t!  Ran through the illustrations with Steve explaining the mortgage, how much it would cost per month and what fees, if applicable, were payable.  He agreed to the mortgage.  Next I went through the protection illustrations, confirming the amount of cover and the price, along with the Key Features Document explaining what conditions he was covered for.  Steve said he was happy to have cancer covered as his family had a history of cancer and agreed to proceed with my recommendations. Completed the application forms as well as the Building & Contents application form with Steve and Jane, his wife, who was also present for the meeting. Explained our fee agreement and the fact that the policy had to stay in force for four years, otherwise we would have commission clawed back from us and he would need to repay that to us. Both agreed to this as they said it was fair, then signed the Fee Agreement and handed over a cheque for the agreed fee of £200.
Completed the money laundering form (for ID purposes), took both of their last 3 months’ wage slips for the mortgage lender, and agreed to keep them up to date with their mortgage’s progress via email.  Said farewell and headed back to the office. 
[2hours]

Drove back to the office
[only 10mins - no traffic!]

Uploaded the applications to Norwich Union and Abbey National respectively
[2hours and 30mins]

Norwich Union requested a GP report from Steve’s doctor as his family had a history of cancer. Abbey National requested their wage slips to confirm their salary, so I faxed them off to them.
[10mins]

Completed the advice process on our back office system, along with the mortgage suitability letter and General Insurance suitability letter which both explained what work Steve and Jane had requested I do, what I recommended they do based on those requests and what we actually proceeded in doing.  Printed them off along with all the other paperwork they would need, signed them and posted them to Steve and Jane.
[2hours]

Tuesday 22nd January
Abbey called to confirm the valuation had been done – the house was valued correctly and incomes where confirmed. They were now happy to proceed and offer the mortgage. Excellent news – the mortgage had been offered in less than 2 weeks! (Very quick indeed – this normally takes a month!). Called Steve and told him that the mortgage was all done and dusted, we were now waiting on the solicitors to complete the mortgage on his behalf and that if he had any questions or queries about the time frame, to call me and I would chase them up on his behalf! 
[20mins]

Thursday 31st January
Norwich Union wrote to me confirming Steve’s GP had written back to them. There was nothing untoward and they were happy to offer cover at normal rates (the premium I quoted Steve originally). Called Steve and told him the good news; he agreed to proceed and put the policy in force.  Called Norwich Union and put the policy on risk
[10mins]

Tuesday 5th February
Received notification from Abbey National that the mortgage had completed and thanked me for advising Steve to use them.

Friday 8th February
Received policy documents from Norwich Union, took a copy and forwarded them to Steve and Jane.

Mortgage and protection policy now completed and Steve’s very happy as it went through extremely quickly!
    
Total time spent with Steve and Jane = 4 hours

Total time spent researching, completing paperwork etc… = 12 hours 50 minutes

TOTAL = 16 hours 50 minutes

This mortgage completed very quickly as the rate expired at the end of the January. I managed to meet them at the beginning of January, the lender agreed with all the information Steve and Jane provided, so were able to proceed to offer quicker than normal.  Re-mortgages can take anywhere up to 2 months to complete, with a lot of to-ing and fro-ing. This wasn’t bad going!