There is something comforting about entrusting your life savings to an independent financial advisor. These specialists who understand the intricacies of the dark arts of finance, who promise you that they will deliver exceptional returns on your funds, that your money will be safe and that they understand your need for minimal risk. After all the Independent Financial Advisor is a professional, someone to be trusted.
As human beings we want to believe them, we trust that they know hidden secrets about finance beyond the knowledge of ordinary people. We accept with complete confidence that our money would always be safe, after all we clearly stated we were a cautious risk investor.
But what safeguards were really in place to prevent bad advice or investment decisions by the Financial Advisor, in short none. These individuals are often independent with little in the way of professional support, assets or insurance, which means that if things start to go wrong, there are no fail-safe measures to protect your money.
Often it is simply bad decisions on the part of your advisor. Occasionally, the problem is more sinister, where fraud or gross mismanagement of a client’s funds has been intentionally carried out to cover personal debt or lifestyle requirements.
The vehicles for safeguarding your life savings are varied and often equally questionable. Investment bonds, isas, peps and stocks and shares – in the hands of major financial institutions these are indeed proven financial instruments, but always with risk and reward possibilities. In the hands of the less knowledgable or the dishonest the wrong choice of financial instruments, perhaps based on higher commissions, can prove terminal for your investments.
If your advisor ceases to trade, very often, the customer is left high and dry with little recourse to any official body. Put simply the customer has nowhere to turn until now.
Goldman Knightley Solicitors specialises in helping ordinary people like you get your money back if you feel you have not had the financial product – or its terms and conditions – correctly explained to you, or you think you have been intentionally tied into something you didn’t need or want, or you were unaware of (or don’t agree with) the way the money you have invested has been further invested.
And, during what can be a very stressful and confusing process, having an expert team of legal advisors with intricate knowledge of the financial sector such as Goldman Knightley Solicitors on your side, is like money in the bank…