What is a Financial Broker?
An expert in financial matters, a Financial Broker provides services to both companies and individuals. Services can include: personal financial planning, life cover, serious illness cover, income protection, health insurance, savings, investments, pensions, retirement planning, business financial planning, inheritance tax planning, mortgages and commercial finance. Financial Brokers differ from Insurance Brokers whose services typically include house insurance, car insurance and commercial insurance.
Why use a Financial Broker and what can I expect from a Financial Broker?
Firstly, a Financial Broker will take time to get to know you, your personal circumstances and your financial goals. They will discuss your options and help you come up with a financial plan. Secondly, they will research products that match your needs from the range of companies they deal with, providing a “fair analysis” of the relevant market. This means they will generally research a majority of the product providers in that market. As an example: when it comes to life and pension products, there are eight companies active in the Irish market. Financial Brokers will generally deal with at least five of these eight companies, which means you get market-wide advice from one source.
Finding the right price for you:
Your Financial Broker operates on a fair comparison basis. When there are multiple products that match your requirements they will find the lowest cost option on the market. Planning for your future is not always a case of finding the lowest priced option but when there are several suitable alternatives it’s good to know you are dealing with someone who can take a broad view of the market for you.
Guiding you through product features:
Financial products such as life assurance, serious illness cover, investment bonds and pensions can be complicated. Your Financial Broker will guide you through the maze of technical features, highlighting relevant issues. This gives you greater peace of mind in making these major financial commitments.
High level of personal service:
With a Financial Broker, you can expect a high level of personal service that may not be available from a large organisation. Sometimes when dealing with large institutions you are rotated regularly to different advisers as people move around. A Financial Broker typically has a long-term relationship with you so you don’t have to spend time repeating yourself and can be assured that your adviser has a full grasp of your needs and requirements. A Financial Broker’s aim is to directly serve your interests over a long term as a client rather than a once-off customer.