Financial advice is plentiful but finding a good, independent financial adviser (IFA) is a more difficult task. Not all of those who offer financial advice are independent, and even those who are often appear to be more interested in selling products than giving all-round financial advice.

Going it alone may seem the answer but if you haven't got the time or the expertise, it can be hit and miss. If you make the wrong decision you will have nobody to blame but yourself. But if a financial advisor gives you poor advice, you may be able to claim compensation.

So how do you find a good one? Most banks and building societies are happy to provide advice but they are tied agents, so they can only sell you the products of one company. They are unlikely to offer all-round financial planning advice, although they may have an IFA arm for higher net worth customers. IFAs have the advantage that they can sell you any company's products. But since many still earn their living from commission, there is often the suspicion that, at the very least, they are not going to recommend products on which no commission is paid. At worst, they may be more inclined to sell you high commission paying products like investment bonds, rather than low commission products like ISAs.

The only way to remove any doubt on these matters is to go to a fee-based IFA. Although fee-based advice is not cheap, it can work out cheaper than commission if you are investing large sums, and if it means you get better advice it can save you money in other ways. A growing number of IFAs are now moving to this system and in future, under regulations to be introduced later this year, all IFAs will have to give consumers the choice of paying by fees or commission if they want to call themselves independent.

So where can you find an IFA who will give you a good service?

First Steps

As with many other professions, the best way to find a good IFA is by personal recommendation. If you hear of someone this way, though, you should always check with the Financial Services Authority that the advisor is authorised before going any further. You can do this by calling 020 7066 5256 or by visiting www.fsa.gov.uk/register. Alternatively, there are a number of organisations that can provide you with names of authorised IFAs in your area, such as IFA Promotion.

This organisation allows you to specify whether you would prefer commission or fee based advisers. For a list of names phone 0800 085 3250 or visit IFAP's website at unbiased.co.uk.

There are other IFA organisations whose members are expected to undergone further professional training and who work on a fee basis only. Membership of such bodies does not guarantee you will get better advice but it can indicate the advisor is serious about his or her professional standing. They include the Society of Financial Advisers (SOFA) and the Institute of Financial Planning (IFP). For SOFA members in your locality, phone 020 7417 4419, or visit sofa.org; for IFP members phone 0117 945 2470 or visit financialplanning.org.uk.

How to make your choice

Make a shortlist and visit at least three or four advisers before making a final decision. Even fee-based advisers are normally prepared to give you an initial half-hour or hour-long consultation free of charge. In order to make the most of this time, take along as much information about your current financial situation as you can and have a clear idea of what your aims and objectives are. This should enable the advisers to explain what type of service they would offer you and how they would tackle your situation. Don't be embarrassed to ask questions if you don't understand something. This discussion will also help you to establish how well you would get along with the adviser on a personal level because it is important to feel comfortable with someone to whom you will probably have to reveal a considerable amount of personal information about yourself.

Questions to ask

Prepare a list of questions to ask the advisers in these introductory interviews. You should, for example, ask them about their professional qualifications and what sources of information they base their recommendations on. If you are seeking investment advice or other specialist help, say, with inheritance tax planning, ask them about their expertise in this area. Ask about on-going services and whether there will be annual reviews. If they are fee-based advisers, ask for their hourly rate and for an estimate of initial and annual charges. Ask if you can speak to two or three of the advisers' existing customers so you can get an idea of the service from their point of view. Naturally, advisers won't give you the names of dissatisfied customers but it will give you an alternative perspective.

What to expect next

When you have decided on an adviser, you will be asked to provide detailed information about yourself and your financial circumstances. Advisers are legally obliged to carry out full "fact finds" before they can establish what your requirements are. This means they will need to know about your income, your mortgage, your insurance cover, your debts, your pension, your savings and so on.

Then they will ask you about your objectives for the future and what your plans are for the short, medium and long term. This way they will be able to analyse your present situation and recommend where improvements need to be made to your existing arrangements or alternative ways in which you can achieve your future plans. They may be able to come up with non-product based solutions. They will ask you about your attitude to risk to help them recommend the most appropriate investments for the future.

When discussing investments nowadays, advisers are likely to talk about the importance of asset allocation - spreading your investments across the different asset classes: cash, property, equities and fixed interest securities - before recommending any actual products. The adviser should then write you a report setting out his recommendations and his reasons for making them. After that it is up to you to decide whether to go ahead. If you agree, keep copies of all the paperwork. If you are not happy, seek a second opinion.

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