LIA - investment qualification of advisor concerning?

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DeeKie

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I was home with my elderly father this weekend and he mentioned that his pension advisor of many years had sold up and a person had telephoned him to tell him to change all his pension arrangements around. When I looked up the person they had only a few months investment experience. Their qualifications are
LIA, RPA & SIA Level 9, designation achieved. Grade: Level 9 and Retirement Planning, Adviser (RPA) Level 9 and Specialist Investment and Adviser (SIA) Level 9. It seems that they were a CFO of an unrelated business and now have changed career in the last 12 months.

My Dad has sizeable pension investments and relies on them fully for income. Should I be concerned? Level 9 seems really low? Am I being overly cautious?
 
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Just a call and she got him to switch his investments. I need to find out more but I’ve always been respectful of his autonomy. Something feels off about this though.
 
What exactly do you mean by "switch his investments"?
What sort of "pension advisor" is this person/firm?
What reasons did they give for making changes?
 
Did his original pensions advisor not contact him to tell him that he was retiring and selling his business?

It is probably legitimate, but you should check.

If he has a pension fund with New Ireland and he has just switched agencies to the new guy that is ok. But if he is suggesting switching from New Ireland to another pension provider, you should be concerned as it would be just racking up fees.
 
Yes I need to dig around more. I will do that. What do people think about level 9? Does that indicate enough experience to give advice?
 
We still have no idea what nature of advice was given so it's difficult to say.

If they have the LIA RPA/SIA qualifications then presumably they're already a QFA?

Retirement Planning (RPA) Micro-Credential Course | LIA

There is a growing demand in the finance industry for professional Pension and Retirement Planning advice, and LIA's Retirement Planning Adviser programme has been developed to meet this demand. The RPA designation is designed for anyone who wants to take their Pension and Retirement Planning...
www.lia.ie
* Students must hold an active QFA designation to hold the RPA designation.
Click to expand...
And presumably they are regulated by the CB?

Where to find a regulated and qualified financial adviser with relevant experience - CCPC Consumers

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission is an independent statutory body that enforces competition and consumer protection law in Ireland
www.ccpc.ie
 
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He has two or three standard life products and the advice was to move the funds invested to different funds.
 
DeeKie said:
He has two or three standard life products
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I thought that it was just one pension?

What sort of products?
You said he's elderly so is he already retired?
Are they annuities (presumably not if the issue was switching funds?), ARFs, (vested) PRSAs, personal pension plans, buy out bonds, etc...?
DeeKie said:
and the advice was to move the funds invested to different funds.
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Within Standard Life or to another provider?

From what funds to what other funds?
For what reason?

Is your father himself actually expressing any concern about this issue?

Why do you think that a Level 9 qualification is "low"? It's the second highest level on the scale.

National Framework of Qualifications

A 10-level system used to describe qualifications in the Irish education and training system.
www.qqi.ie
 
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Thank you all. It’s helpful to learn that 9 is at the upper rather than the lower level. I did not find the qqi link on my searches so this is much appreciated.
 
He has two ARFs and then one described as a Synergy Approved Retirement Fund. I assume it’s just another ARF. So 3 ARFs.
 
He was told his funds weren’t performing so he should switch them all to different funds
 
DeeKie said:
He was told his funds weren’t performing so he should switch them all to different funds
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And, again, you'll need to be more specific.
To another provider?
Or within Standard Life?
From what specific funds to what specific funds?
Was he advised to switch all of the funds in all of the ARFs?
Is he already drawing income from (all of?) these ARFs?

Is there a cooling off period for changing one's mind if necessary?

On the face of it switching because funds "aren't performing" and without more specific reasoning might not be great advice but it's difficult to tell with only partial information.

Was there any fee/charge involved?
 
The key point here is whether or not this new guy is churning.

If he is staying within Standard Life, he is not getting any fees.

But if he is switching him from Standard Life to somewhere else, he is getting fees.

He could have a Ph.D. in financial advice and still be dishonest.

You might be better switching him to a company which charges per hour, so there is no incentive to give him bad advice.
 
Fortune said:
For the OP's peace of mind, none of that charge would go the the advisor.
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Yes - but it's still a cost to the policy holder.
And possibly an unnecessary one depending on the specific nature of the switching advice received.
 
There are no fees for switching - this is a claus in the T&C to cover in the event they wished to set a charge.
No restrictions either on the amount of switches permitted.
There are also no commission charged for switching.
 
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