A Simple Mistake That Cost Me Thousands in Home Buying Benefits
When I was preparing to buy my home, my financial advisor who arranged the mortgage told me that the lender ‘didn’t accept’ help to buy ISA’s, so told me to transfer the money to my savings account and withdraw the full sum in bulk.
I later found out that’s not how it works…! I missed out on the government grant. I would have reported but I have no evidence as the advice was via email while I was using my work email address of a workplace many workplaces past!
Still bugs me when I pass his office 🙃
Related Horror Stories
Pushed to the Edge: How Three Financial Advisors Tried to Sell Me High-Risk Investments I Didn't Need
Had three different independent FAs try to sell me into high risk VCTs (despite being wholly inappropriate for my goals / financial position) - all I wanted was some one-off financial modelling that I couldn't figure out in a spreadsheet. I literally gave up trying to find an FA at that point.
The “I Can Use Anything, I Just Happen to Use My Own Company’s Mutual Fund” Advisor
I had just met with some folks who had recently moved in-state from the East Coast. They were referred to me because they were unhappy with the advisor that they’d been with. The advisor had worked for one of those big insurance companies that also have their own proprietary mutual funds.
The advisor had always made the claim to them that he could use any type of investment that he wanted. What I found funny about that statement was when you actually looked at their account holdings, over 80% of all their investments were with that company’s mutual funds; their own proprietary product.
What was even more a bunch of crap, was the actual funds themselves were horrible.
Their track records were bad, their fees were high, and their performance resembled that of a 16-year-old trying to make it in the NFL; it just wasn’t cutting it. Lesson learned: If you’re using an advisor who works for a big company, be on the lookout if they always recommend their own company’s funds.
Pressure Tactics and Poor Advice
I had one guy INSIST that I buy a costly Variable Life insurance policy. “Don’t read the prospectus! TRUST ME!” Sorry. “We’re not leaving until you sign!” Okay well you may want to order a pizza, because it’s gonna be a looooooooooong wait!
Another time I met with reps from a major financial firm who asked how my investments had been doing. “For the past ten years my compound returns have been 27%.” (That is, my portfolio was up 10x over ten years.)
This upset then tremendously, like I had just told them I kidnapped babies to use as firewood. “Well, THAT’s totally unsuitable!”Well, what do YOU recommend? “We have a program that will deliver 7% a year. But no promises!” (Perhaps double over ten years.) Okay! We’re done here!
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