Is a financial planner the same as a financial adviser?
What’s the difference between a financial adviser and a financial planner? It sounds like the set up for a bad joke. But it’s a question which gets googled and is sometimes asked of our helpdesks.
Last Updated: 3 July 2023
What does a financial adviser do?
And does it differ from a financial planner? The short answer is no. You may have also heard of investment advisers. But it’s not always two people who fulfil those roles and that’s where ‘financial adviser’ becomes a catch-all term for someone who provides planning advice, investment advice or both.
You can come to an adviser for investment advice or planning advice but the two normally go hand in hand which is why many advisers can offer both.
Do I need a financial adviser?
To get expert, personalised financial advice, you normally have to pay for it. So it’s important to know you definitely need it, you’ll get value for money or you couldn’t just go it alone. Here are a few examples of how an adviser can help.
Financial planning:
- Plan how you’ll save and/or invest for a life goal such as a home extension or helping pay for a loved one’s further education
- Plan how you’ll save enough to cover essential expenditure in case you’re unable to work or have a fall in income
- Plan how you’ll save enough to cover essential expenditure in case you’re unable to work or have a fall in income
- Plan the lead up to your retirement
- Plan how you’ll pay for long term care for yourself or a loved one
- Plan how you’ll pass on your assets to minimise inheritance tax
Investment advice:
- Find out how much you should save in cash vs investments
- Learn about investment risk and establish how much you’re willing to take and how that fits in with your goals
- Manage your risk by diversifying and balancing your portfolio
- Use ISAs, pensions and trusts to invest for your future and save tax
- Build an investment portfolio from scratch, or see if you can improve existing investments
Unlike the security offered by cash, investments can rise as well as fall in value and you could get back less than you put in.
For more information on each of our services, visit our dedicated pages.
Can I choose to have planning or investment advice on their own?
If you take advice with HL, you can choose one or both. In fact, investment advice charges are lower than planning charges so if that’s all you need, that’s all you’ll pay for.
How much you pay for financial advice depends on the amount of money and assets you’d like each type of advice on.
When do I need investment or planning advice?
You can take financial advice whenever you’re unsure about your financial set up or your financial future. Clients of all ages, knowledge levels, life stages and wealths come to us for help.
But there are some key times you may wish to consider taking advice.
Advice that's built around you
If you take advice with HL, you only pay for the advice you need. So, if you only need advice on your investments, that’s all you’ll pay for.
But if you need advice on more complicated things like financial planning or your retirement, we can build that in too.
How much you pay for financial advice depends on the amount of money and assets you’d like each type of advice on.
Talk to us about financial advice
Book a call with our advisory helpdesk to start your financial advice journey. They’re here to answer any outstanding questions you have about our service.
There’s no obligation to take advice and there’s no hard sell. In fact, they’ll let you know about our free information and tools if advice is not for you.
They won’t provide personalised advice but they’re essential to making sure you get the most out of our service. If you’re happy to proceed, they’ll usually put you in touch with an adviser within two working days to arrange your initial consultation.
Please note: We can only provide advice to UK residents. If you’re resident overseas, unfortunately we’re unable to advise you.
