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Your home may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage.
The value of investments and income from them may go down. You may not get back the original amount invested.
For full financial advice, you can choose how we are paid; pay a fee (typically £150 per hour - for investment and pension advice where the sum placed under active management exceeds £100,000, a fee based on the percentage of the investment amount is charged, typically 0.5% of the investment amount), or we can accept commission from the relevent product providers, or a combination of both.
For mortgage advice you can choose how we are paid: pay a fee (typically 0.5% of the loan), or we can accept commission from the lender, or a combination of both (typically a fee of £150, plus commission).
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Call now and try us out - including the IFA who was the runner-up in the Financial Times Adviser of the Year 2009 New Qualified Catagory Awards!
Independent Financial Advice you can trust
Perhaps the icons above aren't your cup of tea - maybe you want some detail straight away; I tend to be able to talk / type for England (and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland!) so perhaps you might just want to click on "Enquiry" to the left and we can give you a call, or call us. But if you are the inquisitive type, then let's have a one-way "chat" first....
Let me start with a welcome first of all, to the self-styled home of Independent Financial Advice - IFA Stop Limited, for all your investment, protection, retirement planning, mortgage and general insurance needs, free of any undue influence or bias to any provider.
So with the marketing introduction out the way - who are we? Independent financial advisers who make your finances work for you. Founded by Ady Basi, who began practising back in 1994 and remains as active Managing Director, we have grown to encompass clients across England, Wales and Scotland. 
Our head office provides advice from the central midlands location of Coventry, serving Kenilworth, Leamington Spa, Warwick and Birmingham through to the north of England and Scotland with qualified IFA's free of bias.
Our South-East office located in Brentwood, Essex provides dedicated localised IFA advice free of bias for the unique needs of the South of England including London, Essex, Kent, Suffolk, Norfolk and Middlesex. In addition, the IFA who is based in Brentwood, Essex recently was the runner up in the Financial Times Best Newly qualified Adviser of the Year category, based on the qualifications obtained and ability to advise.
Between the two offices, we provide personalised coverage for our clients across the mainland United Kingdom - free of bias. A common theme!
Why Contact Us?
Many people query why they need independent financial advice - after all, isn't an online "supermarket" enough for your financial needs? Perhaps you are looking for your first mortgage, or a simple re-mortgage. Maybe your pension hasn't been performing as you expected - or maybe you haven't had your pension reviewed in many years. Maybe you are looking at comparison sites for life insurance (or assurance) needs. Why would any of this trigger the need for independent financial advice from a qualified IFA?
The best way to think of this is with reference to something we are all familiar with - purchasing a vehicle. Most people's second biggest purchase is their car. Think of a mortgage, pension, investment or insurance in the same way; just as you would not simply walk into the first showroom you came across and buy a car, or the first car "supermarket", similarly, it is inadvisable to simply respond to the "advert" for a provider of mortgages, investment, pensions or life insurance which "catches the eye" - after all, the impact of a poor car purchase decision is inconvenience and some financial loss.
Make no odds about it - you are not being "advised" on "supermarket" sites, and maybe poorly advised elsewhere. In many cases, if something goes wrong, the terms and conditions when you choose to purchase a financial product without advice show that one person alone is responsible for any problems - you and you alone. The impact of poor - or no - financial advice can be catastrophic to a person and their family.
Truly Independent advice is very different and a valuable commodity - IFA's with no preference for any life insurance company, or pension company, or mortgage provider - you get the idea. We simply look for the solutions most suitable for you. We analyse. 
We Recommend. You Decide.
Plus, how many other options for financial products provide personal service (yes, a person, not a machine) 7 days a week, 7am to 11pm? Why can we do this? Because we know how important contact with our customers is. And we have the systems and people in place to manage this.
How does it work?
There is significant variability in the methods independent financial advisers use to work with their clients. Our principle is clear, and non-negotiable - with provide advice, we do not sell.
We meet (be that in Brentwood, Coventry, Kenilworth, Leamington, Warwick, Birmingham....or anywhere else in the United Kingdom), we chat, we obtain information. We then prepare a full financial plan for you - together, we work through what is achievable now, and what the plan for the future is. We are fully realistic; of course, the ideal situation for all is all relevant life insurance and other insurance products, a paid off mortgage, a fully funded pension plan and investments ready for all future expenses.
In reality, there will usually be compromises to this "ideal" plan - the se
cret is identifying what needs to be achieved now, and how to plan for those financial needs which can't be met yet; understanding risk and how this affects your decisions, this is where our expertise adds value. This is where our independence comes to the fore - we pitch all those providers for your needs against each other, not only in terms of price but also, importantly (especially with regards to protection, investments and pensions) in terms of the features and benefits they offer for your money. As with all things, the cheapest is not always the best. Let's look at a couple of common scenarios;
Mortgage Advice
The mortgage market has undergone significant changes in the recent past, not least due to the unprecedented market turbulence in October 2008, the effects of which continue to reverberate within the economy. So where can you get suitable mortgage advice Coventry, mortgage advice Brentwood or indeed mortgage advice nationally?
While many will offer truly independent advice, many fail to give you the real option for truly independent advice. We are different; because we are truly independent financial advisers, we give all customers the choice of how we are paid, either by commission or fees, we can give assurance that truly independent advice is being provided, which others cannot:
You will probably be aware that many banks have started offering "direct" deals for customers. Yet many other banks continue offering "exclusive" deals to intermediaries only. So how can you make sure that you are looking at all options? Analysing the thousands of products on the market is beyond most people - and for those deals accessible only via intermediaries, this is impossible.
However, we offer a "third way"; should you choose to proceed via a fee-based system with IFA Stop Limited for your mortgage advice, we can guarantee that we will look at all available products via our IT systems. This includes "direct" products - in effect, with IFA Stop Limited, you get truly independent advice which simply selects the right solution for you, no axe to grind, no preference - simply the right product for your individual circumstances. The best of all worlds!
In addition, we are fully qualified to provide advice on the latest mortgage option; equity release. In these constrained times, many of older years may find their expected retirement income much lower than anticipated - along with a pension review - we can advise on equity release options from your property to help supplement retirement income.
Investment Advice and Pension Advice
Investment advice and Pension advice is where truly independent financial advice comes to the fore; this is not simply a case of "looking for the best rate" or the "flavour of the month" - a qualified professional can help you for a long-term financial plan. For example, when discussing with client, we find it critical to get to know each individual client and their family. Why is this important?
Let's take an example; a newly married couple in respectable, well earning careers look to put a little aside. What factors could affect where they invest?
Well, some (but certainly not all) of the factors we would consider would include a couple's health (if this was poor, it would perhaps be advisable to maintain investments in more accessible form in case they are required), whether they plan to have children (who, bless them, are wonderful drains on a family's financial resources - as parents well know!) and if so, roughly when (so we can plan for when they enter education and university, to plan for investments to mature for those points), when they plan to retire and how much they want to be "earning" in retirement so that their pension plans can be appropriately provisioned - and if not, so the couple at least know the risk and the gap, and can work to close this.....
As you can see, this is not a simple "lets look for the lowest premiums" discussion. Professional financial advice from an expert in the field is required. Again, this is where we excel - but there is more; once again, as with all our products, our clients are free to choose how we are paid, be that via commission or a fixed fee.
Why does this have significant benefits for you, the customer? Let's take some typical examples; lets assume an independent financial adviser taking commission on a pension investment (say at a typical rate of 30% of all the first 12 months contributions, and 2.5% of monthly contributions thereafter) might lead to annual management charges of 1.5% of the value of the fund. If commission is not taken, many providers will allow this charge to be reduced to reflect their reduced costs - let's take an example of an annual management charge on a pension reduce to 0.8%. If the pension fund is worth £250,000, then this is a saving of £1,750 per annum even without any additional contributions! Add contributions of even £100 per month into the calculation, and you are looking at potential increases in available pension funds in the order of tens of thousands of pounds by the time retirement approaches!
The same principle applies to investments - a "simple" stocks and shares ISA is anything but when managed by a qualified financial adviser free of bias. As above, on a fee-based structure, the growth of this investment is markedly improved by reducing the charges on that product.
Perhaps a lot of the above went "over your head". Don't worry, the fact you have read this far proves you are determined to get a handle on your investments and pensions - let the experts help you. Contact us now.
Life Insurance and Protection Advice
Once again, the principles laid out above apply - full, independent analysis of a client's life situation and plans going forward need to be taken into account; a qualified, experienced independent adviser can then analyse this to produce a protection "portfolio" that covers all the major risks; and if not, at least allows the client, you, to know what risks are being carried.
Again, this analysis is not simple; for example, is the lowest life insurance premium the best? Or should critical illness cover be decided simply on cost? What about income protection? Private health insurance? All of these are affected by a client's life in totality - our independent financial advisers are trained to "translate" this information into professional advice. For example, did you know there is significant variability between many policies in terms of the conditions covered? Our independent financial advisers are trained to not only know this, but to advise on the right product you you, as a person, not simply the "cheapest". After all, anyone can do that! Years of study, training and experience is required to effectively advise in the latter.
What's Next
Whether you arrived at the website from a recommendation from a satisfied client (by far the largest source of new clients who we deal with) or were looking for a inital free financial report, or indeed just entered "financial advice Brentwood" or "financial advice Coventry" or similar terms into a search engine - the message we would like you to take away is this; everyone needs a financial plan. Whatever your situation, we can assist and add value.
As mentioned, with advisers located in our two key locations of Coventry in the midlands and Brentwood in Essex for London and the south-east, we are ideally placed to provide you with a personalised, individual service.
We make no apologies for the aim of our service - to maximise your wealth.
Interested in a free initial consultation for a independent financial review, from an independent financial adviser? Click the "Enquiries" link on the left, or simply email or call us.
Everyone needs a financial plan - why not take a look at building yours?