Michael & Kirsty

We’ve been clients at the IFA Centre in Paisley for four years and our adviser is Siobhan. Michael’s parents were clients of IFA Centre for a long time. Unfortunately, they both passed away a few years ago, so they left me an inheritance. It made absolute sense for us to continue on with IFA to look after that.

When we inherited the money, we had a complete lack of knowledge and had never had the amount of money that required that level of thought detail and education. So, we looked to the IFA Centre to help guide us through that. That was really invaluable because it made sure that our future was secure. We knew that the money was going to be invested wisely and sensibly, and it just meant there was a security for us as a family for the future.

I just got a really good feeling that these were people who knew how to look after money, were a safe pair of hands, and gave me really easy-to-understand, no-nonsense advice.

It makes me feel confident and secure. And it makes me feel happy, actually. We get regular statements from our investment company and it’s really pleasing to open an envelope and not be scared of what might be inside.

So that feeling is a real source of comfort to people who are not used to having money to invest.

Now that we’re working with the IFA Centre, we’re very confident about our financial future. It is a very happy and comforting position to be in, not to have the kind of worries about how I’m going to be able to afford retirement or even when we’re going to be able to retire.

Three words to describe the IFA Centre would be confidence, security and education. Siobhan is from the same part of the world as me and supports the same football team, so we’ve got a lot in common. Because we’ve got so many touchpoints like that, I just trust her. And if you’re confident with her, because her advice is always right, I also feel confident with her.

The best thing about working with the IFA Centre is knowing that when we get mail at the front door and it’s got the bank’s letterhead at the top, it’s not someone telling me I’m into my overdraft. Instead, it’s telling me how much our investments have made. And that feeling is incomparable, quite frankly.

The single best piece of advice I’ve had from the IFA Centre is to look after your capital, and not to touch it unless it’s absolutely necessary, because that will continue to give you returns.

One of the things that Siobhan would always say was, if somebody is offering you free money, in the sense of interest-free credit and things like that, always take that rather than chip into your capital. Keep that for as long as you can.

Would I recommend somebody to IFA Centre? Absolutely. Last year, unfortunately, Kirsty’s grandmother passed away and so Kirsty’s parents inherited money as I had. The first thing that I said was, “go and speak to Siobhan at the IFA Centre”. To be honest, the day that they came back from the meeting, I was really desperate to know how they got on. Because I knew that they were going to come back feeling happy that the future would be looked after. And that’s exactly what they came back with. I mean, obviously, it was a sad time, but they came back with smiles on their faces, knowing they’d received really good, easy-to-understand advice and knew that their future was secure.