Why use a financial advisor?

James Sumpter - financial advisor to London's top earners - made me $145k in less than an hour. That's why!

Sorry, ... what?

Yes, you heard me right - James Sumpter, financial advisor to some of London's top earners just swelled my pension pot by an extra US$145,000 in 15 years' time (the earliest I'm considering retiring and given average returns), without me investing another penny!

If I decide to work on a further 5 years, taking me to the ripe age of 62, the advice he gave will make $266,000 difference, again assuming average returns.

What was it that made this difference? - I've explained it all in this blog post. In short, though, it was effectively a question of putting my investments into the most tax-efficient structure. I already thought I was doing everything right, but I was mistaken.

Maybe you're already smarter than me and you already have your investments structured optimally... But do you really know that?

The point is that you don't know what you don't know and that's where a financial advisor comes in.

Maybe there's something you're missing which will make you $100,000s better off? Nobody gets excited about talking to a financial advisor (it's NEVER at the top of my to do list) but maybe it should be?

Have a look at the interview - perhaps there's a gem in there for your retirement pot as well? In it we cover:

James and his team has also agreed to answer retirement planning questions on our site going forward, so if you have a burning issue, you're not sure about, click here and ask away!

• Is dollar-cost averaging the most sensible way to invest?
• ETF investing strategy: Our 4 top ETF tips
• How to build a dividend stock portfolio
• Compound interest investing - why the best investments compound in 3 different ways

William John (Rookie investor)