Financial adviser

Ask your friends. I can recommend ours but unless you live in Norfolk that's probably no good to you.
Ours isn't interested if you haven't got at least 100k to invest though.

Well he certainly would not be interested in me then!

Goodness! Lucky you, PamelaJ1...

There is a free government sponsored site that provides help, advice and guidance www.pensionwise.gov.uk

Although it's main purpose is to help people make the best investment decisions with their pension pots it also gives guidance on how to choose a financial adviser and get other advice.

Having a spare £100K would be some compensation for having to live in Norfolk

Personal recommendations are best but do have a look at this site to find an Independent Financial Adviser:

IFA

It's not spare R walk, it's my husbands self invested pension. He didn't have a work pension so we had to save. If the original poster has a pension to invest she has probably got a bit 'spare' too.
I need no compensation for living in Norfolk, I have lived in other parts of the world and the UK so I'm not a native but it's really rather nice here.

I love Norfolk and if I was prepared to leave family and friends, retirement there would have been great.
We saved well for retirement, also lucky with pension schemes. We invested with the Bank - lost money or made pennies. We moved most of our savings to a financial advisor we met via family connections. For the first time, we are getting a decent return on investment.
So - as has been said, ask around, look on good old google.

This is not really advice, but just to share experience. I have not found financial advisors very useful (I have seen 2). They seemed to want my money to invest, with no consultation with me; they had no regard for the way I would like to invest / acces smy money; both made suggestions that, when I researched myself, I found poor.
So I became my own financial advisor! I signed up to Money Saving Expert, Savvy Woman, and I looked around.
I spent time researching returns, did a spread sheet, worked out what we needed day-to-day, immediate access for emergencies, and long-term growth. We also had some ethical issues we wished to take account of (which I will not go into detail in this post). I react quickly to 'offers'.
We have a mix of investments and accounts, including one with our local Credit Union.

I offer this in the spirit of sharing, as our pensions pay basic living costs and our savings are for emergencies & treats. But one reason is that one of the financial advisors gave me very poor advice about my public service pension, and I am glad that I took no notice of him!

PS: just realised that I didn't add the caveat that I know not all FAs are that bad - I don't want to upset any of you who are FAs or have had good experiences! Just wanted to share another PoV.

I use Hargreaves Lansdown - although not knowing where you live I have no idea whether they are local to you. I saw "interviewed" 4 different financial advisors, 3 said if I invested everything with them they could give me returns of around 15%, however, on reading their terms and conditions my investments would have to make at least 10% per annum just to cover their fees(a friend found she was getting no income and her capital was going down because they were taking their fees first). When I spoke to Hargreaves Lansdown the rep. told me there was no way he could promise those returns and he couldn't see how they could either. He recommended I invest one third of my money with HL, one third in a savings account and one third in an instant access account. The portfolio they came up with is very low risk and I am very happy with the income I receive.

Yes, Hargreaves Lansdown are pretty reputable.

However, I would be very careful indeed whom you choose - some of them are more intent on getting their hands on your money and earning themselves commission and very few seem to have a crystal ball.
We have had a bad experience with one many years ago and quite honestly I don't think some of them often know much more than can be gleaned from doing your own research.

Do your own research as Nannrose suggests. It is so much easier to do that these days than it was years ago. My advice, for what it's worth, is always 'don't put your eggs all in one basket'.

He recommended I invest one third of my money with HL, one third in a savings account and one third in an instant access account

A sensible and unbiased approach from a good firm whereas one we know recently (not an IFA, attached to a bank) advised an elderly friend to invest all her savings in the stockmarket.

You will not be investing your money with HL. They are only an intermediary. It is your FA who will have made the recommendations of which funds you invest in as HL do not offer investment advice unless you pay extra for it. You will be investing in one, or a selection of market funds through HL who will handle all the administration around your investments and will take a % charge from your funds each year.

I make my own investment decisions and have done most of my investing through them, whether in funds or directly in shares and find them efficient and not expensive.

When I was nearing retirement, my employers the County Council ran courses, and one thing was a consultation with an IFA. He asked a great many questions about my attitude to risk and other things. I took his advice on investing. Since that date he has started working with a firm who works all over the country. My funds are invested by them and updated all the time, really for care if I need it eventually. The pot has grown every year, not by much but above inflation.

Monica - yes I am aware of that.

This is HL's aim according to their website:
We aim to help you make more of your investments by giving you the tools and information to make your own informed decisions

If IFAs are that good .......why are they still having to work????

Well, I don't think Hargreaves or Lansdown are

The founder of HL is very rich indeed.

Peter Hargreaves has a net worth of £2.39 billion.

We're fans of Hargreaves Lansdowne as well. There is always a human bean on the end of the phone and they are so polite.

Another satisfied HL customer here.
We had a full review when we retired to find out the best way of utilising our savings. Our attitudes to risk, what sort of companies we wanted to invest in etc were fully taken into account. The advisor made recommendations as to how our portfolio should be balanced and recommended investment trusts, but the final choice of where the money went was ours.
They offer a very personal service and we can phone our advisor directly if we want to. We have a review every 2 - 3 years to make sure we're on track.
Of course they charge, but they are offering a professional service and as far as we are concerned it has been worth every penny.

Billionaires but both decent people too; Stephen Lansdown has put Bristol sport on the map.

It is good to hear of people making money by cutting costs for other people.

Thanks for all who contributed to this thread. I have spoken to some friends and colleagues who have recommended a couple of local advisers who they have personal experience of and positive feedback.
Looking forward to a stress and worry free retirement, while we still have our health to enjoy it
GJ