Alistair Young, Independent Financial Adviser

An introduction to Alistair Young

Your career to date?
When I left school I became an apprentice engineer with Parsons Peebles who manufactured large motors, generators and transformers for oil rigs and power stations etc. I left them 10 years later (at the end of 1987) to join the financial services, representing a company called Liberty Life. In 1995 they were taken over by a company called Lincoln Financial Group and in 1999/2000 I became an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). During my time in financial services, I passed advanced certificates in pensions, taxation & trusts and investment planning along with other exams. As a result, I now hold the equivalent qualifications to meet the regulators requirements to continue as an IFA after 2012.

I married in 1983. I have two children and I have lived in East Lothian all my life. I have a small office in Coburg Street, Leith with a small team of IFAs and support staff but I also have full use of the resources of one of the largest national IFA firms in the UK - Honister Partners.

Feel free to contact myself or my assistant, Jillian, at my office on 0131 554 6902 with any queries you may have.

Alistair Young represents Alistair Young and Associates Ltd which is a trading name of Honister Partners Ltd.

If you could offer one piece of financial advice to an individual, what would it be and why?
Don't put their financial planning off as the solutions will probably cost more, the longer a decision is deferred.

Which areas of financial planning do you feel an individual should be addressing in the next 2 years?
They should review their protection and retirement planning needs (regularly).

They should fully utilise their ISA allowances, if possible.

They should make sure that any investment or pension funds they hold match their investment risk profile or their growth expectations and gives them suitable investment diversification.

What is the most common mistake you find individuals make in financial planning?
They don't make such planning a higher priority and leave it longer than they should to review their needs.

As an independent financial adviser what, for you, are the main benefits of being a part of Honister Partners Ltd?
Being part of Honister Partners Ltd gives me the confidence that I work within a very compliant framework where my clients know that I will look after their financial planning needs. Also when I contact providers, they are aware that I'm part of one of the largest IFA firms in the UK and I believe they give me a better service than if I had my practice outwith Honister Partners Ltd, on its own.