There will probably be times in your life when you’re not sure what to do with your money or what decisions you need to make about your financial future. There are thousands of different financial products on offer and choosing between them can be difficult.

If you have little experience of dealing with finances or you’re confused about making a decision, it may be helpful to get professional financial advice.

A financial adviser can help with things like:

• planning for your retirement
• investing or saving money
• making the most of a lump sum of money such as a redundancy payment or an inheritance
• buying a property or taking out a mortgage
• when your life changes for example, you’re starting a family, getting divorced or you’ve been widowed.

Advice or guidance?

Some individuals and organisations – often advice charities – offer financial guidance. This is different to financial advice. Guidance provides you with information about the various options available to you, but should not recommend any particular option over another. Financial advice, however, informs you which specific product would best suit your needs.

For example, if you have a lump sum you want to save, someone giving guidance would tell you what your saving options are in broad terms. They may tell you about the pros and cons of regular savings accounts, ISAs and investments. They won’t tell you about specific products offered by named companies or what option might suit you best. A financial adviser would look at specific savings accounts, investments and ISAs offered by various companies and recommend a specific one that best suits your personal circumstances.

Guidance services are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). This means if things go wrong with your financial choice, you may not be able to complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service or Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

If you are not sure whether you are receiving guidance or advice, ask the adviser or organisation to explain.

If you’re looking for financial guidance you could contact a free, impartial organisation that specialises in financial guidance. For example, you can get guidance about money on the Money Helper website.

On this page you can find information about:

• types of financial adviser
• what you need to think about before you see a financial adviser
• what kind of information the financial adviser should give you
• what it will cost and how to pay
• where to get further information about financial advice.

Types of financial adviser

Financial advisers look at your personal circumstances and your financial plans and recommend products to help you meet your needs.

There are two types of financial advisers:

• independent financial advisers (IFAs) give unbiased advice about the whole range of financial products from all the different companies available
• restricted advisers give advice on a limited range of products. They may specialise in one area, for example pensions, or they may only offer advice on products offered by a limited number of companies.

It’s usually best to get independent financial advice so that you can look at the widest range of advice and products available.