We have invested in a mixture of AXA and Aviva investment bonds since 2005 and have become dissolussioned with the 2 advisors be have used.

We also have invested in a Close escalator FTSE linked ISA and hold some Barclays Shares.

I do apreciate market conditions have not helped on this period and we have lost money and incurred adisors charges.

I am in receipt of a final salary pension already.

We need to provide retirement income from around 2014/15 and do not know what products we should be looking at.

I would like to manage everything without an advisor and 'go it alone' taking a cautious approach

I am stunned you actually expect to get professional advice for free? If that is true then can I start by saying attitudes like the 'something for nothing' approach is ruining this country hence I do hope that posting on Citywire is not simply a means of getting free advice from an unqualified and unregulated source.

You don't mention how much risk you wish to take with your money. Do you wish to avoid any loss in capital value in real terms or just nominal terms? Do you want it onshore or offshore? Do you want to minimise your tax? Do you have any health problem s and what is life expectancy like in your family? What tax rate are you likley to pay in retirement? Do you have any other assets and do you intend selling shares in the future? Are you worried about having to pay for care costs in the future? If so, do you want to retain as much of your wealth outside the clutches of the local authority assessment test? Do you want access to specialist funds not available via a unit trust company? Would you like your money to grow free of income tax and free of capital gains tax and be outwith the clutches of the UK? Do you expect to pay for advice or are you prepared to do your own thing and risk making mistakes or would you rather pay for advice from an adviser who will eitrher take a commission or charge you a fee?

These initial questions are only scratching the surface.

You really ought to go talk to a proper Chartered Financial Planner and pay for good advice.

Thank you Alec for your helpful reply

For David Johnstone:

Concerning the first paragraph of your reply.

Perhaps from your exceptionally high horse you may not have noticed that by and large it has been highly regulated and very qualified people - the financial 'great and good' - who recently have all but bankrupted our country.

In the eyes of many, those members of what can best be described as being of the 'upper working class' are now a totally busted flush.

This lack of credibility has been brought about by their having been seen as having less conscience than South London fourth-hand car dealers. Not all of course, yet mud once thrown splatters and sticks.

It started with Lloyd's, then Equitable Life and since then down-hill all the way until we all found out that a huge number of MPs. have had their snouts in the trough.

Sir, the outside world has changed.

With the new concerns about the EU banks it seems that the large changes presently taking place will continue for sometime to come, perhaps even in a more radical way than anyone can presently imagine.

Whether this looming shake up will in the long-run be for good or ill (as far as the Britain and those who live here are concerned) is of course only known to God.

personally if I have to be ripped off, I would much rather it was done by a good ol' boy from 'Sarth' London than an incompetent twit that I happened to be at school with, at least it will be done with a smile.

Really, you owe Mr. Jefferies an apology for your first paragraph. As to your second paragraph it seems reasonably down to earth and sane.

I think that the point being made is that IFAs generally are in it to sell the products best for themselves and their employers. Have you ever had a "financial review" by a bank or building society? It's just a joke - they just trying selling in house bonds with high charges etc. Let's face it, investing is about guessing the future and one man's guess is as good as another's and not getting overcharged for so called advice in the process. I am in the process of moving more of my portfolio into ETFs to reduce charges further.