I readily admit this is a crazy question but it came up recently in an email exchange I was having with a friend who lives overseas. He recently came into a small inheritance and thought he should look into making some investments. That seems sensible enough. But having no investment experience he asked me how I thought he should go about finding a good company.
Well, first of all, I am flattered, to say the least. But what followed astounded me. I asked my friend where he had looked so far. “Oh, yell,” he replied. Yell? As in Yell.com. Well, that makes sense I suppose because Yell publishes consumer reviews. But I think it unlikely you’ll see many clients of investment firms publishing reviews.
We looked at the listings for several investment companies on Yell:
- Zurich Private Capital in London
- Bestinvest Wealth Management in London
- Capital Asset Management in London
Of these three firms, all three have their own Websites. The first two companies publish robust listings on Yell but clearly they are limited in the amount of information they can provide. The third company, Capital Asset Management, barely includes its name and address.
“Do you think it is significant that they ignore the yell listing?” my friend asked me. Frankly, I don’t know if that is significant. I think the phone listings are simply a place to start. You would have to look at Capital Asset Management’s website to learn more about the company. I should say their advertising is either not very good or they simply don’t see the value in promoting themselves to new customers through a phone directory.
The Bestinvest website and the Zurich website are both rather similar to the Capital Asset Management site in design and presentation. I don’t think the low-key advertising says much about them, although as an American I would merely assume they are a stodgy, conservative British company who go in for low-key British marketing. But that is hardly a fair assessment.
I think if you’re looking for an investment company to work with the best place to start is to ask your friends and family to share their experiences, good and bad, with investment firms. If you don’t feel satisfied with that information then you’ll have to make a cold decision, choosing between several unknowns.
For me I would want to know what customer services are available. How easy it is to get someone to talk to me? Where can I go to learn more about how my investments are being managed? All of the little questions add up to one great big check off list.
No company will be a perfect match but you will want to find a best possible match. And be flexible with yourself. If after a year you feel uncomfortable with your choice, make another one.