An investment adviser is licensed to give advice on securities and, in some cases, to manage a portfolio under a mandate. The licence is about advice as a regulated activity — giving it for a fee, to a particular person, about their own money.

You engage one directly and pay a fee, either flat or as a share of what they manage. Ask for the licence category, ask how they are paid, and ask whether they earn anything from the products they recommend. All three answers are reasonable to ask for in writing.

An adviser has no return. Advice is a cost; the return belongs to whatever you bought on the strength of it, and should be measured after the fee.

Worth being plain about where this site sits: Ipahco is not a licensed investment adviser, broker or fund manager. Nothing here is a personal recommendation. It is published research and comparison — the same for every reader, because it does not know any reader's circumstances.