By now you should have worked out the following:

• How much you want to invest
• Whether it is a lump sum or regular payments
• How long the investment is for
• What level of risk you are prepared to take
• How flexible the plan needs to be
• What sort of financial adviser you are going to use
• Whether you will go it alone using a web site or call centre.

Fill out an action plan with all your answers. Once you have an investment product in mind, ask for the details. Read them and make sure that whatever you are buying matches the criteria you have written down in your action plan. If it doesn’t, make some changes. There are plenty of financial products on the market to fit your circumstances.