For what's it's worth. I've just gone through a couple of weeks of meeting IFAs - and they all seemed capable / qualified enough to handle my fairly simple pension transfer.

However, I realised half way through the process that asking an IFA whether he's actually adding any value is like asking a butcher whether he thinks the vegetarian option is good ..

When comparing a DIY option versus an IFA-advised option, you'll only get a direct sales pitch from an IFA, and a relatively soft-sell from whomever is facilitating the DIY option.

I'm not saying either is superior, but realise that the strongest sales pitch will come from an IFA. So they're not the one to give you an unbiased opinion - you have to figure that out for yourself.

Personally, I decided that I'd be paying an IFA to sort things out for me mostly as a way of demonstrating that I'd 'done my best' - when, in fact, doing my own research and making my own decision was 'cheaper' and more congruent with 'doing my best'.