I would just like to hear peoples thoughts on Commission based advisors and those that charge by the hour for investment advice, which one do people tend to favour? and what are the pro's and cons's of each in Basel.

I would be interested in peoples thoughts and opinions, as I may start my own investment advice centre here in basel.

Thank you

Fee based. Otherwise it's not independant financial advice.

didn't you have some weird hidden-agenda type posts on this subject a few months ago. You seems to hound the financial advice threads with rants.

Not so, drawing a distinction on remuneration is not an indication of independant or tied agent is it, as both can be paid on commision. I know brokers who give the option of fee or commision to clients in their terms of business, and some independants working on a commision only basis.

OP. I personally have no preference as to how the advisor is paid, as long as any fee's/charges are transparent, clear and reasonabe.

A direct answer to your underlying question is that you will probably make more money as investment advisor from commissions than you could than your asking for a professional fee.

How could one tell that someone who claimed to charge fees only was not also earning commission?