No independent financial adviser listed in Crieff yet.

An independent financial adviser (IFA) provides impartial advice on pensions, investments, mortgages, savings and insurance - working for you, not for a bank or product provider.

The 'independent' part matters. Unlike tied advisers who can only recommend products from one company, an IFA can search the whole market to find the best fit for your circumstances - and they are legally required to act in your best interest.

Check that your adviser is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and ask how they charge - some work on a fee basis, others take commission from the products they recommend. Either way, they should be upfront about costs before any work begins.

Crieff is a town of around 8,000 people in Strathearn, 17 miles west of Perth, sitting at the point where Highland and Lowland Scotland meet.

It was historically one of Scotland's most important cattle droving centres and the town retains an independent, unhurried character that sets it apart from more tourist-heavy Highland gateways.

The Glenturret Distillery - Scotland's oldest working distillery - is just outside town and Crieff Hydro, the sprawling Victorian hotel and leisure complex, draws visitors from across the country.

The town has a good range of local shops, cafes and schools and is well regarded as a place to live for those who want easy access to both Perth and the southern Highlands.

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Perth and Kinross is a large council area in the heart of Scotland, stretching from the lowland farmland of Strathearn and the Carse of Gowrie in the south to the remote Cairngorm peaks and Highland glens of Atholl and Rannoch in the north.

Perth - the 'Fair City' - is the administrative centre and largest settlement, a compact and handsome city at the tidal limit of the River Tay that served as Scotland's capital in the medieval period and retains a civic confidence well beyond its size.

The area divides naturally into Highland and Lowland: south of the Highland Boundary Fault lie the fertile straths and market towns of Strathearn, Kinross-shire and the Carse; north of it, the landscape rises steeply into the Grampians, with Pitlochry, Aberfeldy and Blair Atholl strung along the great routes into the Highlands.

Kinross-shire, historically a separate county, sits in the south-east around Loch Leven - a nationally important nature reserve and the setting for one of Scotland's most dramatic episodes of royal captivity - and retains a distinct local identity within the wider council area.

Transport links converge on Perth, where the M90, A9 and main rail lines from Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Inverness meet, making the city one of the best-connected in Scotland - though the more remote Highland communities depend on the A9 trunk road and its long-awaited dualling programme.