SIPP pension transfer

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Anyone had any dealings with Berkely Burke and or Jackson Francis nice people and good sales patois and figures look good. Would be good to get feedback from someone already using them
Would be transferring my old Scottish Widows pensions over to them
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  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 116,568 Forumite
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    Would be transferring my old Scottish Widows pensions over to them

    For what reason?
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
  • mania112
    mania112 Posts: 1,981 Forumite
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    I've heard of Berkely Burke the SIPP provider, I don't recall anything special/noteworthy about them.

    I hadn't heard of Jackson Francis, so I googled them. They appear to be financial advisers, but they're not and they're not regulated by the FCA (as IFA's and FA's need to be).

    Which leads me to the conclusion you're looking to release cash from your pension?

    Which leads me to ask you how much you'll be paying for the transfer from SW to BB?
  • Pankration
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    Hi. Thanks for the comments. Just the usual people fishing on the phone. Went through with the interview. Transfer roughly 40k from Scottish Widows. Guaranteed 8% growth per annum (how?) All the money gets sunk in one investment (Store first. Why?) £1600 to set up the new policy (taken from first years profits). 1% yearly account charge way better than Scottish Widows % plus flat fee. I'm approaching from the sounds too good to be true angle so all input welcome !
  • redbuzzard
    redbuzzard Posts: 718 Forumite
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    The recent thread on storefirst should tell you all you need to know.

    The projections do not look credible to me.
    "Things are never so bad they can't be made worse" - Humphrey Bogart
  • mania112
    mania112 Posts: 1,981 Forumite
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    I doubt 1% is the only charge, I doubt it will be cheaper than Scottish Widows.

    I doubt you'll get the guaranteed returns.

    I suggest you seek out a qualified IFA at https://www.unbiased.co.uk and they will help you get your retirement on track (and anything else you need help with).
  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 116,568 Forumite
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    Hi. Thanks for the comments. Just the usual people fishing on the phone.

    It is against FCA rules to cold call on investments (pension is investment class). So, cold calling is a good sign of either a company acting outside of regulation or it being a scam or dodgy unregulated scheme.
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
  • taking_stock
    taking_stock Posts: 183 Forumite
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    Pankration wrote: »
    Anyone had any dealings with Berkely Burke and or Jackson Francis nice people and good sales patois and figures look good. Would be good to get feedback from someone already using them
    Would be transferring my old Scottish Widows pensions over to them


    Jackson Francis are not regulated by the FCA - as detailed on their website.

    Anything with a guaranteed 8% sounds like a scam.

    ...and 'sales patois' made me laugh! strangely appropriate tho!
    :beer:
  • jamesd
    jamesd Posts: 26,103 Forumite
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    Forget about them. Anyone can claim any payments they like and anyone can use cash from an investment to pay 8% for a few years. This is not a good investment and you should not bite.

    Paying 8% is easy. Just sell you something that cost £10,000 for £40,000 and use some of the £40,000 to make the payments. Then get rid of the long term liabilities like guarantees by shutting down the business and starting up another one.

    The general rule is easy: if you are cold called about a financial service or home improvement or almost anything else, it is not to your benefit to accept whatever the pitch is. That's even more true in financial services than in other fields because it is normally against the law to make such calls, so as soon as you receive one you know that you are dealing with a company you don't want to be dealing with.

    As for Scottish Widows, just say how you're invested there and what's available to you (probably a hundred or so investments) and what they cost and it'll be easy to point you to cheaper and completely legitimate places where you can make those or other investments at lower cost by transferring to one of them.
  • BR54
    BR54 Posts: 22 Forumite
    edited 18 September 2013 at 1:23PM
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    Jackson Francis is run by two close freinds of Toby Whittaker the MD of storefirst. There is also a proposal to strike off.
    Take a look at this link.
    https://www.duedil.com/director/9165.../directorships
    Toby Whittaker has been a director of over 50 companies with the majority closing down after 2-4 yrs. The ones that are still active have a book value of over -£20million. That means the difference between assets and liabilities. They are collectively £21 million pounds in debt. Another 3 or 4 of his companies are about to go under as well as they have had a proposal to strike off this month.

    One of his companies went under owing £100 millionpounds and Pannones solicitors were starting a law suit against them.
    He was investigated by the HMRC last year and another company was investigated by the FSA.
    Love to know where They get this £1 billion from!

    Is that cows? is it pigs? ah no its Bull....t
  • BR54
    BR54 Posts: 22 Forumite
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    I have recently been told that they pay agents 25-30% commission. Where does that come from? No wonder people want to push the storage thingys.

    So, 25% to the agent and 8% to the pension- that's a lot of money going out straight away?
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