St James Place Investment

mon123_2

yes , as this is money we have never had , hence why we need the advise .

jem16

mon123 wrote: »

an advisor who previously worked for the halifax has asked us to move to st james place.

Do you mean that the adviser who worked for the Halifax now works for St James's Place and he wants you now to invest with him at St James's Place?

There is a previous thread on St James's Place here;

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=810179&highlight=st+james%27s+place

I would agree with Cheerfulcat - if you need advice on investments see an IFA and not a bank's sales rep or a tied employee.

cheerfulcat

mon123 wrote: »

yes , as this is money we have never had , hence why we need the advise .

You can find an IFA here.

( Interesting Russian spam reported btw )

dunstonh

st james's place are not an independant advisor so on this website they're often given a hard time. what most people don't understand their approach to investment management and look primarily at their status as a tied advisor.

to kid yourself into thinking that being independant means "not sales orientated" is total rubbish.

St James Place is a sales force. A very slick and professional one (at presentation) . However, it has a limited product range and there are heavy sales targets. If you use a St James place rep then they are employed by St James Place. If you use an IFA they are employed by you.

Independent means whole of market product choice (and not a limited range from the tied rep) and the option to pay by a variety of methods for the advice, including a fee which is not dependent on products sold. An option not present with St James Place.

Personality is not something that is regulated so there is no reason why an SJP sales rep (as they will be known after the FSA RDR proposals come in) will be any better or worse than anyone else. However, purely from a product and range point of view, they cannot come close to what an IFA can offer.

stu20001

dunstonh wrote: »

...there is no reason why an SJP sales rep (as they will be known after the FSA RDR proposals come in) will be any better or worse than anyone else. However, purely from a product and range point of view, they cannot come close to what an IFA can offer.

This is interesting - I'm just in the process of seeing an adviser (I'll continue to use that term for now until things are clearer) - He operates through his own company but is also connected to SJPP. He only offers SJPP's investment vehicles but seems to be 'independent' on matters like life assurance, mortgages etc. I'll admit I haven't had time to read the Key facts stuff properly yet (I only saw him on Friday) but I am slightly confused as to where he sits in the scheme of things........

As far as the SJPP funds go, any ideas where I can get some info on their performance?

LongTermLurker

cheerfulcat wrote: »

( Interesting Russian spam reported btw )

Que???

jem16

LongTermLurker wrote: »

Que???

It was removed.

jem16

stu20001 wrote: »

This is interesting - I'm just in the process of seeing an adviser (I'll continue to use that term for now until things are clearer) - He operates through his own company but is also connected to SJPP. He only offers SJPP's investment vehicles but seems to be 'independent' on matters like life assurance, mortgages etc. I'll admit I haven't had time to read the Key facts stuff properly yet (I only saw him on Friday) but I am slightly confused as to where he sits in the scheme of things........

He's not an IFA but a tied "adviser".

As far as the SJPP funds go, any ideas where I can get some info on their performance?

They don't subscribe to Trustnet. Citywire does have some info on them;
http://www.citywire.co.uk/selector/search.aspx?Phrase=st+james+place

dunstonh

He only offers SJPP's investment vehicles but seems to be 'independent' on matters like life assurance, mortgages etc.

The FSA have three classifications for advice. Investment business, mortgages and general insurance. You can be independent or whole of market in one but not another or any mix of that. SJP are tied for investments, whole of market for mortgages and panel for insurers.

He operates through his own company but is also connected to SJPP.

Yes, self employed but attached is a common business model.

I am slightly confused as to where he sits in the scheme of things........

Tied sales rep like most of the others. Most tied reps are whole of market on mortgages and panels on insurance are common.

cheerfulcat

stu20001 wrote: »

As far as the SJPP funds go, any ideas where I can get some info on their performance?

Some info on the website - click on the fund name.

LTL, someone spammed the boards with a message about how it was not the Russians but the Georgians who are at fault, complete with numerous links.