Legal & General Porfolio Bond

dunstonh

Could I lose the lot

Only in a complete financial meltdown and a return to anarchy. You wouldnt care about it then.

when do you get out, take the money ( what's left ) and run ???????

You dont. You invest with a strategy and stick with the strategy. Choosing two funds isnt good investing as you are limiting your options.

.paying IFA's rather a lot of dosh and now we're left thinking why didn't we just stay with straight forward savings.

Because investments zig zag in value. Always do, always will. You dont panic in negative periods just as you dont assume the 15% a year average that property funds gave for the last 15 years (bar 2007/8) was going to do that every year.

IF my investments do eventually climb back up to something "acceptable" I am getting out and putting the cash where I can see it and understand it all.

How about trying to understand investments? Investments suffer investment risk. Cash savings suffer inflation and shortfall risk. Perhaps look to an IFA that knows how to portfolio build or learn about portfolio building yourself.

Do we stick with them or GET OUT ????????

Up to you. Generally Joe Mug investing is investing when its high and pulling out when its low. That is effectively what you would be doing. However, as no-one knows the future, no-one can tell you what to do.

Krissie

Thanks for the responses. I have read your advice and do recognise the ups and downs of investments. I have contacted L & G and asked them to speak to me. I have no money in property and none on the Stock Exchange and my Financial Adviser at Alliance and Leicester tells me to just sit tight for now. It is protected up to 90% if L & G fold but given the amount of money people have invested with them I wonder if the FSA will be able to afford the payouts. I think I am going to stick with it for now. At the end of the day it is giving me a good income for the next 5 years and if we all start running scared then it may cause yet further instability.

Mort_Gage

Krissie wrote: »

I have contacted L & G and asked them to speak to me.

L&G cannot give you any advice, they aren't allowed to under FSA rules.

Krissie wrote: »

....my Financial Adviser at Alliance and Leicester.....

Given the amount of money you have invested I'd be inclined to seek the advice of an Independent Financial Adviser rather than one tied to a bank who can only offer advice on certain products. A more balanced/diversified and cautious portfolio would probably be in order given your stated attitude to risk.

Krissie

Hi
I have seen one of them too. I saw them first and whilst it was very expensive, it was helpful in aiding my understanding but the fees they wanted were too much for me. I get it free at Alliance & Leicester and do have confidence in the advice given. I know it probably doesn't sound like that given my postings. However, I will think on your advice and it may be worth my peace of mind to see the Independant Advisor again.
Thanks

sousie27

I put £30,000 in the exact same fund in 2006 on the advice of a Barclays financial advisor and like the previous posters I have been worrying about its downward spiral.
I was hoping for a reasonable growth by the time I retire in 2011.

I now have an independent financial advisor who tells me not to panic and to stick with it, although even by that time he says it may still not have not regained all that it has lost.

Quante

We have a similar investment of a similar amount with L&G and have also been watching with alarm whilst the value of the investment drops.
Mort Gage is correct when he says that L&G cannot give you financial advice, but they can spell out your options.
One of these is to move the investment out of property, stocks, etc, and put it into a cash fund that is less volatile that the current investment. You are allowed 12 moves in a 12 month period, free of charge, but any move takes two clear working days after the day of a written (faxed will do), notice for that move and so you have to plan a bit if you are looking to move in or out of the fund to take advantage of the ups and downs. Taking in a weekend, this could effectively take you from notice on a Thursday until completion of the transfer on the following Tuesday.
Barclays dealt with our original investment and have proved to be very distant and unhelpful, despite taking their nice fat handout from L&G. What they didn't tell us at the time, was that the investment could be ring fenced, so that if it fell below a certain level, it would automatically be moved into a cash fund, hence protecting it's value to that level.
We also invested another reasonable amount with them at the time and after a short time it became obvious that they had mis-sold it to us.
After writing to them a few times. it became very obvious that they had completed the customer profile questionnaire, (which they were trying to say the investment advice was based upon), well after the date of investment, because some of the information given on it was not available until well after the date on which it was supposed to have been completed.
We had our money back, with interest and put it somewhere safer in a proper local Building Society, who thankfully have no need of playing games with other people's money on the International Monopoly markets !

dunstonh

L&G do still have a tied salesforce (which is unusual for insurers nowadays). If you do contact them the usual response would be see an IFA. However, L&G may refer you to one of their sales reps and as tied agents they do not have the remit to portfolio plan or recommend switches and cancellation.

I get it free at Alliance & Leicester and do have confidence in the advice given.

No you dont. You see it as free. However, the products are arranged on maximum commission terms which increase the charges and can end up costing you more than had you seen a proper independent on fee basis.

To put that in context, A&L would have been paid £21,000 for setting your investment up and to be honest, the choice of a few funds is quite frankly disgraceful. It should be 10 at least and have some strategy. However, had you gone to an independent IFA and gone fee basis you could have had that arranged for about £2,000 and would have seen the commission paid rebated into your plan. That would see you £19,000 better off than than using A&L.

Plus, with respect to A&L advisers, the banks are the training grounds nowadays. The quality of advice tends to be more panel driven and lower quality. Not bad advice, just geared for say £10,000 investments, not £300k. The poor fund choice reflects that.

jem16

Krissie wrote: »

Hi
I have seen one of them too. I saw them first and whilst it was very expensive, it was helpful in aiding my understanding but the fees they wanted were too much for me.

IFAs have different options on how to pay. There is a fee, a commission and a hybrid fee. With a hybrid fee (also known as customer agreed renumeration) you could have agreed an amount which then would have been paid from the commission that the provider would have paid.

I get it free at Alliance & Leicester and do have confidence in the advice given.

It wasn't free - it just looked that way. A&L would have got a very nice commission from L&G on the product they sold you which increases your charges over the years.

As to their advice, using 4 funds for £300k is very poor advice. An IFA would have used at least 10 and possibly 15.

Seeing an IFA would have been a much better choice.

Krissie

Well I was worried when I started posting, now I'm terrified! I need to think but thanks to all of you for your comments, experience and advice.
If I drank, I would be on the whisky by now!

dunstonh

Krissie, get an investment specialist IFA on the case. Not a bank adviser, not a general practitioner IFA but one that specailises in portfolio building. Get them to look at the product and funds and talk you through the basics. It may be boring at times but with £300k, you need a bit more understanding or the pros and cons and what to expect. You would be looking for things like bed & ISA each April and investment strategies such as sector/asset allocation or high yield. Not random hit and hope.

It may be at the end of it that the advice is to go back to cash with most of it and put it down to experience. It may be that once you undestand it you will be more confident.