Advice on Offshore or Portfolio Bonds

dunstonh

i will be booking appointments for the IFA to attend, following up on their appointments. This is why i'm trying to speak to people with regard to DeVere, i am a sales professional not a con man so just trying to do a bit of research

are they UK based IFAs or advisers based abroad calling themselves IFAs without the qualification or are the IFAs with qualifications to the standards in the region they are dealing in?

Quite a few overseas locations have had issues with people calling themselves IFAs or FAs retailing products to ex pats but they havent had the same qualifications or compliance standards of UK based advisers. Spain and Middle East in particular have had issues but there are reports that the same happens in Asia as well.

If the company employ qualified individuals working to a regulatory/professional standard then that is fine and what you want. If they dont, then you should avoid.

17clarence

I'd check that fact if I were you iain2305.
Certainly the guy I saw wasn't, though he had been on a 6 week inhouse investment ( or is that sales? ) course.
You are quite right to be hesitant. I'm not in sales, but commision only in a foreign country doesn't sound too comfortable to me.
Good luck though whatever you choose.

praguespring

Does anyone know how Devere and Partners can advertise jobs with a salary of £200k when it is cmmission only.

Surely this is against avertising standards, and the big recruitment companies like Totaljobs should know better.

Aegis

praguespring wrote: »

Does anyone know how Devere and Partners can advertise jobs with a salary of £200k when it is cmmission only.

Surely this is against avertising standards, and the big recruitment companies like Totaljobs should know better.

Because they most likely use the letters "OTE", standing for "on target earnings". If you hit your ridiculously high targets, that's probably what you could get.

Sammy556

Hi. Wasn't there a thread a few months ago like this one-that I very much enjoyed reading-that got closed down by 'you know who' after some 'justified' criticism? Thought the company that no-one can mention without a lawsuit threat had been banned on all forums just in case the truth got out.

Well it has anyway. Ive been having a good read at this site www offshore-exposed com and found out all I needed to know and quite a bit more!

A must read for all expats and looks like its been written by an ex 'you know who'!

Flipflop1

praguespring wrote: »

Does anyone know how Devere and Partners can advertise jobs with a salary of £200k when it is cmmission only.

Surely this is against avertising standards, and the big recruitment companies like Totaljobs should know better.

I hate to say this but it may also be because they sell products with commission loaded at outset and then have no insentive to manage clients, and therefore don't... and just concentrate on new sales...sorry if this sounds a trite but my experience with De Vere is not a good one unfortunately. I was sold a product that was totally unsuitable for my needs and found out to my cost that this was because they sell products that provide them with all commission upfront which may explain why when the Bond was set up I didn't hear from them again despite promises of regular reviews. The ongoing fees for the product I was offered were also very high.
Because there is no commission payable on this Bond its caused me issues with other IFA's I have wanted to move to and use as this always now comes with a fee.
How did this happen? I may not be a financial wizz but I am not stupid either. To cut a long story short I did ask questions and was lied to. When I asked about the fees as indicated in the product brochure the explanation of them was a million miles from the truth...so maybe I am stupid after all:D In all fairness this all happened in Hong Kong but they are the same company as operate in the UK..BTW they were made to leave Singapore because of similar practices..look it up and see for yourself.