Standard Life publish 'proposal for members' - inc. FIXED shares estimate £444 - £536

ReportInvestor

JCL wrote:

Think the influence of Trevor Matthews has been great on them. Not one of the good old boys network in Edinburgh.

I quite agree.

Matthews is good news for Standard investors and their share prospects. The rising star in Edinburgh, IMHO.

canny_yorkshireman_2

funny thing is if they had done this 6 years ago the windfall would have been 3 fold what it is today perhaps even more yet the policyholders voted against it for some insane reason hope this time it does not end in tears.

Gorgeous_George

ReportInvestor wrote:

But I believe they have done a decent job for members over the last year, previous errors notwithstanding.

My policy fell another thousand pounds this year and that's after I paid in an extra £540. I really cannot see the good work that has been done but I suppose there will be a few more millionaires following the flotation - all board members at SL.

RI - are you an IFA? Just curious

GG

ReportInvestor

Gorgeous_George wrote:

RI - are you an IFA? Just curious

:rotfl: That has got to be the funniest comment today on Standard Life. Ask Dunstonh and Whiteflag about my views of IFAs. :rotfl:

The extreme rarity of a Dh and RI agreement on MSE (a bit of a collectors' item ) - in this case on the Standard Life vote - may be enough to convince a few MSErs to vote "yes", GG.

I'm afraid that the past management had grossly overvalued your policy. Blame them. Except we can't. They're all pensioned off nicely :mad: .

Gorgeous_George

We agree on something then. I might even be swayed to voting yes (like it matters).

Whilst I've been let down by SL, at least I'm not relying on them to buy my home like some poor souls have done.



GG

ReportInvestor

One for GG to enjoy

Financial advisers gave the "Executive of the Year" award for three consecutive years 2001-3 to Bell & Lumsden of Standard Life

As I said at the time, it was like giving "musician of the year" to the Bay City Rollers.

These two are the idiots who have landed the company in this mess, costing 3,000 jobs already and much anxiety among policyholders like yourself.

Standard was run by them as a hierarchy and the actuaries were able to keep things hidden from the rest of the board who muddled blindly along as you can at a mutual.

Gorgeous_George

Has anybody received their share allocation notice yet?

My 25-year endowment policy is 21 years old and I bet the shares won't cover recent 'adjustments'.



GG

dunstonh

Back in those days Standard Life did have the best support, the best website for information and had local reps which made support a heck of a lot easier. The product range wasnt quite good as well. Remember we are talking about 2001-3 here not the last 3 years.

Now they have no local support, the website hasnt changed hardly at all whilst others have caught up and many have surpassed it and the product range is heavily weighted towards one key product and the rest are not very competitive. Standard Life only get a tiny fraction of my cases a year now. Indeed, I wouldnt be surprised if this tax year sees the first year of nothing going to Standard Life from me.

Its easy to look at these things with hindsight but you have to look at why they would have received a lot of votes at that time.

Froggitt

Isnt it perverse that the Std Life board recommended members voted against windfalls of £6,000, but are now recommending members vote in favour of windfalls of £1,500.

JCL

dunstonh wrote:

Now they have no local support, the website hasnt changed hardly at all whilst others have caught up and many have surpassed it and the product range is heavily weighted towards one key product and the rest are not very competitive. Standard Life only get a tiny fraction of my cases a year now. Indeed, I wouldnt be surprised if this tax year sees the first year of nothing going to Standard Life from me.

They do still have a degree of local support. Certainly my understanding is they have regional offices throughout the United Kingdom.

Their products from my (admittedly limited) point of view are still fairly competitive. I know they lowered commission for you IFAs which may have made them seem less competitive. However, its the best product, not the best paying provider in terms of commission that should count.

Norwich Union still pay ridiculous and unsustainable levels of commission on products which attracts IFAs despite their awful service.

As for:

Isnt it perverse that the Std Life board recommended members voted against windfalls of £6,000, but are now recommending members vote in favour of windfalls of £1,500.

I know those figures were quoted at the time but if I recall correctly the board of SL were saying £2,500. Also important to note they would have floated at a time when the markets were heading South.

Anyway, don't want to sound like Mrs Crombie here. I agree they certainly have made their fair share of mistakes in the past but the SL of today in my opinion represents a good turnaround in progress and company I will be keeping an interest in.