Have you heard of St James's Place

PabloNeruda

coatescastle wrote:

We are on the verge of investing £150,000 with a firm called St James's Place. Has anybody heard of them or had dealings with them. I felt fine with the company, but someone in our town said how much do we know about them, and apart from the FSA, we personally know nothing.

Any help would be appreciated.

My ex-wife and I had a life assurance policy with these people for many years. They paid out no problem whatsoever when we made a claim under her critical illness cover, when she was diagnosed with cervical and ovarian cancer. From my experience, therefore, I'd be happy to recommend.

defender_of_the_weak

Tiggs

I think you sound like perfect SJP material and will fit in well with the other partners. As a point of reference it was many of these partners (in their former guise as Dunbar President Falcon advisers) who flogged barlow Clowes to their high net worth clients. Obviously nothing to do with the level of commission such sales attracted at the time.

Same partners, when trading as Rothschilds, who were served a writ from Dunbar to stop them churning the old Dunbar plans they advised on previously and generated a whole new commission stream

Tiggs_2

defender_of_the_weak wrote:

Tiggs

I think you sound like perfect SJP material and will fit in well with the other partners.

I hope so. Could do with a nice bonus in time for xmas

Pobby

I had a pension with Allied Crowbar.Very pushy sales woman.Got told,later,that she had discussed my personal finances with an ex employee of mine.Very good of her!

Chrismaths

I suppose this cuts to the heart of the 'money saving' debate - or financial education debate.

By definition, people who frequent this forum do so because they are, or have started to become, financially aware - and realise that they can save money with a bit of effort and thought. However there is still a large proportion, indeed majority of people, for whom a bit of effort and/or thought is too much. These people just want a service and are prepared to pay whatever it says it costs on the ticket. They get reassured by the glossiness of brochures (whereas the more financially savvy may be put off by such things), the sales patter - and they are buying reassurance - "Yes, Mrs Jones, here's your glossy printed financial review - I've identified your needs and here's a product. Back to tending the petunias with you."

If what you want is reassurance, it's a great deal easier to go through one of these slick operations than it is to go to a specialist investment advisor, who might talk too much about nasty and complex things like risk, sector allocation, etc...

There are still plenty of people who walk into a main car dealership and pay full price for a new car, there are plenty of people who keep taking those cars back for expensive services at the dealership when they could go to an independent for much less - but that involves finding out who is a good independent mechanic. People get put off by the possibility that the local mechanic is a shark (which some/many are!) so they keep going back to the big shark at the dealership, who have glossy brochures and glossier invoices, where they keep getting ripped off. But they feel reassured by the brand.

It's the same with financial advice - because there are dodgy IFAs out there (although not as many as people think) people keep going back to the big brands, and the slick operations, as it is reassuring. But it's worth finding a good IFA, as they have the capability to add a huge amount of value for you.

Chrismaths

Nice to see you back comrade Pablo!
SJP aren't an insurance company. They sold you a product from an insurance company. The insurance company paid out. It is them you should be recommending, not the salesmen.

Tiggs_2

Chrismaths wrote:

so they keep going back to the big shark at the dealership, who have glossy brochures and glossier invoices, where they keep getting ripped off. But they feel reassured by the brand.

You are correct aprat from the above....you have listed a whole host of reasons as to why people are happy to pay more - then say thats a rip off. Its not, its the price of what they seek.

You are right that a typical MSE reader wouldnt want the benifits you list so has no need to pay for them.....but for those that do, the service exists.

I took my BMW to BMW for its service...was it more than the local? if have no idea and dont care, i wanted to go to BMW. I wasnt ripped off yet may have paid more than you would have.

DOnt confuse what you wouldnt pay for as being a rip off when someone else does.

Tiggs_2

Chrismaths wrote:

It is them you should be recommending, not the salesmen.

A petty point....on that basis no financial adviser should get recommended becuase they dont manage the funds or own the life assurance companies!

Chrismaths

a) That was my point. Some people are willing to pay more for a brand. I think that's silly personally, but I was just illustrating that some people are willing to pay more for the reassurance. I don't think we disagree here.

b) I don't think it's petty, when the point of this thread was regarding investments. No relationship between the two. Indeed SJP don't think there is much relationship, as on insurance they are multi-tie, where as on investments they are tied. It would be difficult to find a critical illness policy that would not pay out on ovarian/cervical cancer. A better analogy would be going to the post office to take out travel insurance, then recommending/blaming the counter clerk when the policy paid out/didn't. That's the difference between sales and advice.

Tiggs_2

you have gone from saying "getting ripped off" to "i think thats silly".....your second description is more accurate. its not for you to say that someones choice, all be one you regard as "silly" is a rip off.


and i'll bet the life insuarnce was SOLD not bought......so IMO it is the adviser that should be congratulated. in fact, this whole thread is about how SJP will flog anything...heres something they flogged that worked out great and they cant take credit for it! cant have your cake and eat it.