Have you heard of St James's Place

Tiggs_2

EdInvestor wrote:

The SJP "partnership" system appears to allow advisors to act like IFAs

How does an IFA act? is it a funny walk?

My IFA business does not "act like an IFA" now with regards its branding and presentation.....it acts like a specalist financial advice firm....and it still will be.

All clients are presented with Key Facts and an explanation of status......i could easily say how concerning that some IFA's dont give out Key Facts (and huge numbers dont).....when im with SJP the last thing i want is some poor old client being tricked into using an IFA that will take 7.5% on their bond investment, have no interest in trail or long term service and have limited training/ business checking in the feild they work in. All very "non-SJP", not sure how best to tackle these nasties!


To much focus is put on status, the industry is NOT what it was 10 years ago.....to pick adviser A over B based on nothing but status would be stupidity. Yes....if A and B are equally in all aspects but A is IFA then go use A. I have always said to clients (even when i used to be tied)...if you want a second opinion go get one, if you find better advice presented with the same focus on simplicity of explanation while ensuring a complete understanding of ALL aspects of that advice........dont come back to me, use them.


If depolorisation hadnt happened i may stay IFA......when i joined the industry there was a clear gulf between tied and IFA and (even though the public didnt know it 100%) it was clear to me that the side to be on was IFA.

Now there is no clear divide......the best tied advisers are far ahead of the average IFAs in many respects and the worst in either tied or IFA are very crap indeed - should a client seek out an IFA at the top of their game? yes, maybe they should....but they are few and far between and their rareity makes the a pointless competion for me to be concerned with.

people say i will "Lose cleints"....to who???? you think a client will hear my story and go flick through yellow pages to meet someone they dont know anything about other than their "regulatory status" is different to mine? I doubt it.

The evil in this idustry is poor advice and greedy advisers with little client ethics......and those evils transend any status.

whiteflag_3

Tiggs wrote:

The evil in this industry is poor advice and greedy advisers with little client ethics......and those evils transend any status.

Its ironic then that you posted this -

"If i ONLY cared about my clients i may not go to SJP.....but i also care about my earnings and the ease of running my business the way i want to - SJP makes my job easier, and i see no significant disadvantage to clients. I am a business man, it so happens i am also a financial adviser".

I find it sad that you believe you cant run a profitable IFA business and put your clients first>

Hope you have the stamina to survive the SJP treadmill

Tiggs_2

whiteflag wrote:

I find it sad that you believe you cant run a profitable IFA business and put your clients first

do you?

i dont.....i simply seek out the best way to run my business and ensure that any choices i may are not going to impact negatively on clients. There are other business choices i make that impact positively on clients and have no impact on my business profits. Thats all fine by me, win win.

When i find a way to improve i dont regard it as "sad" to be switching, i regard it as positive to be moving forward.

"Hope you have the stamina to survive the SJP treadmill "

I work 3 days a week, do about 20 cases a year and if i saw 2 clients in a single day i would need a holiday.......i think i have the stamina to carry on thanks

Tiggs_2

whiteflag wrote:

Its ironic

no its not, you may find it interesting ....but its not ironic.

dunstonh

Ummh don't seem to have one of those letters. We were in his office remortgaging (we do so every 2 years or so to get a discounted rate) and he mentioned the SJP thing. He said that the funds were better managed and not fixed funds like I had with Skandia so it would be easier for the fund managers to switch to better performing funds etc. I'm trying to remember the conversation but I'm sure he said fees are the same.

It depends on funds but I have often found Skandia 10 year projections beating Fidelity Fundsnetwork on like for like (FNW is generally seen as the benchmark in these things).

What should have happened is that he should have compared charges and costs and given a written report highlighting all the pros and cons of a transfer and given a written disclosure of commission being earned from this.

He said that the funds were better managed and not fixed funds like I had with Skandia

That is a lie. Skandia are a full fund supermarket and have hundreds of funds from different providers available. They also have a range of blend funds, manager of manager and fund of funds to suit all tastes in addition to all the individual funds you expect on any fund supermarket.

I'm trying to remember the conversation but I'm sure he said fees are the same.

Whilst technically possible it is almost certainly a lie. He would have to have done it on zero commission, which is highly unlikely with SJP. Also, the funds are different so would have different fund management charges would apply. Of course, the annual costs could be the same if you came out of 1.50% annual charge funds and went into 1.50% funds but its the intial charge where there is likely to be the cost.

Who do I complain to?

You complain to SJP. The address should be on the initial disclosure documents incorporating the terms of business which should be given to you every time that the adviser has a different version and fully explained. Going IFA to SJP would be a massive change and should be fully discussed.

If you havent got the commission disclosure and suitability report, then chances are he hasnt given you this either or has slid it in with the paperwork that was issued. If you cant find it, we can get you the address.

This is awkward cos him and wife are friends too!!

You may value the friendship but he clearly doesnt. You have been given advice by someone who has lied about their status, has broken a number of FSA rules and has stitched you up to earn a commission out of you.

Tiggs_2

dunstonh wrote:

You may value the friendship but he clearly doesnt.

someones not getting a xmas card

cloud_dog

EdInvestor wrote:

Investors are looking for a professional who will operate in their interests - like a solicitor, or an accountant - and charge a fee for the service.

Not wishing to have a go at Tiggs specifically but, for me Ed summed up what I would expect from an IFA / financial advier nicely.

Have to admint that I have never used an IFA (but did work within the financial services industry for a number of years - maybe thats why I don't use them).

We are looking at reviewing my wife's pensions etc and I will only be doing business with someone who can say "I will charge you £nnn to carry out a review and recommend a course of action" - hopefully I'll be able to find one :rotfl:

cloud_dog

Tiggs_2

cloud_dog wrote:

Not wishing to have a go at Tiggs specifically but, for me Ed summed up what I would expect from an IFA / financial advier nicely.

Thats fine, thats not what i do.

I make money from product sales....so of course you wouldnt use my firm. Luckily for me there are millions that do use finacial services based on product sales and only a very small number that do what you are looking for.

As far as im concerned fee only V product sales are two COMPLETLEY different jobs. As i'm happy doing my job and make a good living from it i am not upset to hear about how some people would rather use a servoce provided by someone who does a different job to me.......be a boring old world if everyone wanted the same thing.

Poppy9

This is where I did have my money:
paid in £100 per month from 2001 to the following funds:

Aberdeen Sterling Bond (£25)
INVESCO perp corp Bond acc (£25)
Fidelity Special Situations (£25)
Artemis ABN AMRO High Inc (£25)

my (then!) IFA advised going for a min of 5 years to get benefit but I had the option to cash in at any time. I got back more than I paid in. Fees were:

initial commission £3 for each £100 direct debit subscription

servicing comission .500% +vat per year of the value of investment.

I have emailed Fin Advisor to say I'm not happy and want to meet. I logged onto SJP website to see how my money is looking now and I'm still £200 down on what I paid in. The site said about my fund it was medium to long term so I suppose if I take it out now it will be at a loss. My endowments mature in 2010/11 so I will need the money about then. Don't know whether I should risk waiting 6 months to see if it recovers and then pull out.

dunstonh

Nothing wrong with that list of funds with Skandia. One of Skandia's advantages is that they allow £25pm minimum per fund compared with £50 with most of the other fund supermarkets.

With that spread you actually had quite little stockmarket exposure as a whole, which makes you wonder about his stockmarket comments.

3% plus 0.5% is usual maximum commission but above the industry average for IFAs which is 1.5% plus 0.5% on ISAs. Not sure where VAT gets involved as the 0.5% is not VAT chargeable.

From Jan to end of July this year, the corp bond fund would be down 2% but the others would be up.

Any chance you can post the SJP fund details so we can compare what you had against what you have now.