Pension Comparison (one for the mathematicians)

whiteflag_3

EdInvestor wrote:

Forget it. That's a joke.


It's not St James's Place is it?

Well done ED!:beer:

whiteflag_3

farley88 wrote:

When I used the term 'independent' I guess that was a misleading term - the adviser is not an IFA. However, I assume that he still has a responsibility to provide balanced advice, and not just blatantly plug and hype their own products. My concern here is that he has superficially tried to do this by giving me 'facts' so I can make up my own mind, but the 'facts' are very questionable.

As Tiggs would say "buckle up"!

whiteflag_3

farley88 wrote:

And since that's out of the bag, the 'old' provide is Scottish Equitable

One my favourite pension providers-good service, online access, wide fund choice and in some 1% contracts a large fund discount which reduces the amc down to 0.75% pa.

farley88

What's your opinion of Friends Provident (my actual current provider)?

whiteflag_3

farley88 wrote:

What's your opinion of Friends Provident (my actual current provider)?

Fine , one of the top 5


Have a look at this thread on St James Place- interesting


http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=241739

EdInvestor

Have a look at this thread :mad:


What seems to be happening is that SJP is signing up a load of former IFAs ( it's a tough life for some out there these days ) with a strange kind of "partnership" business model under which they pretend to be IFAs but are actually effectively what we used to call "tied agents" ie salesmen for one company only.

They then proceed to transfer their old clients' old investments in other companies over to SJP.

I'd have thought this company needs a serious health warning and I'm sure it won't be long before it's reported to the FSA.

EdInvestor

Snap Whiteflag :beer:

FP is a perfectly OK provider, what funds is the money invested in?

dunstonh

When I used the term 'independent' I guess that was a misleading term - the adviser is not an IFA. However, I assume that he still has a responsibility to provide balanced advice, and not just blatantly plug and hype their own products. My concern here is that he has superficially tried to do this by giving me 'facts' so I can make up my own mind, but the 'facts' are very questionable.

Independent means independent. It doesn't mean pretend or perhaps have a couple to choose from. You are either independent or you are not.

Tied agents do not carry the same authorisations under FSA rules as independent advisers. They cannot recommend investment funds for example unlike IFAs who can (and must). Tied agents also have restrictions on transferring business from one provider to another or cancelling another providers business. Unlike an IFA who can recommend you cancel one provider to go to another, the tied agent will document this as your choice to do so and not a recommendation. Therefore your consumer protection when you find out that it wasnt the best move and complain will be non-existent.

What's your opinion of Friends Provident (my actual current provider)?

FP have a number of versions of pension products. Their current Personal pension is quite good if you have access to the full range of funds. The stakeholder is less desirable than the PPP even with the full stakeholder fund range but is most commonly seen with a restricted fund range (restricted fund ranges often have the NGP tag aginst them, although that is not a 100% rule as I have done some on the NGP range in the past with the full range available).

Listen to what you are being told in this thread. You have some IFAs as well as some experienced investors and knowledgeable individuals.

moving into a pension and paying higher charges is not necessarily a bad thing. If the existing pension cannot offer the investment options that your new one can and you intend to fully utilise an investment portfolio, then paying more can make sense. However, Scot Eq do have a range of investment funds and unless its an old plan, you can usually access those funds to give you a decent sector allocated portfolio.

However, the only way to get unbiased advice on this is speak to an IFA. The tied agent will not and cannot provide unbiased quality advice in this area.

farley88

Thank you all for your advice, I think clearly I need to speak to an IFA. (Note that in the other SJP thread referred to, McDuck describes his relationship with a 'partner' which pretty much sums up the guy I deal with as well...and to be honest have been OK with until now).

One question though : do you think the facts and figures I gave in my original post could or should be construed as being misleading to the point of being (taking it to extremes) fradulent? It seemed to me that he was conveying performance in terms of 5 year returns which were not borne out by the figures....

Tiggs_2

whiteflag wrote:

As Tiggs would say "buckle up"!

I would indeed