Guilts? AXA Elevate ISA? Anyone able to info me?

Nine_Lives

My dad had a meeting with a Yorkshire Bank's FA who works for AXA.

The short of it is, he sort of knows this woman & as such he was able to see documents that he shouldn't actually see.

One of these showed how 30k invested in 1979 into one of these sort of accounts was then worth 600k in 2010 (money totally untouched during that time though).

This is when my ears pricked up.

The FA advises him to take all his cash out of your "standard ISA" & invest into this (AXA Elevate ISA) providing he doesn't need access to it.

There's varying degrees of risk with this too which he can select - whether he wants to go high risk, medium, low etc.

My eyes lit up though when i saw how much you can potentially gain.




Anyone aware of this or something similar? Is it as good as he's had it made sound?

edinburgher

One of these showed how 30k invested in 1979 into one of these sort of accounts was then worth 600k in 2010 (money totally untouched during that time though).

Only thing is you didn't get ISAs in 1979. Even TESSAs don't cover this period as far as I can see..

Nine_Lives

True. Must've been some other sort of account then. I remember he mentioned something to do with the government.

https://www.axaelevate.co.uk/aboutElevate/

This is their website.

Does it sound ok?

As it wont be ISAs that jumped the 30k (my memory is shocking, so he probably never even said that that example was an ISA example), is there anything that you can think of, some sort of account/investment that'd likely do that over that period of time & is it worth it?

pressuredrop_2

How you invest the money is important not the platform.

Reaper

edinburgher wrote: »

Only thing is you didn't get ISAs in 1979. Even TESSAs don't cover this period as far as I can see..

It's investments rather than savings remember. The equivilent in the 80's was the PEP, though even then they are cheating a bit as they were only introduced in 1986.

OP - don't get too hung up on this AXA Elevate ISA thing. The basic decision is are you willing to switch some of your money from savings to investments with the hope of better returns?

If you are then the next question is what to invest in. There is a big range of options with different levels of risk and return. This is the hardest bit and where you need really good advice matched to your aims.

The final question is what platform to buy it through. Though if it is a tied bank advisor they can't give you a choice. I had never heard of AXA Elevate before now so I can't really comment on it.

LongTermLurker

K_P83 wrote: »

The short of it is, he sort of knows this woman & as such he was able to see documents that he shouldn't actually see.

One of these showed how 30k invested in 1979 into one of these sort of accounts was then worth 600k in 2010 (money totally untouched during that time though).

What makes you think he wasn't supposed to see the last 31 years' performance statistics? All the reps will show you the historical figures - the point is they're pretty worthless, because past performance doesn't tend to repeat itself with any accuracy.

If you invest now, what you get back will depend on what areas/companies you invest in, how good the person is who chooses what & when to buy & sell, how well they perform and how much you're charged for the investment (up front and annually).

Like anything else, you shouldn't jump in blind with the first offer you get from a particular company. If you're happy with the risks (and the stock market is never without risks), then spend time researching the various options before making your choice.

My eyes lit up though when i saw how much you can potentially gain.

Don't forget, you could also lose up to 100%

dunstonh

AXA Elevate is just a platform. There are many platforms out there. They dont make or lose anything. They are just the adminstrator for your investments. Like most platforms they have access to thousands of investments.

My dad had a meeting with a Yorkshire Bank's FA who works for AXA.

So a damned good reason not to use them then. There is nothing wrong with the AXA elevate platform. However, it comes in different charging models. One of which is quite expensive but useful for certain business models (of which Yorkshire is not one of them). However, there can be potentially better ones available. Plus, Elevate requires the use of a cash fund to handle charges so its best used under a servicing arrangement and not a transactional one (Yorkshire are transactional).

There's varying degrees of risk with this too which he can select - whether he wants to go high risk, medium, low etc.

This is a difference between an FA and an IFA. An FA lets you choose from a selection. However, if you knew what to choose you wouldnt need an adviser. An IFA does the choice for you.

Anyone aware of this or something similar? Is it as good as he's had it made sound?

You havent told us about the investments. Think of it as you telling us about this brand new drink. You then describe the cup its in and ask us what we think of the drink.

One of these showed how 30k invested in 1979 into one of these sort of accounts was then worth 600k in 2010 (money totally untouched during that time though).

Well at least he didnt get shown Fidelity Special Situations as an example. That would be well into the millions with £30k in 1979. Did he show the periods after 2002 or 2007?

sunil1234

dunstonh wrote: »

Well at least he didnt get shown Fidelity Special Situations as an example. That would be well into the millions with £30k in 1979. Did he show the periods after 2002 or 2007?

Now Mr Bolton has moved away, lets see if Mr Shah can repeat the legendary performance:A

Loughton_Monkey

K_P83 wrote: »

The FA advises him to take all his cash out of your "standard ISA" & invest into this (AXA Elevate ISA) providing he doesn't need access to it.

There's varying degrees of risk with this too which he can select - whether he wants to go high risk, medium, low etc.

I view this, to some extent, as somewhat the same as Life Assurance and Pensions 'churning' that went on in the 80's. Salesmen would advise you to cash in your existing arrangement, and go to something 'better'. Problem being, that you paid commission for the original investment, and now you are going to pay more commission on the same money!

Most of us try to avoid paying commission/charges at all. But certainly not twice!

Although AXA are a solid and reputable company, a glance at their product indicates that it is little more than an ISA funds wrapper. You don't say, but in all probability, your dad's existing ISA is simply a bag of funds in an ISA wrapper. I fear that the only outcome from his meeting - if he 'goes for it' - will be that his ISA will instantly be worth a few percent less as a result of the transfer. This MUST be true unless she works for nothing.

OK, I am prepared to believe that she may steer him to different funds - which may (or may not) perform better than his existing ones. It's always a good idea to review performance from time to time, and re-assess attitudes to risk, and switch a few funds accordingly. But maybe he can swap a few funds far more cheaply with his existing provider.

Unless he fully understands his current investment, the actual funds it is distributed across, its exact value (at bid price), and how the new (AXA) wrapper might produce additional charges, he should not go into the meeting - or at least not sign anything.

Many people on this forum understand ISA wrappers very well, and all of the risks associated with different types of fund. That being the case, it is possible to invest them with NO additional charges for switching and NO upfront costs.

Reaper

Loughton_Monkey wrote: »

your dad's existing ISA is simply a bag of funds in an ISA wrapper.

My guess is this is not churning. I interpret the "standard ISA" they refer to as being a cash ISA and the proposal is to switch it to a S&S ISA.

dunstonh

Reaper wrote: »

My guess is this is not churning. I interpret the "standard ISA" they refer to as being a cash ISA and the proposal is to switch it to a S&S ISA.

Most tied agents are not allowed to discuss the products and services of other providers other than generically. Plus, they are not normally allowed to recommend specific funds or portfolio build. So, I doubt its an S&S ISA currently held. Cash ISAs are not treated as replacement business when moved into an S&S ISA.