Opinions sought on Skandia CRA transfer

lamb1102

Im 47 and want to transfer a good sized Phoenix with-profits fund(£323000) into a Skandia CRA. I have had a review and quote from a company called Pensionlite and that is 0.5% initial and 0.5% AMC plus an annual investor charge of £52.32. The TER is 0.96%. This will be a balanced managed selection as follows:

AXA Framlington uk Select opps. 7%
Allianz Pimco Gilt Yield 6%
BlackRock UK Dynamic Income 7%
Cazenove European 4%
Fidelity S.E Asia 3%
1st State Global Emerg Mkts Leaders 3%
1st State Global Resourses 3%
Invesco Perpetual Global Bond 6%
Jupiter Euro Special Situations 4%
L+G All stocks Gilt Index Trust 7%
M+G American (share class x) 6%
M+G Strat corp bond (share class A) 6%
Newton Income 7%
Premier UK money market 5%
Schroder gilt + fixed int 6%
Schroder Tokyo 4%
Standard Life UK Equity Growth 7%
Threadneedle American 6%
Threadneedle UK Property 3%

Does this look a reasonable allocation and are the charges within reason, I feel it is all ok. I dont have the time or knowledge to pick and re-balance so I need to pay for that obviously. Any IFAs on here think they could beat that I would be willing to talk to you. Iam aware that this is for opinions only and would not constitute advice.

Gatser

Interesting comments...

I too have a WP but with Std Life
I would prefer to move to something similar but Std Life will impose a MVA of 30%!! Ouch..... so I am stuck with the WP

I looked at Skandia but was feeling that the Alliance Trust SELECT SIPP could be better for choice and charges. Have you considered this one? I would be interested to know your opinion please...

Thanks

lamb1102

My WP has no MVA, Iam in a closed fund and have just given up a guaranteed annuity rate of 10% which sounds a bit careless but was best for my situation as only a smallish part had the GAR . I had a substantial uplift to transfer value in return.
As far as the SIPP goes, I think its probably a good idea if you are confident of your own investment choices but Iam looking for someone to pick funds and re-balance annually.

lamb1102

Ive had a quick look at the Alliance Trust SELECT SIPP and it does look interesting. I wonder what others think of it, also if you have a list of funds to start with then only the annual re-balancing needs doing so would it be possible to pay an IFA to do that and what sort of cost is involved ?
Obviously Id like to keep as much as possible invested for my retirement but Id like to think an IFA would out perform my guesswork and therefore be worth the cost and more than make up for it over the long term.

Gatser

lamb1102 wrote: »

Ive had a quick look at the Alliance Trust SELECT SIPP and it does look interesting. I wonder what others think of it, also if you have a list of funds to start with then only the annual re-balancing needs doing so would it be possible to pay an IFA to do that and what sort of cost is involved ?
Obviously Id like to keep as much as possible invested for my retirement but Id like to think an IFA would out perform my guesswork and therefore be worth the cost and more than make up for it over the long term.

Good Idea.
Just involve an IFA to "check out" the investments each year for an agreed fee.... and make sure they know THEIR performance is being monitored. It would be an idea to agree a lower fee but reward the IFA if they meet/beat expectations... even something informal could build a "meaningful" relationship!

I also prefer to avoid guesswork...so long as the IFA is not just doing the same!

feesarefare

lamb1102 wrote: »

Im 47 and want to transfer a good sized Phoenix with-profits fund(£323000) into a Skandia CRA. I have had a review

Can you just clarify, you chose Skandia?

and quote from a company called Pensionlite and that is 0.5% initial and 0.5% AMC plus an annual investor charge of £52.32.

Reasonable for a commission based IFA

The TER is 0.96%.

Not sure thats coreect - perhaps you should check that.

This will be a balanced managed selection as follows:

AXA Framlington uk Select opps. 7%
Allianz Pimco Gilt Yield 6%
BlackRock UK Dynamic Income 7%
Cazenove European 4%
Fidelity S.E Asia 3%
1st State Global Emerg Mkts Leaders 3%
1st State Global Resourses 3%
Invesco Perpetual Global Bond 6%
Jupiter Euro Special Situations 4%
L+G All stocks Gilt Index Trust 7%
M+G American (share class x) 6%
M+G Strat corp bond (share class A) 6%
Newton Income 7%
Premier UK money market 5%
Schroder gilt + fixed int 6%
Schroder Tokyo 4%
Standard Life UK Equity Growth 7%
Threadneedle American 6%
Threadneedle UK Property 3%

Does this look a reasonable allocation

Depends if you need to be taking that much risk to achieve the income you are going to need in retirmement. Have pensionlite asked you about that? Have you asked yourself that?

and are the charges within reason

See above

Any IFAs on here think they could beat that I would be willing to talk to you

Im pretty sure thats not going to happen - no IFA worth his salt would use these forums to tout for business.

Iam aware that this is for opinions only and would not constitute advice

See above

lamb1102

The Skandia platform was advised by the IFA (Pensionlite).

The TER of .96% needs to be checked up.

As far as the risk goes, Iam not averse to a bit of risk hopefully for greater returns.
Would you call this High Risk, its supposed to be balanced.

Hope I wasnt questioning anyones integrity by asking any IFAs to beat the quote.
Would it really be touting on their part if they had responded ? Not sure , but if its against the rules, fair enough.

Thanks for your input so far.

wendb69

lamb1102 wrote: »

Im 47 and want to transfer a good sized Phoenix with-profits fund(£323000) into a Skandia CRA. I have had a review and quote from a company called Pensionlite and that is 0.5% initial and 0.5% AMC plus an annual investor charge of £52.32. The TER is 0.96%. This will be a balanced managed selection as follows:

AXA Framlington uk Select opps. 7%
Allianz Pimco Gilt Yield 6%
BlackRock UK Dynamic Income 7%
Cazenove European 4%
Fidelity S.E Asia 3%
1st State Global Emerg Mkts Leaders 3%
1st State Global Resourses 3%
Invesco Perpetual Global Bond 6%
Jupiter Euro Special Situations 4%
L+G All stocks Gilt Index Trust 7%
M+G American (share class x) 6%
M+G Strat corp bond (share class A) 6%
Newton Income 7%
Premier UK money market 5%
Schroder gilt + fixed int 6%
Schroder Tokyo 4%
Standard Life UK Equity Growth 7%
Threadneedle American 6%
Threadneedle UK Property 3%

Does this look a reasonable allocation and are the charges within reason, I feel it is all ok. I dont have the time or knowledge to pick and re-balance so I need to pay for that obviously. Any IFAs on here think they could beat that I would be willing to talk to you. Iam aware that this is for opinions only and would not constitute advice.

Hi there, I work for an IFA in the admin department. I have to say a lot of our clients pensions are transferring in to Skandia (Collective Retirement Account). Have to say, you do look like you have a huge fund selection. Not seen any clients with that amount of fund choice. Happy to pass on details if you need any.

dunstonh

I have to say a lot of our clients pensions are transferring in to Skandia (Collective Retirement Account).

Same here. My own pension is with them as well.

Have to say, you do look like you have a huge fund selection.

It is a abit of a range isnt it. Although the fund is £323,000 so that would explain it.

Does this look a reasonable allocation and are the charges within reason

The charges look fine. You could probably get a tad cheaper but its already at the lower right end of the scale. Make sure the 0.5% includes servicing and rebalancing with no switch charges. For many servicing firms, its the 0.5% that is the value. Not the upfront amount.

The TER is 0.96%

I cant see it being 0.96%. Even if all the natural trail was rebated on that fund selection, it would not be 0.96%

feesarefare

lamb1102 wrote: »

As far as the risk goes, Iam not averse to a bit of risk hopefully for greater returns.
Would you call this High Risk, its supposed to be balanced.

I didnt say what risk I call, I asked is that the level of risk you need to be taking?

Would it really be touting on their part if they had responded ?

Im not sure, but would you want to be taking advice from someone that did you use these forums to tout?

Thanks for your input so far

No problem

feesarefare

dunstonh wrote: »

It is a abit of a range isnt it. Although the fund is £323,000 so that would explain it.

Why does fund size make a difference? If the risk pofiler sets the asset allocation and the adviser picks the funds on a percentage basis the amount shouldnt make a difference?

Then again its another excuse for generating more income further down the line.