Financial Advisors / Wealth Managers

etg2

(If there's a better place to ask this question, please let me know)!

I currently have a portfolio of about £250K which is in effect my pension. It is invested mainly in (about 40) funds (via the Hargreaves Lansdown platform). I spend quite a lot of time managing it to try to get a reasonably performance (it isn't a total failure!) but am now fed up with the time it is taking.

Therefore, I now need some guidance on improving the portfolio or, preferably, to ditch the managing of it totally. I guess I therefore need to be looking at appropriate portfolio advice (to get it in order in the short term) or "wealth management". Can anyone recommend good Financial Advisors or Wealth Managers I could approach (or, indeed, any other options)? (I live in Yorkshire if that's relevant)

Thank you in advance.

Rollinghome

Could I ask what makes you think it's been a failure, if not a total failure, and why it's taking so much time?

I've got a fair bit more than that invested but in far fewer than 40 funds. That's a heck of a lot to keep track of. Why do you find it necessary to have so many? I have investments both in individual shares and in funds and don't find the time required to be great. An IFA would typically review a portfolio of funds only once a year.

What tended to concern me when I considered a wealth manager was that the charges were high, especially during a period such as now when returns on capital are likely to be modest, and the performance difficult to quantify.

One of the best known asset managers, Nicola Horlick, I believe charged her clients 1% of assets for her expertise - 9% of which she invested for them in Bernard Madoff's ponzi scheme. (She blamed the US Security and Exchange Commission for the loss.)

So if you do hand over your money to someone else you'll need more than just recommendations from an internet forum. Good luck.

tocsin

ISTR that HL offer an advisory service, and start with a "free" review if you have sufficient dosh to invest.

If it's your pension pot, do you have anything in a SIPP with them? - or another low cost provider - may as well get tax relief working as well.

I'm an HL customer - ISA, funds and SIPP - but manage it all myself

jimjames

I'd also ask why it is taking so long to manage. If it is setup correctly with funds you can effectively leave it to grow or add new funds. Sometimes trading between funds can be the worst thing as it will increase your costs and reduce returns. The only thing you can pretty much guarantee if someone else manages it for you is that it will cost you more in fees than doing it yourself; performance is unlikely to be any better as it is almost impossible for anyone to time the market long term.

I also use the HL Vantage platform and apart from some time when initially setup I have no need to spend any other time on it now. I guess your age may have a bearing but I am 40 and have no plans to draw the funds for 20-25 years.

darkpool

have you considered how much your funds cost you in fees? you might (should) know that a typical fund has about a 1.5% TER (total expense ratio). You might not know that this TER does not include dealing costs etc. These dealing cost will typically be another 1.5% for a UK managed fund.
I would guess you pay 7.5k each year in fees. I personally would suggest you open a nominee account and put 12.5 k into 20 different holdings. That would give you a fairly good exposure to the world economy. After you do that I would largely leave your portfolio alone.
You should obviously move money into an ISA each year.

yelf

You need to find a discretionary management service - available through an IFA if you cant find one direct.

etg2

Many thanks for your reply

Rollinghome wrote: »

Could I ask what makes you think it's been a failure, if not a total failure, and why it's taking so much time?

I'm not considering it a failure, especially as I've 'beaten' the ASX (over 5 yrs) - beginners luck and that is the problem as I know I have too many funds. Monitoring these fairly closely and making occassional changes is what takes the time.

Why do you find it necessary to have so many?

Partly because thats the way its worked out, partially intentional to give a wide spread.

What tended to concern me when I considered a wealth manager was that the charges were high, especially during a period such as now when returns on capital are likely to be modest, and the performance difficult to quantify.

Concerns me to!!

etg2

tocsin wrote: »

ISTR that HL offer an advisory service, and start with a "free" review if you have sufficient dosh to invest.

True - I do intend to follow up their free review.

If it's your pension pot, do you have anything in a SIPP with them?

No SIPP for 'historic' reasons. As my wife is 9 yrs younger than me (I'm 66), I don't really want to transfer (the minimum allowed) into a pension where it would be 'lost' to her (when I'm gone!) despite the tax advantages.

etg2

jimjames wrote: »

I'd also ask why it is taking so long to manage. If it is setup correctly with funds you can effectively leave it to grow or add new funds. Sometimes trading between funds can be the worst thing as it will increase your costs and reduce returns. The only thing you can pretty much guarantee if someone else manages it for you is that it will cost you more in fees than doing it yourself; performance is unlikely to be any better as it is almost impossible for anyone to time the market long term.

I need to draw on the funds intermittently to top up our meagre pensions. I need the funds to give suffficient return to allow for this and inflation, otherwise we're going to finish up 'broke'! Hence, I guess, what I'm looking for is for help in finding a few appropriate long term funds which will give a good spread of investments ((through appropriate types and regions) without me having to decide (second guess!) whether I should be in latin America or gold for example) which will give a good steady return without too much fall in value in the bad times (ie a perfect absolute return fund perhaps!).

etg2

darkpool wrote: »

have you considered how much your funds cost you in fees? you might (should) know that a typical fund has about a 1.5% TER (total expense ratio). You might not know that this TER does not include dealing costs etc. These dealing cost will typically be another 1.5% for a UK managed fund.
I would guess you pay 7.5k each year in fees. I personally would suggest you open a nominee account and put 12.5 k into 20 different holdings. That would give you a fairly good exposure to the world economy. After you do that I would largely leave your portfolio alone.
You should obviously move money into an ISA each year.

Most money is in ISA and there's no more coming in!!

I wouldn't know where to start in choosing any number of holdings and certainly do not wish to find the time to study (let alone understand) company reports! At least by choosing funds with no spread and using a platform with zero up front charges (and tiny annual rebate) the costs of funds are minimised.

etg2

yelf wrote: »

You need to find a discretionary management service - available through an IFA if you cant find one direct.

Can anyone recommend any?