Do You Need Financial Advice? When To Get It, When Not To Get It Discussion Area

dunstonh

It is £45 over 1 year. 0.25% of £18000 = £45.

Given the projection rate used is 4.3% that would suggest it is a low risk fund with low potential and therefore low remuneration

tottenhamwin

Over a 10 year period @4.3% the total deductions weigh in at £3760 and the return on my investment is £5700.

This has the same effect as reducing the investment growth from 4.3% a year to 2.7%.

Why are the deductions so high then. Where is the money going?

dunstonh

Why are the deductions so high then. Where is the money going?

The annual management charge. Also, its not high. Its in line with what you would expect.

Savings accounts dont publish their charges. You get given a rate that is net of charges. Although generally the net interest margin is around 1-2% on a savings account. With investments you do not know what the returns are going to be but charges are published and that is what you are seeing. Performance figures on investments though are published net of the annual management charge.

parahandy

I need to restart my company pension - I left for a week then came back, but my pension will be a new type. I can apparently transfer in my previous pension, but to be certain, I am advised to speak to an IFA.

The thing is, it's not like I'm investing money in the traditional sense, so I'm guessing that whoever I go with will charge a fee rather than commission as there is no sum to pay commission on.

Does that make sense?

r-type_2

My experience in trying to find an IFA has been disappointing. When they find out how little I have, they basically tell me it's not worth their while to help me. I find them through the AIFA website, which is also where my CAB pointed me to. This means I now have to be super-vigilant and clued-up on my money matters, which isn't a bad thing in itself but takes up a disproportionate amount of time and stress scrabbling around, and it isn't my field of expertise.

I am 36, and have only recently got a serious work pension fund going, with Fidelity. I have a shares ISA with them as well and a cash ISA with Aldermore. I now find myself hunting around the Fidelity website trying to find the best performing higher-risk funds (to combine with the lower-risk ones) to try and "catch up" on my years of saving less. I would welcome any recommendation of a fee-based IFA for the less-wealthy in east or central London (London! for heaven's sake!) and / or any way to find out more about the various Fidelity funds - I find their website quite poor for tracking performance.

dunstonh

My experience in trying to find an IFA has been disappointing. When they find out how little I have, they basically tell me it's not worth their while to help me.

Unfortunately, the costs of working as an IFA are high. It means that smaller amounts are not cost effective for an IFA to do the transaction or for you to really use an IFA.

The FSA have acknowledged that their rule changes will increase the number of people who will not be able to cost effectively use an IFA and instead will be directed to the banks instead. The FSA sees that as a good thing but then the FSA is pro bank.

I would welcome any recommendation of a fee-based IFA for the less-wealthy in east or central London (London! for heaven's sake!)

There is your problem. You are looking for a city based IFA in the most expensive city.

stanleycooper

I really do need help !! I took out my mortgage 25 years ago with the Halfiax under their Budget House Purchase Plan - which in those days was the name for an Endowment Mortgage. I have since discovered that between the Halfiax the Sun Alliance and the Solicitor the endowment was never set up - and that I have been paying interest only for 25 years !! This is short version of a very complex problem - nobody will admit to making an error and it is falling upon myself to sort it out. I have never missed a payment during this time - never moved home - I do not know where to go for help.

dunstonh

I really do need help !

your subject isnt linked to the topic of this thread though. You would get better help by starting your conversation in the endomwents forum.

I have never missed a payment during this time

based on what you have said, you have missed nearly 25 years of payments.

nobody will admit to making an error

Probably linked to when you took it out as it was pre-regulation. If the solicitor was responsible for setting up the policy then you dont get the protection offered by the FSA. You are effectively out of time to complain. If the lender was responsible then they would consider the complaint but back in those days the Halfax, IIRC, didnt sell the products in-house but referred you to local firms and you would use one of them. That would typically be a solicitor, a broker or what are known today as IFAs. The fact you make reference to a solicitor suggests that is who you used. The insurer only becomes liable if it was one of their agents that you used.

In the scheme of things you are probably financially better off. Rather than have an endowment that hasnt hit target and left you in a shortfall, you have paid less than you should have for 25 years so your personal savings/investments are probably higher because of the surplus income you had that you didnt pay on the endowment (assuming you didnt spend it - although in that case, you had a better lifestyle).

There have been a few cases where the FOS have ruled in favour of the consumer where no endowment was set up. However, you would have to have consumer protection to be able to access the ombudsman and if the solicitor is responsible then you wont get that. You have take some responsibility as well. Nearly 25 years without paying any endowment policy. Yet you never questionned that you were not getting an annual statement or that your mortgage balance wasnt going down. Why did you not raise it earlier?

stanleycooper

Thanks for reply. I was paying an amount to the Sun Alliance but it was not an endowment they had set up - I took out a small loan (roof repairs) about three years after this again on an endowment and the amount they took for the endowment payment was almost the same - I took the query to the Halifax who said that when I had taken out the endowment companies were "fighting for business" so I was lucky to be be paying such a small amount - it transpires this was life insurance linked to the mortgage only. The Halifax did sell the product in house at the time - I have kept all my papers and have full details of their advisor. I used a solicitor for all the conveyancing and again have paperwork.

dunstonh

The Halifax did sell the product in house at the time - I have kept all my papers and have full details of their advisor. I used a solicitor for all the conveyancing and again have paperwork.

Are you sure the person worked for Halifax? In the 80s, it was normal for them to get the local broker to come into the branch and deal with it. From memory, it wasnt until their tie in with Standard Life in the late 80s that they took on responsiblity for the advice given.

If you have all the papers that show it was an endowment assurance, I cant see how they can get out of it. What it sounds like is that they sold a term assurance (that would explain lower premium).

When you complained to Halifax, what was their exact response? That would give a clue as to whether it was they that sold it or a local arrangement?