Standard Life Wraps - any comments?

robbieroy

jem16 wrote: »

When are you deferring the tax till?

From the figures you sent me, you are a higher rate taxpayer this tax year as you were working but from April you will become a basic rate taxpayer and not near the age related allowance reduction.

Hi - please see PM
RR

robbieroy

dunstonh wrote: »

The use of an international portfolio bond for just £90k would be interesting. Has a cost/tax analysis been done comparing the bond to unit trusts/OEICs? (another thing you would expect). Bonds have pros and cons. They can be better suited to larger investors (higher rate taxpayers or those that use their annual CGT allowance). However, for others they can be less effective. You would "expect" a comparison showing bond vs OEIC on like for like basis to see which comes out best. Sometimes there can be a crossover point where one starts better but the other gets better later. Ideally this should also take into account things like bed&ISA. e.g. you have £90k for the bond, if there are two of you then £20,400 a year can be placed in the ISA. So, within 5 years, the whole lot be moved into the ISA (bed & ISA is the move from OEIC to ISA). Servicing advisers will obviously look towards doing that whereas transactional advisers will not. The bond can be a bit "transactional" at times as you are limited on what you can take out and that can prevent feeding the annual ISA allowance. You may have other funds to do that each year though.

Never be afraid to ask to see why an option is considered best. Bond vs OEIC is a very common comparison and I would guess that less than 20% of cases should go down the bond route. So, when you are being recommended the bond option (the minority option) its worth asking why.

Thanks again for this - unfortunately I was out by the the time you reply was posted and I had a meeting with the IFA in the afternoon so I did not get a chance to ask.
Rather than air the details here, if you are interested, I would be happy to give you further info via a PM as I did with jem16
RR