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Wealth at Work Investment Strategy
Comments
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thanks for the responces guys, sorry for hopping on Chris's post, but we seem to at a similar crossroads. Given that I probably won't just blow my pension pot in Las Vegas!!, I will be aged 57 at my chosen retirement date in 2012, debt free, no kids, 1 wife ( retired on state pension only), reasonable savings in cash ISA's & 3% bank account. Is now the time to take Independent advise & how might I know if they are really offering me good advise. Sorry for the mistust of all things financial, and I'm sure the professionals adding to the forum have no axe to grind here.0
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Sorry for the mistust of all things financial, and I'm sure the professionals adding to the forum have no axe to grind here.
Just need to remember that things have been getting better progressively over the years. However, its still not perfect. There is a Darwin event coming at the end of 2012 that will effectively get rid of all the low skilled advisers as the qualification levels get pushed up. So, if you do get advice, make sure the person you speak to is going to be there post 2012 (the event is called the retail distribution review or RDR for short). They reckon as many as half of current advisers will cease at that point. Although the more common figure is 30%. To give you an indication of the scale of change, Barclays pulled out of the advice channel a few weeks ago as they realised that they cannot run a salesforce to the higher standards and lower income levels post RDR.
So, when getting advice it is important to make sure the person is there for the long term and meets the requirements post RDR and that they are not just hanging on to make hay while they can until 2013. Ideally, get in with an owner, partner or director of an IFA firm as the chances are they will be there long term plus they are financially liable for the advice they give. Whilst employees are not (the employer is).I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.0 -
Hi Chris1955, my first post, so apologies if I've typed in the wrong space! My husband is about to retire from BT under similar circumstances to yours and we have just had a 1 to 1 with a [EMAIL="W@W"]W@W[/EMAIL] adviser, we wondered what decision you had come to as to whether to invest with [EMAIL="W@W"]W@W[/EMAIL] or did you contact other IFA's? He was certainly a good salesman. Many thanks.0
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Hi Chris1955,
We are in the same position, I'm thinking of retiring from BT and its pretty scary!
We have spoken to the W@W consultant and he gave what we thought was decent advice. His charges, interestingly, are less than we pay to the IFA who sold us a share ISA.
Indeed, like a lot of people, we've used IFAs before and I'm sad to say we have never had a good experience. We think we are between a rock and a hard place as we don't believe we can invest ourselves to give us the best return.
So while I am sure this firm is in it for the money, so are all the other IFAs.
We are going to examine the report produced for us carefully, check the agreement even more carefully and check with the Financial Ombusman what protection we have and then make a decision.
I hope this helps, I don't think there is any easy answer here.0 -
Interesting press release on W@W.
Wealth at Work has appointed Leslie Huss-Smickler as head of retirement services.
Huss-Smickler has more than 30 years of experience in the pensions industry. His former roles include pensions manager at the BBC and pensions policy manager at BT.0
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