Drawdown Providers

I_love_the_sun

I currently have an Income Drawdown with Winterthur.

I have no issues with them other than they provide no financial information on investment choices, I subscribe to Investment Weekly and use various web sites for investment advice, including Hargreaves Landsdowne.

Can the experts on here advise me of a company that may have lower charges than Winterhur.

I have c£300K invested with them.

Regards

PS from reading the small print on my Winterhur policy I can find no reference of fees for changing my USP provider.

dunstonh

Can the experts on here advise me of a company that may have lower charges than Winterhur.

Most platform pensions can achieve lower charges. The biggest drawdown provider could probably have lower charges. However, without context, its hard to say as we dont know how you are investing and the terms you have.

Gatser

I_love_the_sun wrote: »

I currently have an Income Drawdown with Winterthur.
I have no issues with them other than they provide no financial information on investment choices, I subscribe to Investment Weekly and use various web sites for investment advice, including Hargreaves Landsdowne.
Can the experts on here advise me of a company that may have lower charges than Winterhur.
I have c£300K invested with them.
Regards
PS from reading the small print on my Winterhur policy I can find no reference of fees for changing my USP provider.

How many funds / investment choices do they offer?
What are their charges?

Iancfp

Winterthur mostly operate via IFAs you should be able to get all the info via your adviser (they send me huge book every month)

I_love_the_sun

I do not have an IFA for investment guidance.

I have spent a few hours this afternoon looking at the charges of Winterthur v. Hargreaves Lansdowne on the funds I hold.

With HL's annual charges/loyalty bonus I would be about £700 a year better off by switching to them.

Regards all

Iancfp

You should go to IFA HL are very expensive when you properly factor in fund costs I have never come across a case where HL could not be undercut by serious amount

dunstonh

(they send me huge book every month)

My copy goes straight in the bin.

I have spent a few hours this afternoon looking at the charges of Winterthur v. Hargreaves Lansdowne on the funds I hold.

With HL's annual charges/loyalty bonus I would be about £700 a year better off by switching to them.

An IFA should be able to match or beat HL. HL keep the 0.5% trail commission but do nothing for it. Have a word with your IFA if you want to change contract and see what they can do.

Remember when comparing charges that with HL you need to compare the TER with the AMC on the pension. Pension funds use the TER. HL use the AMC but also display the TER.

I_love_the_sun

Thank you guys, in that case Winterthur (my funds were placed in Winterthur by an IFA) must be very expensive!!

Some of the annual fund charges from HL are lower that Winterthur (I thought these were fixed) and at leat you get the loyalty bonus with HL.

From my records Winterthur also keep the trial commision.

So if not HL, who do you recomend I take a look at?

Regards

jamesd

For lowest costs, Skandia is a possibility. Fee basis for setup, without ongoing advice, should save you £1500 a year compared to HL if you're not using low cost tracker funds. So plenty of money saved there to pay an IFA fee to get it set up.

I_love_the_sun

Thank you jamesd for answeing my question.

Are there any other companies like Skandia out there?

Regards all

mania112

to be clear, HL aren't a provider, they're an IFA too. Probably not very independant to be honest.

If you're talking about charges of the funds, then the provider probably isn't the problem, it's the funds you're invested in? Will the fund charges improve with a new provider? (questions for an IFA to work out if you're not confident talking to providers directly)

Winterthur are great for Drawdown, so there's no reason to move, if you're in the Elite range, performance outweighs charges (not a guarantee tho obviously!)

Most Pension Providers carry a Drawdown product. It would make sense for a provider to look after you while you're saving then again when you retire.

in summary, charges alone are largely irrelevant. It needs to be incorporated into a charges v performance equation.

in my opinion!