Hargreaves Lansdown marketing just a load of rubbish?

almondsalty

masonic wrote: »

Agreed, but I think the issue at hand here is neither of those things, but deceptive marketing. It is certainly fair to slag off a company for steering its customers towards products that pay higher commission and pretending that those products have been selected because they are best for the customer. However farcical the claims behind the Wealth 150 may appear to you, some people will believe them and those people are being misled.

This is exactly the point and is very well summarised. When I first looked at the lists and received all the mails months ago, I was unsuspecting too like many investors. However after a while it was all becoming clear, with a lot of extra research.

darkpool

blinko wrote: »

I do think that some people will look at the wealth 150 and think its best for them although I do thjink its pretty obvious that they are hand picked in HL best interests.

So people come on here and bleat on about the good impartial advice that IFAs give. Then it turns out the biggest firm of IFA's in the UK are recommending funds that pay the highest commission?

Reaper

darkpool wrote: »

So people come on here and bleat on about the good impartial advice that IFAs give. Then it turns out the biggest firm of IFA's in the UK are recommending funds that pay the highest commission?

HL are not an IFA firm (though they have an advisory section). The Wealth 150 is not an IFA giving advice. In their words:

The Wealth 150 is designed for people who would like to choose their own funds. It does not constitute a personal recommendation. As well as the Wealth 150, we also offer a range of multi-manager funds which allow you to leave the choice of underlying funds to our experts, and should you have any doubts as to the suitability of an investment for your circumstances please contact our Financial Practitioners for individual advice.

darkpool

Reaper wrote: »

HL are not an IFA firm (though they have an advisory section). The Wealth 150 is not an IFA giving advice. In their words:

They won the best IFA - What Investment in 2010

As soon as a company uses a word like "wealth" in advertising it implies that the funds have the HL seal of approval.

Lokolo

darkpool wrote: »

They won the best IFA - What Investment in 2010

As soon as a company uses a word like "wealth" in advertising it implies that the funds have the HL seal of approval.

They have an IFA Advice department, but as a whole HL are not an IFA.

http://www.hl.co.uk/advice

jimjames

darkpool wrote: »

They won the best IFA - What Investment in 2010

As soon as a company uses a word like "wealth" in advertising it implies that the funds have the HL seal of approval.

I think it is clear from all the material on their website and elsewhere that the Wealth 150 list does have the HL seal of approval. That doesn't mean that it is advice.

Jegersmart

I am with Fidelity right now and have been eyeing HL for a while - mainyl due to the Fidelity 0.25% dealing costs when switching fund allocations - I am fairly actively managing my exposure. As the charges and discounts are not very apparent what I am trying to compare is the fact that I get a 0.15-0.2% discount on all fund management charges for being a Fidelity Wealth client but I do pay delaing costs as mentioned - and I am finding it hard to get my head round what annual charges apply and which don't etc.....anyone in the same position or have used both comapnies and have a comparison?

TIA

blinko

almondsalty wrote: »

As many people have stated, it is not 'pretty obvious' for many people that these funds are picked in HL's best interests as you stated. And is it really 'right' for a company to be stating that they have been picked based on the customers best interests if they haven't? Especially a FTSE 100 PLC company? Your posts have been full of HL praise from years ago since you joined, your posting times are very corporate too ie. 8AM in the morning and not on weekends. This is very suspicious and one must ask why HL is on your mind in the first thing in the morning?

you have 50 posts and 50% of your ENTIRE posts are slagging of HL

Listen to you, corporate posts, HL employee. You really have nothing better to do than slag of HL and try and discredit people who punch holes in your weak arguments

at the end of the day they have the cheapest access to funds for that the majority of people want.

If you don't like them don't use them, but don't make up usernames purely to slag them off as previously stated you have 50 posts and you 50% of your postings are slagging of HL

blinko

almondsalty wrote: »

This is exactly the point and is very well summarised. When I first looked at the lists and received all the mails months ago, I was unsuspecting too like many investors. However after a while it was all becoming clear, with a lot of extra research.

How on earth did you plan to make an investment and do NO RESEARCH. If you bought into poor funds this is entirely your own fault and you and only you are to blame.

I think if another provider had a "wealth 150" eg fidelity etc you would simply be slagging them off complaining that its not independent.

But at the end of the day, You didn't research and you should count yourself very lucky that you got away VERY lightly.

If you had gone direct etc you would have paid 5% initial charges etc, so all in all you learnt a very valuable lesson at a very cheap price.

But as I mentioned before this is not a reason to slag HL off because you didn't research !!!

almondsalty

blinko wrote: »

But as I mentioned before this is not a reason to slag HL off because you didn't research !!!

Once again you fail to understand the point that has been raised by multiple people. This is a matter of deception and potentially false advertising, not purely under-researching. The Wealth 150 says it represents what they believe to the best funds and classes them as 'superior alternatives'. It is claimed that this selection is made on complex models and rigorous selection process, but it is quite clear that myself, you and others do not believe this to be the case. Therefore it can be classed as very deceptive, not everyone is aware of this and deserves to know.

And 'look at you', way back in 2005 you were spamming Hargreaves Lansdown URL asking for people to 'sign you up', and over half a decade later, you are fighting for them on these boards like a lion.

The key question is why do you feel so passionate about HL? There just has to be some affiliation here because you are clearly pumped. With many of your comments, it sound as if you are talking on their behalf, 'you are very lucky you got away lightly'. And for the record, everyone's username is 'made up' on this forum, I do not believe your real name is Blinko LOL.

We all know HL has done a very good job in discounting initial charges and being efficient. But this is purely a topic based on their marketing.