st james place

thedawsy

My Mother has a large sum of money to invest, she has been recommended St James Place do they offer good advice and returns on savings. does anyone have any experience of this company.

Jegersmart

I know a Partner there personally - but I do not use them so have no idea what their track record is but could put you in touch probably. Depending on the size of the investment pot I could also put you in touch with a company who look after HNW portfolios where I know the COO personally. I do not use them either as I don't want any conflict due to personal relationships:)

westy22

Very polished, very expensive, very hard sell, very average performance. IMHO:)

gadgetmind

thedawsy wrote: »

do they offer good advice

They will advise you to use their own products as that's all they are allowed to advise you to do as they are salesmen rather than advisors.

does anyone have any experience of this company.

Yes, lots of personal experience. Find a good IFA and get some fee based advice. Agree fee and what she'll get for it in advance.

crisp

they are one of the most profitable companies per head because of fees fees fees which lazy investors hand them

Totton

I have a friend who invested all of his monies with SJP and he was very happy with them last time that I saw him a few months back. I took a look at them and thought they were expensive for what basically appeared to be variants of funds such as IP Income etc. I wasn't persuaded to contact them myself, I think the advice to get an independent financial adviser is excellent and a much better way to go unless he is confident to pick his own investments.

Regards,
Mickey

adecor

If you are going to an IFA it is always best to choose one that will charge per hour as they are not tied to any particular products so in theory you should get a better deal. This article explains it pretty well together with contact information to help with finding one http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/investment/article1305701.ece

gadgetmind

I was pretty sure that Lloyds ordinaries would dip below 42p this week, so put a buy order in for a chunk at that price. However, despite all the bad news, they haven't yet dipped below 43p, perhaps due to good news like this.

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/St-James-Place-raises-tele-2567295634.html?x=0&.v=1

Iancfp

It would be the worst possible choice

She would be hounded by hard sell salespeople.

She would by products 200%-300% more expensive than average.

Sher would not get proper advice but be invited to choose her own funds (presumably so SJP can refute responsibility).

The fund range is limited and has a great many poor performers

gadgetmind

I once knew a St James's Place salesman. He had a flash house with a huge garage just for his car collection. I'm no petrol head, but I do recall he had a Lamborghini Diablo and a Ferrari F40 in there. All from flogging people pensions, ISAs and insurance !!!!!!!

I was young, and perhaps thinking some of the glamour might rub off on me, did put some business his way. I escaped after a few years, but I'm sure I bought him a new BMW for his wife to drive to the shops.

dunstonh

SJP are polished in presentation but quite limited in what they offer and very very expensive. An IFA can walk all over them as far as product offering is concerned but may not be able to match them with slick presentation material.