Fidelity Multi Manager Growth / Income funds

kedj

You need to take the IFA charges in perspective. Remember that there are still charges to be paid if you invest via a supermarket or discount broker. Typically you might save 2.5% on your initial charge. You will stay pay annual management, some discount this a little. If your IFA has put you in Invesco Perpet Inc, when you would have gone for a tracker yourself then consider the IFA charges as money well spent - its one of my favourite funds too! And Fid Spec Sits has been excellent - though I am probably going to come out of it now myself (maybe, I'm a somewhat slow on that).

I think it is possible to manage your own investments as effectively as some IFAs will do for you - which is why I do my own. But its not without effort. If the subject doesnt interest you anyway, then you probably wont do enough research. So for many people an IFA is going to be the way to go. Just make sure your IFA is giving you the service you expect. For a start, its not too hard to take the list of funds your IFA recommends and check them out. I would also ask how often he is going to review your fund selections and the split - if some funds perform particularly well and some under-perform it can throw your allocations out.

If your IFA gives you a good service, then put your feet up! If you go the DIY route, then be perpared to put some effort into it.

EdInvestor

Ed, your way to tell people how to invest is not good enough.

Actually I don't tell people how to invest.I tell them how to find the relevant information and how to interpret it, so they can decide for themselves how to invest.

So, they can take your "advice" for free if they want or they can pay for a proper IFA or investments manager to do it for them.

Give a man a fishing rod, not a fish.....

dunstonh

Actually I don't tell people how to invest.I tell them how to find the relevant information and how to interpret it, so they can decide for themselves how to invest.

You send them to citywire and tell them to pick a top 10 past performance fund. Thats not helping them. The info can be used in conjunction with other things but picking your funds on the basis of past performance is not good.

GeoH_2

Thanks for all the advice and various views.

I agree with the thought that technically I could pick a MM investment or a group of them and save money on an IFA.

At this point I don’t think that I am getting value for money from my present IFA and have asked him to explain why he is investing my money in a MM rather than select various funds and also funds closer to my acceptable risk levels. (Await his response)

When I commented that £2k a month not being a great sum on its own it might not be but when you total my yearly investments of in excess of £45-50k I would think that I should be getting better service, advice and a more selective fund selection.

I have in the past selected funds and shares myself and I have actually done quite well from them. But I do not have the experience required to select the portfolio that I would require to achieve the returns for when I wish to retire.
I don’t really have the time and the confidence that I could learn the required knowledge and it could be very expensive if I make any or various mistakes.
I would also imagine that I would also need advice with regards tax liabilities.

I am quite willing to pay for the services of an IFA and actually I would not mind paying over the normal odds providing he preformed? And my returns showed this.
The IFA in question actually owns the company so I would think that he gets most or all of the commission etc.
He has also involved me into a wrap account (Transact) that at present I have a few concerns with (i.e. is it worth it). I will raise another thread whit regards this.

Thanks again and all comments welcome.

George

dunstonh

The regulars here know that I will try and support IFAs where I can but will also point out negatives when appropriate....

Wraps are a total waste of money. Any IFA worth their salt is going to be operating software that can act as a wrap at that level. There is no point paying again for the something the IFA can offer free of charge. Of course, if the IFA doesnt operate software that can do the job, then passing the cost onto the client by getting them to pay for the "wrap" is one way of doing it. If you have shares, investment trusts, unit trusts, bonds etc then there could be an arguement for it if you wish to transact yourself but if you are just using unit trust/OEICs then a fund supermarket is fine.

To be fair, the industry is split on its views on wraps. Some think they are the best thing since sliced bread, some (like me) think they are overated and unnecessary and that the fund supermarkets can do the job required and the IFA can use their software to do the rest.

Transact can actually be quite cheap if you have large value assets with them (or family linked as their charges reduce the more value all linked family members have with them. Not joint money but if 5 family members invest 50k with them, they can charges and terms based on £250k).

Another way of putting it is that you have bought a top of range provider/product. Lets pretend its a Ferrari. However, you are probably only going to drive it at 10mph making it really a waste of money. Thats the position you are in with the wrap.

Paying for the IFA is not bad but you need value for money and MM funds are not value for money for the transaction you have done and will be doing (remember my acorns comment? that is you by all accounts).

EdInvestor

dunstonh wrote:

You send them to citywire and tell them to pick a top 10 past performance fund. Thats not helping them. The info can be used in conjunction with other things but picking your funds on the basis of past performance is not good.

Actually I usually direct them to both Citywire and the HL site. There are a limited number of funds out there that are actually worth bothering with - and a fairly small amount of time studying the HL lists and crosschecking with the Citywire top rated ought to lead anyone with a brain in the direction of the best ones.

The missing tool is a calculator to determine attitude to risk.It's very helpful if this can be worked out, as you can eliminate vast swathes of funds immediately.

StevieJ

Edinvestor,

Thanks, you do a great service in pointing out the availabilty of various resources.

How does the man off the street know what type and how good a IFA is?

dunstonh

Pointing people to the top 10 list doesnt help. You have to understand what you are reading to make sense of it. Just because you have the tools doesnt mean you can build a house.

Here is a copy and paste of what Ed has said:

Look at the top 10 funds in your chosen sectors here, for a start:

www.citywire.co.uk/Funds/Home.aspx

You may have heard of the warning "past performance is no indication of future returns". That warning came about because too much money was being invested on the basis of past performance.