Seen IFA, But also seen neg comments on here...

Aegis

darkpool wrote: »

sorry, i should have made clear that i consider the fund provider etc as part of the "IFA industry"

Then you're still wrong. In any case, IFAs and fund managers are very separate parts of the financial industry. Your comment is somewhat akin to saying that you consider farmers to be supermarkets: it's nonsensical.

we can all agree that the OP would pay 3% to the fund management industry with this investment.

No, we can't. The 3% includes fees which are not paid to either the IFA or the fund manager.

so the average returns would have to be over 6% before the OP got more from her money than she gave away each year in fees.

obviously the 6% returns would have to be after inflation. do you think real returns on the next 15 years will be over 6%?

We can at least agree on this, the fees are too high in this case and a better deal should be sought.

darkpool

Aegis wrote: »

No, we can't. The 3% includes fees which are not paid to either the IFA or the fund manager.

but the 3% still comes out the investors pocket...

bossymoo

Wanted to thank you all, am really glad I posted. Can't see that investment paying for two kids to get through uni in 15yrs (or whatever).

When you factor in inflation, I might as well wallpaper the house with it...

Aegis

darkpool wrote: »

but the 3% still comes out the investors pocket...

So? If you're calling everything that comes out of the investor's pocket a charge paid to the "IFA industry", then you presumably think that whenever you buy something the VAT is a profit for the retailer because it's out of your pocket.

JohnRo

For what it's worth I made the mistake of signing up to advice from an IFA who had dealt with other members of the family for many years, a perfectly reasonable and (slightly over) friendly chap who was also quite happy to discuss matters at length and reassure me when questioned, without being at all pushy.

It wasn't a great time for me when I signed up, my dad had recently died and the majority of the money I wanted investing was inheritance. I also consider myself reasonably savvy and have never had debt problems. I just couldn't face scrabbling over the mountain of investment knowledge I felt I'd need to do the job properly myself and then risk losing a large chunk of it to my incompetence, so opted to trust their professional advice and take it at face value.

With hindsight my single biggest mistake was not seeking a second or even third opinion at the time so if you at least take that step, which seems the case, then you're well on your way.

I'm reluctant to act like a cheerleader but all I'll say is you could do far, far worse than talk to the obvious candidate in here.

This is my story for what it may or may not be worth. https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3213742

It turned out to be an extremely fortuitous exchange, I have to give credit where it's due, I received a truly staggering amount of help that restored both my finances and more importantly my peace of mind, it also restored my appreciation of just what a good IFA can do.

You'll always find the DIY brigade bashing IFAs but if you don't want to spend the rest of your life obsessed with money and constantly running in front of an express train, to maintain your unofficial investment career while trying to preserve your wealth, then a good IFA can make life a whole lot easier for a lot less than many would like to have you believe.

atush

Very interesting read John.

Did the advisor ever admit he had only just made the suitability report?

JohnRo

He never did, I concluded my copy was an electronic copy of their paper copy.

I was never provided with the hard paper copy though. He did give me some crap about it being a draft copy that should have never been sent but by that stage I was pursuing an exit strategy so it hardly mattered and I didn't press them to provide the real thing.

Looking back I could quite easily have made a lot of trouble for him, really a whole lot. I'm not vindictive though and told him at the time I wasn't looking to make trouble for him but that I just wanted the fair deal I should have received initially, with a lot of help I eventually got one.

He also never once accepted the fees were excessive, maintaining 7% was "market average" for that type of investment.

That said the very last conversation I had with him was about RDR and how it would affect them, he admitted they're looking at dropping their commission rate to 4% and I think expected me to be impressed. Needless to say I wasn't, by this time I'd heard all I wanted to from them and moved on.

jem16

JohnRo wrote: »

That said the very last conversation I had with him was about RDR and how it would affect them, he admitted they're looking at dropping their commission rate to 4% and I think expected me to be impressed.

After RDR there won't be a commission rate so that seems an odd thing to say.

JohnRo

jem16 wrote: »

After RDR there won't be a commission rate so that seems an odd thing to say.

hmm, it may have been their fee, I forget (and hardly care )

fairleads

Aegis wrote: »

So? If you're calling everything that comes out of the investor's pocket a charge paid to the "IFA industry", then you presumably think that whenever you buy something the VAT is a profit for the retailer because it's out of your pocket.

You just don't get it do you. Spade Hole Deeper.