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Drop in well paid using IFA's
Comments
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I presume I already am.
And if I am not, I certainly would not want to pick up any of your bad habits along the way.0 -
Blimey gadgetmind, are you feeling alright today?
I have my criticisms of the financial services industry (you might have noticed!) and I've had dealings with a few IFAs with experiences that ranged from "meh" to "what!", but I'm a facts person, and I'm more than prepared to change my position in the light of new facts.
If others use rhetoric and insults rather than facts, then I risk being tarred with the same brush (to use what seems to be the IFA's favourite 'phrase!) and I'd rather avoid that.You'll start being accused of being an evil IFA if you keep on that tack
I've been called worse, and some of it was even true.Somebody must have slipped something in my tea this afternoon...
Maybe Sodium Pentothal, now that would be scary!
I am not a financial adviser and neither do I play one on television. I might occasionally give bad advice but at least it's free.
Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them.0 -
It didn`t flop, looking back over that period, money in a fixed rate account did better than ANY WP Bond because the minute you want to get your money out there was up to 20% MVR to consider.
I don`t know what you find so hard to understand about this.
Look 2010 - you made a bad investment decision because With-Profits bonds flopped in general.
However, I understand that it's easy to say this in hindsight because With-Profits as a concept worked well until the mid 80s (when actuaries started chasing Unit-Linked type returns) so it was still a valid option. Not for me, because they're too opaque for my liking, but I can understand why an inexperienced investor may choose one.
However, none of this is relevant to an IFA as you didn't seek advice from one; you don't KNOW what they would have recommended. You have not put any evidence forward in defence of your assertions and you're just using it as an opportunity to take a cheap shot at advisers
Some people are capable of DIY investing and good luck to them. For those without the knowledge, time or inclination to DIY they need an adviser. They also need to pay for that adviser's knowledge, time and experience. Just like in ANY other profession, there are good advisers and bad advisers - papers don't like reporting on the good ones though, do they?
Do you work for free? Are you willing to put your head above the parapet and let us know what you do for a living?0 -
What adviser?
This is exactly the point I`m making on this thread.
There is no need to go to an IFA and get ripped off and give them fat upfront, ongoing commission for something you can simply DIY, as I did.
I never used a rip off IFA, I researched well known companies WP bonds, narrowed it down to four, did a bit more inquiring, made my decision which one and went to an execution only broker.
Something isn't right here. In this post you say you did all your own research, didn't use an IFA but used an execution only broker.
Did execution only brokers exist back in 2000?
Then looking back at your Aviva WP bond thread in 2010, you state in this post that your FA took something every year for selling you the policy in the first place.It`s not done as well as a simple, straight forward fixed rate savings account that I`ve mentioned in at least two previous posts.
(a 5 year fixed followed by another 5 year fix)
If it wasn`t for the three special bonuses it would have been a great deal worse.
Not forgetting it was sheer luck that these bonuses were paid during the life time of my bond.
Also there`s the five years of charges that were taken for the so called running of the fund.
Plus whatever the FA`s take is every year for selling the policy in the first place.
If it wasn`t for the 10 year no-MVR, the returns would have been dire and a good deal less than a simple fixed rate savings account, where the money could have been released at the five and the ten year period and no 15% snatched from it.
These are the plain facts and that`s why I`m getting out now on the 10th anniversary and will never,ever invest in the same or similar again.
Then only last month, you say the IFA who sold you the bond.I had a with-profits bond with (in the end) Aviva which didn`t pay a final bonus when I cashed it in on the 10th anniversary.
Luckily I had a clause in mine with no MVR penalty at the ten year mark, so I could escape penalty free.
Bear in mind sometimes the MVR is as high as 20% plus.
I would have been better off just putting the lump sum into an ordinary fixed bond for five years and repeating the same again, with any of the banks or building societies, with no risk attached whatsoever.
Also the IFA who originally sold me the WP bond would not have got his cut every year and I would not have had annual management charges either.
I would advise anyone thinking about taking out such products
NOT TO.
Dunstonh can huff and puff as much as he wants but he does have a vested interest to pretend these products are the best thing since sliced bread and seems to ignore real life policyholders opinions such as those expressed in the linked article, where basically they say they are crap.
I have given you my real experience of these products but at the end of the day "a fool and his money are easily parted" by a persuasive, commissioned tongue.
I must also add that at the time I took my bond out in 2000, the MVR was mentioned but they said at the time "the MVR has NEVER EVER been used".
Oh, how times have changed, it`s now a permanent feature.
So was it an FA, an IFA or DIY?
I would guess at tied FA in a bank.0 -
Something isn't right here. In this post you say you did all your own research, didn't use an IFA but used an execution only broker.
Did execution only brokers exist back in 2000?
Then looking back at your Aviva WP bond thread in 2010, you state in this post that your FA took something every year for selling you the policy in the first place.
Then only last month, you say the IFA who sold you the bond.
So was it an FA, an IFA or DIY?
I would guess at tied FA in a bank.
2010 :
0 -
Look 2010 - you made a bad investment decision because With-Profits bonds flopped in general.
Just like in ANY other profession, there are good advisers and bad advisers - papers don't like reporting on the good ones though, do they?
If you say WP flopped in general, you`re more or less admitting that the millions that were recommended and sold by IFA was bad advice and they got it as wrong as the next man.
Although they wouldn`t be that concerned because they still got the big commission.
After all it was just someone else`s money they were playing with.
Finally at long last you`ve admitted there are actually BAD IFA.0 -
If you say WP flopped in general, you`re more or less admitting that the millions that were recommended and sold by IFA was bad advice and they got it as wrong as the next man.
Although they wouldn`t be that concerned because they still got the big commission.
After all it was just someone else`s money they were playing with.
Finally at long last you`ve admitted there are actually BAD IFA.
Of course there are bad IFAs just like any other profession, including YOURS. There are also GOOD ones.
Just because an investment doesn't perform, it doesn't automatically follow that it was bad advice. Investment comes with risk and you have to be accepting of the risks otherwise you shouldn't be investing.
2010, you've been proven to be a liar with an obvious anti-IFA agenda so don't think there's much more to say, is there?0 -
If you say WP flopped in general, you`re more or less admitting that the millions that were recommended and sold by IFA was bad advice and they got it as wrong as the next man.
That isn't what was said. What happened was the WP bonds begain to fail (or at last deliver poorly) because markets fell so heavily they didn't smooth enough, then there was the whole Guarantees thing which bankrupted them.
I am not sure anyone could have forseen all the things that happened in that market, given they had done so very well before.
And FAs sold more of them than IFAs I am sure. As probably happened in your case.0 -
Just because an investment doesn't perform, it doesn't automatically follow that it was bad advice.
The new post-RDR rules will really change things.
Currently you have to be told, "Please remember the value of your investment can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invested."
Post-RDR will require, "Go! Run! Leave now while you still have the chance!" I am not a financial adviser and neither do I play one on television. I might occasionally give bad advice but at least it's free.
Like all religions, the Faith of the Invisible Pink Unicorns is based upon both logic and faith. We have faith that they are pink; we logically know that they are invisible because we can't see them.0
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