IFA Charges

Neverland

dunstonh wrote: »

And trolls like you will just blame IFAs for anything and everything. Did an IFA run off with your wife? Is that why you have such a chip on your shoulder?

I don't people like being ripped off

martinwh

I'd avoid the Metlife contract. Charges are outrageous. About 3.5% PA before IFA remuneration. On a £100K fund thats £3500 per annum. Plus, hidden in their terms and conditions are a whole load of get out clauses and ability to switch the guaranteed fund form equities to cash (you could end up paying 3.5% pa for a cash fund). This is purely a guarantee for as long as Metlife want to provide it. If market turmoil returned akin to 2008/2009, Metlife can easily reduce their risk at your expense (something they woul dnot hesitate to do).

DavidLaGuardia

Neverland wrote: »

I don't people like being ripped off

I don't think most IFAs like people being ripped off either. The idea is that they should make a living facillitating a service that people would not otherwise do on their own. You need also to distinguishn between what different IFAs offer

Being a good DIY investor tkaes a lot of input and sorting out a lot of chaff from the wheat in all the information out there. It's hard work and you often discover too late that some "pearls of wisdom" you read somewhere were rubbish or that your own success was down to luck rather than making a good decision.

Without advisers, most people's idea of savings andi nvestment would stop at cash accounts and only the wealth and informed would make money off the wealth creation system.

Equally there are many Bank advisers and IFAs and Products who are not worth it, but that applies to anything in life and business.

dunstonh

Cash and/or Retirement Protection Funds are there as (supposedly) extremely low risk havens when people want to protect what they have built up. What is there to research?

A good example of this is Arch Cru. That was marketed by the provider as low risk (as low as cash). Yet it is treated as high risk and the provider lied. or you have Rockingham and their marketing (which included spamming on this website) where they said it was low risk. It was not. All advisers that relied on the provider and are now going to be suffering compensation claims for their lack of due diligence.

bigfreddiel

dunstonh wrote: »

And trolls like you will just blame IFAs for anything and everything. Did an IFA run off with your wife? Is that why you have such a chip on your shoulder?

funniest post i've read all week - but we all know neverland's posts reflect what we all think about ifa's and i'm sure if an ifa did run off with someones partner there would be loads of trail commision to pay not too mention a setting up fee - hehehehehe!

srcandas

Just my thoughts but I do think some IFAs make life hard for themselves. What is needed is a clear service definition including:

administration service
knowledge of option mechanics service
advice and research investment service

But being transparent seems alien to the whole finance industry.

A few days ago I had an initial visit by an IFA (2 hours of his time). He showed me his planning spreadsheet model where if you could guess the price of the things I needed in 20 years time he could predict when money would run out. Then he could change the model and tell me how many more years I needed to work!

He very helpfully answered several questions on my pensions and options (logistics, not advice).

I have no idea what he could do for me or what it would cost. His next request is to be given access to and review all my pensions (at no cost).

I'm grateful for his free input though. I did offer beforehand to pay for his time but he insisted not.

And one final thing from the posts above I am a bit confused by "IFA researching funds". If your future is tied to the performance of one fund surely that is madness. If you have your wealth stretched across your propery, numerous ISA/pension funds, and cash (possibly in ISAs) the worth of such advise, as good as it may be, is greatly reduced (not to zero but reduced).

I'm not against paying for advice (as noted by my failed attempts to pay the IFA above) but the price must be demonstrable as being of good value.

It seems the system is currently designed to be totally indemonstrable and this I believe is why IFAs have in general such bad press.

On the advice front it reminds me of the author of the book entitled "How to be millionaire". If the author knew he wouldn't be writing the book, unless of course the answer is "Write a book called ........."

dunstonh

It seems the system is currently designed to be totally indemonstrable and this I believe is why IFAs have in general such bad press.

IFAs in general dont have bad press. A few negative posters on here and the odd article from time to time about one indivdual or firm but most of the issues in the press are about FAs.

On the advice front it reminds me of the author of the book entitled "How to be millionaire". If the author knew he wouldn't be writing the book, unless of course the answer is "Write a book called ........."

I'm not sure how an IFA can make you a millionaire unless you are already close to being one.

[And one final thing from the posts above I am a bit confused by "IFA researching funds". If your future is tied to the performance of one fund surely that is madness/QUOTE]

It is unless it is a portfolio fund. If it is a single sector fund then that is bad investing typically.

srcandas

dunstonh wrote: »

IFAs in general dont have bad press. A few negative posters on here and the odd article from time to time about one indivdual or firm but most of the issues in the press are about FAs.

Dunston it was based on your excellent contribution here that I felt an IFA should be able to offer me something. I am after all at a point in my life where I'm beginning to take pensions (reluctantly), have a younger wife who has some time to go and money to invest, a business with spare cash, .....

I guess my frustration is that normally in life successful businesses know how to define the benefits they offer and can quickly conclude where no business exists. They further can tell me the benefits and justify a cost against such benefits.

The IFAs I have met and read about seem unable to do so.

I guess my background doesn't help. My small company does IT load testing for large private and public sector orgs. We visit for up to half a day to understand the problem and the objectives. We then respond with a detailed proposal stating what can be done, how it will be done, how in house resources can integrate, and the full cost and timescales.

The IFA who visited me I believe after three emails, two telephone conversations and two hours in my house still cannot even define a service that might offer me benefit.

And some say I should do the same with two or three more IFAs before choosing one. Will I be clearer? I'm not sure and life is too short.

Yup I'm aware of the "let's kill IFAs brigade" and take little notice but at the same time there are numerous people here, and in other places, who are very suspicious of IFA based services that they have and are experiencing. Even if nothing is amiss should the industry not worry about this?

But c'est la vie if you don't mind I'll carry on with taking on board you enlightenment here :beer:, making sure I have a "wide spread" strategy to key wealth, and enjoying the gamble with the small punts I have in Fid and Hl. (The latter who's service desk I find can clearly define their services and answer my questions - even if the answers may be a little hl biased ).

dunstonh

I guess my frustration is that normally in life successful businesses know how to define the benefits they offer and can quickly conclude where no business exists. They further can tell me the benefits and justify a cost against such benefits.

The IFAs I have met and read about seem unable to do so.

The problem is that until the IFA knows a bit about your circumstances, personality and requirements, they wont know if they have something to offer or not. For some people, they may not be able to offer anything. For others they will be what they offer one may be very different to what they offer another.

I guess my background doesn't help. My small company does IT load testing for large private and public sector orgs. We visit for up to half a day to understand the problem and the objectives. We then respond with a detailed proposal stating what can be done, how it will be done, how in house resources can integrate, and the full cost and timescales.

It appears that the company knows they have a problem or certain objectives but dont know how to achieve them. Most clients IFAs get dont know they have a problem or dont know what an IFA can do for them and nor will the IFA until they find out the information first.

The IFA who visited me I believe after three emails, two telephone conversations and two hours in my house still cannot even define a service that might offer me benefit.

It could be the IFA isnt sure there is one and is looking at the areas to see where there is.

And some say I should do the same with two or three more IFAs before choosing one. Will I be clearer? I'm not sure and life is too short.

I dont see the point of that unless you are looking for a particular service from an IFA and need one that can provide that service (remember that the term "IFA" covers multiple business models and services. Not all provide the same).

Yup I'm aware of the "let's kill IFAs brigade" and take little notice but at the same time there are numerous people here, and in other places, who are very suspicious of IFA based services that they have and are experiencing. Even if nothing is amiss should the industry not worry about this?

Many are new posters who have probably been attracted by google searches and found the posts here. The reality does not add up. Even thehead of the FOS has said that reality does not match perception when it comes to quality. IFAs also suffer badly from FAs. Research has found that over half those seeing FAs actually think they are seeing an IFA. FAs are the cause of most of the damage in reputation over the years. I would never try to claim perfection and there are certain types of IFA that I would tell you to avoid (estate agent based ones and salesforce based ones) but the key thing to take is that you may not need an IFA at this time. So, let the IFA dig around and if he does find something then fair enough, if not, then also fair enough.