IFA home visit re Pension/ISA

dunstonh

gadgetmind wrote: »

In the same way that BMW dealers don't charge you for the coffee nor the smoked glass nor the chrome.

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

Although Skandia platform was pretty dirt cheap until recently. You could get the blackrock class D trackers for £68.50 a year.

Aegis

gadgetmind wrote: »

In the same way that BMW dealers don't charge you for the coffee nor the smoked glass nor the chrome.

There's no such thing as a free lunch.

I agree with you, the cost of the rebalancing service is included in the cost of the service. I'm not claiming that it's absolutely free, only that it's free IF you already use the platform (i.e. it's a built-in feature of the platform, more akin to the BMW's rear view mirror or brakes than the coffee in the showroom).

Definitely not a free lunch by any stretch of the imagination!

dunstonh

feesarefare wrote: »

But rebalancing isn't really a service is it? I wouldn't pay for a mechanic to pump my tyres up with a foot pump?

You dont have to pay for it. There will be plenty of things that you do that many people wont need to pay for either. Same as any other adviser. However, some will prefer to pay to get it done.

I would disagree on the fact that rebalancing isn't a service. It is. As is any task or service you employ someone else to do something for you.

Aegis

feesarefare wrote: »

But rebalancing isn't really a service is it? I wouldn't pay for a mechanic to pump my tyres up with a foot pump?

Why wouldn't it be a service?

Aegis

feesarefare wrote: »

How is it a service worth paying for?

Hang on, I don't recall ever claiming that it was a service worth paying for. In fact, I specifically stated that it was available as an effective "freebie" for someone already using certain platforms, which is as it should be.

As such, it's a marginally-free service if someone is already on a platform, or it could be considered as a beneficial platform feature when recommending a new investment portfolio for a client, which might influence the selection slightly, but not if the cost were going to increase significantly just to access such a service (whether it was worth having at all would depend on whether the client wanted an ongoing relationship with his adviser or simply a one-off recommendation for an investment he might want to throw money into periodically - with the former a rebalancing service would be largely pointless, as the ongoing reviews would cover the recommendation to rebalance, if applicable).

gadgetmind

dunstonh wrote: »

Although Skandia platform was pretty dirt cheap until recently. You could get the blackrock class D trackers for £68.50 a year.

Yes, you could theoretically get them, but what IFA fees would you then need to add?

Maybe I didn't push hard enough, or ask the right questions, but it seemed that the only way to get my fees down was to ditch Skandia and IFA.

dunstonh

gadgetmind wrote: »

Yes, you could theoretically get them, but what IFA fees would you then need to add?

Maybe I didn't push hard enough, or ask the right questions, but it seemed that the only way to get my fees down was to ditch Skandia and IFA.

DIY should be cheaper than IFA. With an IFA you are paying for advice and distribution. When you dont get advice, you should only have to pay for distribution. So, if you want to save costs then you have to cut out the adviser. However, not everything available to the DIY market is cheaper. You know what you are doing but we have seen cases on here where people clearly do not and end up paying more thinking that they are paying less.

Robin_Jackson

jem16 wrote: »

What age are you now? When you talk of growth for another 20 years, what retiral age are you thinking of? 55, 60, 65?

Im 38, started saving in a Pension at 22 initially at about £140 per month-thats £300 from March this year. I'm self employed so the government does that percentage included in that £300 figure. Im aiming to retire at 55 but it could be put back, as my business
runs itself the bigger it gets so I should/could have that income too.

I initially invested in ISA's which an IFA 'looked after' to the point where they'd halved in value. My remaining ISA was initially 14k (the maximum at that time) but its now £11,400. I like the Pension because at least it only seems to go up!

I'll re ead all the replies in more depth later but the jiist Im getting is look after the ISA myself, keep the Pension and ditch the IFA?

lol - I'm bracing myself for being told I've messed all this up!

Lokolo

Robin_Jackson wrote: »

Im 38, started saving in a Pension at 22 initially at about £140 per month-thats £300 from March this year. I'm self employed so the government does that percentage included in that £300 figure. Im aiming to retire at 55 but it could be put back, as my business
runs itself the bigger it gets so I should/could have that income too.

I initially invested in ISA's which an IFA 'looked after' to the point where they'd halved in value. My remaining ISA was initially 14k (the maximum at that time) but its now £11,400. I like the Pension because at least it only seems to go up!

I'll re ead all the replies in more depth later but the jiist Im getting is look after the ISA myself, keep the Pension and ditch the IFA?

lol - I'm bracing myself for being told I've messed all this up!

If you want to do that then it's fine but you have to make the decisions on how you want to invest. So it is up to you to learn about ISAs, Funds, Asset Allocation, Shares etc.

And it's unlikely the pension "just keeps going up". The last 5 years have had dramatic changes in the markets. Depending on when you invested in the ISA it could have been exceptionally bad timing. Just look at LLOY over 5 year period: https://www.google.co.uk/finance?client=ob&q=LON:LLOY

Linton

Robin_Jackson wrote: »

Im 38, started saving in a Pension at 22 initially at about £140 per month-thats £300 from March this year. I'm self employed so the government does that percentage included in that £300 figure. Im aiming to retire at 55 but it could be put back, as my business
runs itself the bigger it gets so I should/could have that income too.

I initially invested in ISA's which an IFA 'looked after' to the point where they'd halved in value. My remaining ISA was initially 14k (the maximum at that time) but its now £11,400. I like the Pension because at least it only seems to go up!

I'll re ead all the replies in more depth later but the jiist Im getting is look after the ISA myself, keep the Pension and ditch the IFA?

lol - I'm bracing myself for being told I've messed all this up!

Whether you ditch the IFA for the pension is another matter. Depends on how confident you feel. You could reasonably in my view keep him on for a bit longer until you have some experience with your ISA.