How much would you pay for IFA advice on fund switches?

andrewjf

After the RDR, financial advisers are generally not being paid trail commission on investments. My fund has now switched to being fee based, rather than commission based.

Question is, how much would you say is reasonable to pay for advice on fund switches? I'm currently with Skandia, and they offer a multitude of funds. Their website is quite useful, presenting performance data etc.

My current IFA seems unwilling to offer an ad-hoc advice service, now that the trail commission has dried up, preferring that I sign up for a monthly payment. In reality I won't make fund switches that often, but when I do, it would be nice to get some guidance.

Do you tend to make your own fund investment decisions, or do you seek advice, and what's a reasonable amount to pay for that advice?

Linton

If you choose a suitable initial mix of funds appropriate for your timescales and acceptance of risk, switches should be largely unnecessary except for perhaps an annual rebalancing. It may be worthwhile engaging an IFA to help determine the initial set of funds, but unless you had at least say £100K I would suggest you look after the ongoing management of the funds yourself.

andrewjf

My IFA put all the money in one fund. Admittedly, it's a top performer and I'm pleased with the growth, but I guess it's not that great a strategy to put all your eggs in one basket?

Linton

andrewjf wrote: »

My IFA put all the money in one fund. Admittedly, it's a top performer and I'm pleased with the growth, but I guess it's not that great a strategy to put all your eggs in one basket?

Depends on the amount of money and what the fund is. If you have say less than £10K it may well be sensible to put all the money in a general balanced fund. If you have £500K then it would not be sensible to put all your money in one highly focused fund.