Pension pot or Bond for my £40,000 ?

Cygnus_Alpha

gadgetmind wrote: »

I'll let you into a secret. Accountants also expect to paid for that they do, and lawyers, hairdressers, gardeners, plumbers, and pretty much everyone else.

I'm prepared to tackle some of the jobs above myself, and save some money in the process, but for others I need to "get a man in". The OP is almost certainly in the category of people who'd be better off paying for advice than trying to DIY.

Where exactly is the problem with suggesting to someone that they seek this advice? OK, so maybe it should have been made clear that professional advice attracts professional fees, but should anyone really be surprised by this? Really?

As for the whole trolls versus regulars, maybe you need to chill your beans and work on making valuable contributions. A useful metric here might be to see how much atush and dunstonh have been thanked by people that they have helped.

It's why we're all here. Not point scoring, not winding each other up and grinding axes (though we may all do this from time to time!), but helping each other.

Well I'll let you into a secret. Some IFA's use to pretend that their services were free but actually they were paid by commission.

And that's why disclosure rules are in place. But that itself didn't solve the problem and so the FSA introduced RDR which banned commission.

Now a good IFA is worth every pound you pay him. Unfortunately for smaller sums, it isn't economical for someone to see an IFA.

I made a request that one poster came clean about IFA fees. But another poster, atush, deciding to attack me for it and said I shouldn't be demanding a quote even though I had demanded no such thing.

Now I'm sure atush is a really good guy who gets thanked a lot. Hell I've even agreed with him on this very thread. But if he attacks someone and they hit back, he really can't complain. But thanks for stepping in to help him as he was really struggling without your clever words.

But I'm so glad you came on to give such good guidance to the OP rather than just wade in with several points scoring posts to back up a clique of trolls.

gadgetmind

Cygnus_Alpha wrote: »

Some IFA's use to pretend that their services were free but actually they were paid by commission.

No, not really. They have had to disclose all fees and commissions for many a year. Platforms have been less transparent, but this is changing.

BTW, RDR has been discussed on here for year after year, and IFA fees, and much more. You're bringing nothing new to the discussions thus far,

Now I'm sure atush is a really good guy who gets thanked a lot. Hell I've even agreed with him on this very thread.

Let's just say that your pronouns show a degree of ignorance, and perhaps even prejudice.

But thanks for stepping in to help him as he was really struggling without your clever words.

No, not really, but it doesn't really matter.

Cygnus_Alpha

gadgetmind wrote: »

BTW, RDR has been discussed on here for year after year, and IFA fees, and much more. You're bringing nothing new to the discussions thus far,

I'm sorry I'm not bringing anything to the discussion so far. As a new poster I guess I need to try better.

Thanks for being so helpful to the OP with all your brilliant suggestions though and resisting the temptation to send another points scoring email of no real relevance.

Well done.:T

gadgetmind

Cygnus_Alpha wrote: »

and resisting the temptation to send another points scoring email of no real relevance.

I'm sure it's just bad wording, but some might read into this that I have been sending you Private Messages and/or emails. For the benefit of others, I haven't as that's just not my way.

As for helping the OP, one of the most helpful responses IMO was from an IFA who has been helping people here completely free of charge, for several years, and without charging a penny or trying to drum up business. And this despite regular abuse, some even from me!

Cygnus_Alpha

gadgetmind wrote: »

As for helping the OP, one of the most helpful responses IMO was from an IFA who has been helping people here completely free of charge, for several years, and without charging a penny or trying to drum up business. And this despite regular abuse, some even from me!

I'm sure he'll get some regular abuse from me too going forward.:D

Telling someone to "go to an IFA" isn't that particularly helpful or insightful if you ask me especially if you don't mention the costs but then we all have different standards I guess.

Listen, I can tell you "regulars" don't like a new guy coming on to your turf and I guess I can understand that. So I'll leave you to it.

bigadaj

Cygnus alpha, I'd review your posts as well as commenting on the responses by others.

We all have a pop at each other from time to time and to be fair the one thing that does irritate me about dunstonh posts is when he queries seemingly not unreasonable proposals and gives me the impression, rightly or wrongly, of trying to blind newbies with science/ economics or jargon. I think this is where the conflict started.

However I think his response was justified in this case by the extreme risk aversion quoted by the OP, for you or me its likely that we'd ignore a significant drop in the ftse and simply ride it out, however nervous investors do panic and crystallise losses. I personally do my rebalancing primarily through new investments, appreciating the risks I'm taking on, however for an inexperienced investor then the reduction in returns that equates with say a traditional balanced managed fund may well be worthwhile if that provides a reduction in volatility.

Equities are the only game in town currently, with little to suggest change over the next few years, and the combination of either impoverishing people who are too risk averse to hold equities, or tacitly forcing such people up the risk scale into equities is something I find troubling. It's starting to look like an effective misselling scandal perpetrated by our politicians and the boe, so absolutely no comeback if and when things go pear shaped from the creation of an asset bubble.

gadgetmind

Cygnus_Alpha wrote: »

Telling someone to "go to an IFA" isn't that particularly helpful or insightful if you ask me

I'm sure, but it can often be good advice. Of course, there is lots of other good advice that can be offered, but some people are always going to benefit from one-to-one with a professional rather than advice from random strangers.

Listen, I can tell you "regulars" don't like a new guy coming on to your turf

Let's just say that this very much more depends on the new guy rather than the "regulars". This isn't "turf" but a forum for people to help each other. Offer help, and you'll find yourself welcomed, grind your axe and criticise those who are actually being helpful, and you'll get as good as you give.

Your call.

gadgetmind

bigadaj wrote: »

Equities are the only game in town currently, with little to suggest change over the next few years

Maybe, but a cautious portfolio will still contain a big slug of assets other than equities.

and the combination of either impoverishing people who are too risk averse to hold equities, or tacitly forcing such people up the risk scale into equities is something I find troubling.

No IFA would risk pushing a client into a portfolio that didn't match their needs and attitude to risk. Why would they?

There are also many classes of equities that tend to behave more like bonds regards volatility and return, and many different types of bonds.

Take a look at the portfolios of the multi-asset ITs such as PNL and Ruffer, and perhaps also look at infrastructure funds. I've held these and many more over the last 18 months as an alternative to traditional gilts and don't intend to change this approach any time soon.

Cygnus_Alpha

gadgetmind wrote: »

Let's just say that this very much more depends on the new guy rather than the "regulars". This isn't "turf" but a forum for people to help each other. Offer help, and you'll find yourself welcomed, grind your axe and criticise those who are actually being helpful, and you'll get as good as you give.

Your call.

Oh dear. I did offer help. See my posts and my suggestions of what the OP should do. It is you who is grinding an axe and diving in with both feet without having read the thread and without one single post helping the OP. You just saw a gang kicking someone on the floor and decided to join in. Human nature I suppose but still shameful conduct on your part.

jamesd

The Forum Team that removed some posts is not part of any gang of posters. Please try to stay away from direct personal criticism of other posters and stick to trying to directly help a new poster with a question.

You didn't make a particularly helpful post about IFA charging since it's pretty obvious that they will charge and even if that wasn't obvious it has to be declared by the IFA in the initial meeting. It'd have been more interesting two years ago, well before the RDR was a fact of life. Today it's just old news and looks more like just jumping into an opportunity for some IFA bashing than being helpful.

And that combination of things is why you ended up getting criticised by other posters and had some posts removed. Easy enough to fix, just follow the be nice to other moneysavers rule and try to stick to the question rather than the person commenting. You clearly know something about handling money and it'd be nice to see you sharing that rather than just ending up squabbling instead of helping.