FTSE 100 advice

bigfreddiel

Stephb1986 wrote: »

Hi Big Freddie, Thanks for replying

The same with my parents they had 50,000 in 2009 and she recommended a load of products and they've all gone badly wrong.

I thought that she came to make the most out of my money for me not for her which as time has gone on it's become more clear that she was just working for her own gains.

I'm feeling totally gutted that she just had me over you trust someone and then they take advantage.

thanks steph, i would feel gutted as well, ifas/fas are a tricky kettle of fish as it were

the thing is they come into your own home where you feel safe
they show you projections, graphs, facts and figures that all look really good and credible

where it all falls down is that we the un-informed public dont know what questions to ask - we just believe it all nd sign up

before you know it the fa/ifa has moved on and if they havn't they always say that things will pick up - stick with it and buy more while its cheap

and anyway its only advice - so you dont need to take it - which actually means you dont have a leg to stand on when it all goes bad

my advice - free and you dont need to take it is to keep things simple

check out monevator.com - create a balanced portfolio of bonds and equities - i use etfs - you only need 4 -an all world equity, government bonds or gilts, corporate bonds and index linked bonds

a 60/40 equity/bond mix is fine

etfs are cheap and no stamp duty when purchasing - checkout vanguard etfs

rebalance to 60/40 every year by buying and selling appropriate funds - easy to work out with a spreadsheet

thats one suggestion

or just buy a lifestrategy fund that does the same as above again from vanguard


or just create a hyp (high yield portfolio) of blue chip stocks - again easy to do - just buy a spread of 12 to 15 equities in the ftse100, one from each business sector, for example oil & gas, mining, aerospace, telecoms and so on - buy the telegraph to see this on paper and see the yield (how much the dividends pay) and pick anything that is in the 3-5% range -unless you need the income reinvest the divis automatically and just watch your potfolio grow

to be cost effective tho' you should trade in at least £5k a time, - if you used your isa allowance each year then that would mean you buy two lots of £5k each year until you've built up a nice 12-15 share hyp - will take 6-8 years - in year 8 you would have a nice £100k+ potfolio

i've done this since 1997 when i was unemployed (luckily i was mortgage free by then) - then in 1999 i became a civil servant, I followed the above strategy, now my portfolio is approx £500k - had its ups and downs, and some emotional trading that didn't do any good at all.

above ll keep costs down - dont pay more than 0.5% (half a percent) in any ongoing fees/charges/ter or platform fee

so pick one, or all three, and just stick to it - dont let emotion get in the way

cheers

fj

2010

One of these days people will finally realise that so-called financial advisors can`t guarantee how ANY investment product will perform.
They can only tell you how they have in the PAST.
Do your own research and buy your funds execution only, saving a fortune to boot.

As regards the FTSE100 or any tracker for that matter, these do what they say

---

they follow the market up and down.
The FTSE100 peaked at the end of 1999 at nearly 7000.
It still HASN`T got back to that peak.
So if you bought a tracker then, you`re still losing money basically.

FA and product providers will pick certain dates and times in the markets that best reflects performance to give examples of growth.
I have never seen any paraphernalia reflecting performance where there is NEGATIVE growth.
Once you take management and other various charges into account, out of all the thousands of funds available, how are you, or ANYONE else expected to "pick a winner".

I know

---

spread your risk.:cool:

dunstonh

I'm not sure telling the OP to invest in ETFs is a good idea when she doesnt understand what she has already. Plus, there has been no analysis of her risk profile yet recommendation to invest in higher risk areas have been given.

The recommendation is from a tied agent (of Zurich - probably openwork) and the product hasnt failed. Personally, its not a product I like but investing is largely about opinion.

The internet can be very helpful but it can also be dangerous as you get people posting that can do a lot more damage if you follow their advice when they dont know what they are doing.

Reaper

It might not be a product I like but I don't understand why people are saying it is not worth anything and it is a miss sell without knowing much about it.

I can't find much info on it but it sounds like the original capital ought to be returned to you at the end of the term (assuming the company/counterparty remains solvent) plus a certain amount of growth is added each year from 0-12%.

I can't find info on Capital Protector 3, but here are the figures for Capital Protector 1 which will be similar, except that yours is capped at 12% maximum rather than 15%. As you can see it locked in the maximum growth in year 1, though your plan may not have started by then. Maybe others can locate the ones for your plan.
http://www.dunbarassets.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/466E2528-654A-4F06-A132-802A4DEC7360/0/CPA1StructureYr1Ann.pdf
It's a shame BP is one of the companies on the list as that will hit your growth prospects somewhat.
Do your statements look like the one in my link above? If so it should be simple to see what growth you got each year, if any.

You say:

the holding company of the accounts I've spoken to and told them not to speak to anyone about my accounts but me

in which case the old IFAs are not going to be able to give you any information on how it is doing, so why don't you ask the investment company yourself? Also I am not clear whether your action has actually stopped trail commission being paid to the IFA. Though even if it has that does not mean you will get anything extra.

Reaper

I have now found the Capital Protector 3 figures showing that your plan would have had 9.73% added to it in year 1:
http://www.dunbarassets.com/NR/rdonlyres/60DDC35D-AB99-4585-BE87-29D1BBCC813F/0/CPA3StructureYr1Ann.pdf

Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, as the saying goes. I can't find any figures for later years though as it seems Dunbar Assets closed down and transferred the plan to Close Brothers in 2010.

badger09

Reaper wrote: »

I have now found the Capital Protector 3 figures showing that your plan would have had 9.73% added to it in year 1:
http://www.dunbarassets.com/NR/rdonlyres/60DDC35D-AB99-4585-BE87-29D1BBCC813F/0/CPA3StructureYr1Ann.pdf

Better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, as the saying goes. I can't find any figures for later years though as it seems Dunbar Assets closed down and transferred the plan to Close Brothers in 2010.

Reaper

isn't that the one I liked to (in my post 7 above)?

dtaylor84

I don't understand the rampant pessimism in this thread...

The OP has already said:

Stephb1986 wrote: »

first year was locked in at 9.73% second year was 10.73% and third year is 6.94% I'm not due another letter until September.

Based on the PDF below, this (simple, i.e. not compounded) interest is guaranteed to be paid.

So, even if it pays out 0% in years four and five, it will pay out at least the equivalent of 5% annual growth (compounded), which is hardly a disaster? (Although, unless you have the ISA version, that will be subject to income tax at your marginal rate, either 20% or 40%, bringing the net AER down to 4% or 3%.)

http://www.dunbarassets.co.uk/NR/rdonlyres/4CD5782E-7844-44EA-8CF1-884E678192F8/0/CPA03Mailer.pdf

The interest (or lack thereof) for year 4 will already be locked in based on the share prices from Tuesday, but I'm not going to try to work it out!

EDIT 2: ok, I did work it out. Depending on growth next year (and assuming 20% tax) it will give an AER of between 4.91% and 6.37% over five years.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmJRAXws7UrSdGI2Sml0NGhzeWc2VFRvREx5TmxFZGc&usp=sharing

dtaylor84

badger09 wrote: »

Reaper

isn't that the one I liked to (in my post 7 above)?

No, it's subtly different - it includes the 1 year anniversary price as well as the opening price.

badger09

But the same product?

In her initial posts, OP didn't seem to know what she was invested in.

dtaylor84

badger09 wrote: »

But the same product?

In her initial posts, OP didn't seem to know what she was invested in.

See post #6 -- given that the first three year's return quoted exactly matches what I calculated, I'm fairly confident it's the right product.