How to work out charges?

dunstonh

As an investor I want to know the costs of any financial product I invest in. I just find it amazing that an IFA can not find out the likely costs that a particular investment will have.

I find it amazing that someone expects an IFA to not know the charge of something they have no information on.

How can you recommend one smaller company UT over another if you do not know how much they both charge?

I would know.

I personally think your posts on this thread have been misleading.

I personally think yours are rubbish and attempt to troll and tell lies.

You clearly said that there was three versions of this fund and the most expensive version cost 0.16%. Then you said typical TER was 1%, then you indicate there is no way of you finding the cost of this fund. You also said "TER was gone", then you give a typical TER?

Again, you are being selective with your information and taking bits out of context and posting misinformation and lies. I will not correct you because this is at least the third time on this thread you have done this and clearly you dont want to know. You just want to be a troublemaker.

It hardly makes me want to contact an IFA

I am sure i have the thanks from all IFAs out there who wont have to deal with someone like you.

doughnutmachine

dunstonh wrote: »

I think they should be able to and in most cases they can. However, you can get mono charged contracts and multi-charged contracts. Mono charge have just one charge. The annual management charge and everyone and everything is paid out of that. Stakeholder is a good example of that. Multi-charge can see multiple charges. A SIPP would be a good example of that but also most modern personal pensions are as well.

So, whilst mono charge is easy as there is just one charge on an annual basis, multi charge contracts, which can take a bit more working out, are usually the cheapest option (looking at modern pension).

Some mono charge contracts have the charge on the product and not the fund(and sell units to pay the charge. Some have the charges on the fund and the contract has no charges. Multi-charge tends to have a charge on the contract and a charge on the fund

Zurich pensions tend to be multi-charge with charges on the contract as well as on the fund (or older ex Allied Dunbar ones using Capital and Accumulation units). You need to look at both layers to get total cost. Just as I said back on post #2.

if I wanted to work out the annual total charges I pay on my portfolio I could easily add the commission/ stamp duty/ annual fees I pay. I think it would take a couple of hours with a calculator. Then I could easily work out a % that I pay each year in charges.

If I can do this why can the financial industry not? It's really not that hard......

I honestly believe that each UT/ IT should publish the total fees they charge. After all the AMC and TER only covers part of the fees.

doughnutmachine

dunstonh wrote: »

I find it amazing that someone expects an IFA to not know the charge of something they have no information on.



I would know.

how would you know which similar UT is better if you don't know how much they both charge? Is the better UT the one that pays you more?

I pity anyone that goes to an IFA that thinks they will get decent investment advice.

bigadaj

Just for information my post about every one needing an ifa wasn't a dig, it was a genuine question, as in is the system so complicated that to get through the myriad levels of charging do you need an expert to be acting for you as a consumer.

doughnutmachine

bigadaj wrote: »

Just for information my post about every one needing an ifa wasn't a dig, it was a genuine question, as in is the system so complicated that to get through the myriad levels of charging do you need an expert to be acting for you as a consumer.

I think it's in the interests of the financial industry to keep costs as opaque as possible. I honestly can't see the financial industry ever being upfront about the costs their customers pay.

I remember about 10 years ago that the Prudential was fined £2m for irregularities in their pension fund. Prudential paid the £2m fine from the pension fund..... Let's not kid ourselves that the financial industry hiding costs is in the interests of consumers....