Advisors and pension dompanies

philwal_2

There are plenty of ifas who will review your circumstances and current plan. They will then either advise you to stay put or put an alternate proposal to you and only get paid if you implement their advice and they will charge considerably less than 5500.

Aegis

Good_bad_and_ugly wrote: »

Sorry, but it sounds like typical lazy advising. A good adviser will do it for a few hundred quid if he wants your ongoing business.

I agree with most of what you've written, but I do think it's worth pointing out that whether someone is a good adviser or not has nothing to do with their fee, only whether their advice is sensible. You can have a good but expensive adviser and a cheap but poor one.

My own fee wouldn't be a few hundred pounds for anything involving pensions, I simply can't afford to transact high-compliance business for that sort of fee. On the other hand, I am based in Central London, so I have greater overheads than many other advisers, so perhaps there are advisers outside my area that can do a thorough job for only a few hundred pounds.

dunstonh

£5.5k for initial is damned high for a money purchase pension transfer but the ballpark for a defined benefit scheme transfer.

ighthouse say that as the curent pension is speculative it's too volatile for our current risk style.

Abbey Life have lots of funds that can be used to meet all risk profiles.

I have compared many abbey life pensions over the years. Its not often that you can beat them on cost. The exit penalty being the real killer on cost comparisons. How do your cost comparisons work out?

When I questioned this further, they suggested other governed portfolios still with Royal London.

The Royal London Gov Portfolios are perfectly fine. However, if they have assessed your risk profile and capacity for loss, then they should know exactly which one to use.

Good_bad_and_ugly

Aegis wrote: »

I agree with most of what you've written, but I do think it's worth pointing out that whether someone is a good adviser or not has nothing to do with their fee, only whether their advice is sensible. You can have a good but expensive adviser and a cheap but poor one.

My own fee wouldn't be a few hundred pounds for anything involving pensions, I simply can't afford to transact high-compliance business for that sort of fee. On the other hand, I am based in Central London, so I have greater overheads than many other advisers, so perhaps there are advisers outside my area that can do a thorough job for only a few hundred pounds.

Agreed. Cost isn't everything.

Treesie

Aegis, the £575 is the cost of the 'report' i.e. their conclusion. The transfer fee is then an additional £5500.

Phil, I did see if I could look back historically as it would be interesting to see how this RL fund performed over the past 10 years. Unfortunately they haven't been able to supply this info. With the Abbey there is no transfer out fee. its a closed pension and they seem very happy to see the back of it.

Aegis

Good_bad_and_ugly wrote: »

I have read a lot of twaddle about costs here, usually from IFAs. A perfectly good IFA should be able to review and if need be, switch a pension for a fixed fed of £500 or so, and manage it on an ongoing basis for an agreed amount, depending on what you need. IFA who bluster on and defend insane fees are living in the past.

What hourly rate are you assuming for that IFA and how much time do you think a report takes?

philwal_2

£500 is way below what you would be charged I do not know an ifa that would transact the business for that fee.

Aegis

Treesie wrote: »

Aegis, the £575 is the cost of the 'report' i.e. their conclusion. The transfer fee is then an additional £5500.

Phil, I did see if I could look back historically as it would be interesting to see how this RL fund performed over the past 10 years. Unfortunately they haven't been able to supply this info. With the Abbey there is no transfer out fee. its a closed pension and they seem very happy to see the back of it.

I'd agree with others that the fee is in this case far too high. No question there, you can (and probably should) get far cheaper without sacrificing any quality. I'd be looking at over half a million pounds of investing before my standard fees got that high.

Good_bad_and_ugly

Aegis wrote: »

I'd agree with others that the fee is in this case far too high. No question there, you can (and probably should) get far cheaper without sacrificing any quality. I'd be looking at over half a million pounds of investing before my standard fees got that high.

I see hourly costs for some advisers and it amuses me. If an IFA prescreens and segments clients in advance properly, has a brutally efficient system, then £500 covers it. If the business objective is to grow funds under management and to make money on insurance if appropriate, profit is achievable.

Good_bad_and_ugly

philwal wrote: »

£500 is way below what you would be charged I do not know an ifa that would transact the business for that fee.

No? That's the problem.