IFA recommended funds

peterg1965

Dithering dad, does your IFA have any particular specialist qualifications pertinent to retirement planning? I found mine by searching on www.unbiased.co.uk and selecting the option for IFAs with additional pension investment knowledge/quals.

dunstonh

Dithering dad, does your IFA have any particular specialist qualifications pertinent to retirement planning?

Dont need to with this transaction. It would be extreme overkill. Especially as the transaction doesnt have fall under anything to do with the additional pension qualification.

The problem with filtering with the qualifications is that there have been multiple versions of the exams over the years with different names/references. You pick one qualification and it can rule out all those with an equal or higher one.

Dithering_Dad

I seem to have gone full circle with my pension. Many months ago when I first joined MSE I posed the question "What should I do with my pension pot now that I'm working for myself?". I was told that a stakeholder didn't offer enough good funds and that I should use a SIPP. I replied that I had no real knowledge of the market so wouldn't know a good fund if I fell over one. I was then told that the good funds were the ones with the best fund managers, so chose one of them. I replied that I wouldn't know a good fund manager if I fell over one. I was then told to get a good IFA who would recommend the best funds & fund managers for me. I replied that I wouldn't know a good IFA.... you get the idea.

When I had my home extension built I didn't have to get a degree in architecture and draw up the structural plans, I didn't have to learn how to bricklay in order to build the walls and I didn't have to become a joiner to get the roof on. Naturally I have no time or inclination in learning these trades so I employed professionals instead. Is the financial service industry so crap that we all have to become financial experts in order to invest our pensions?

Sorry to be so negative, but when you're trying to secure your future to the tunes of 7k commission and 1.5% to 2% fund commission, plus 0.5% commission to Scottish Equitable. It seems a lot of people have their hands held out but not really doing much to earn it.

Sorry, I'm beginning to rant. But surely people can understand my frustration? Hey ho, I'll go down the library and buy "investing for dummies" tomorrow. So much for employing financial professionals. :rolleyes:

peterg1965

Dithering Dad, I am with you and agree with your sentiments completely.

peterg1965

dunstonh wrote: »

Dont need to with this transaction. It would be extreme overkill. Especially as the transaction doesnt have fall under anything to do with the additional pension qualification.

The problem with filtering with the qualifications is that there have been multiple versions of the exams over the years with different names/references. You pick one qualification and it can rule out all those with an equal or higher one.

I think we are talking credibility as the very least here. If someone i going to take £5K of commission for giving Independent advice I would want some decent and credible service, it would appear that this is not what Dithering dad is getting in this case. If the 'Pensions industry' (and in that I include the FSA) want to be seen as 'professional' and wish to beat off the bad press that pensions have attacted to date this sort of advice needs to be more formally regulated. Maybe the forthcoming regulation changes are badly needed.

EdInvestor

Many people have already been down this road, me included.Someone else having to do it on behalf of his mother here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=530852

jamesd

Dithering Dad, you might consider searching for one who uses NMA pricing. That should improve your chance of talking with a decent one.

Dithering_Dad

Just for fun, I used the Best Invest Portfolio Planning tool, mentioned on the link in Ed Investors post. After about 40 seconds of inputting information, it came back with the following investment plan for the Dither 76k pension pot:

ARTEMIS INCOME £10000
ARTEMIS UK SPECIAL SITUATIONS £5500
AXA FRAMLINGTON UK SELECT OPPORTUNITIES £5700
AXA FRAMLINGTON UK SMALLER COMPANIES £4500
FIDELITY JAPAN £3700
INVESCO PERPETUAL ASIAN £3700
INVESTEC AMERICAN A £4400
JPM NATURAL RESOURCES A £2700
JPM US A FUND £4200
LINCOLN EMERGING MARKETS £3800
LIONTRUST FIRST GROWTH £6000
NEW STAR STERLING BOND £7900
SCHRODER EUROPEAN ALPHA PLUS £5000
SCHRODER EUROPEAN ALPHA PLUS £4900
THREADNEEDLE EUROPEAN SMALLER COMPANIES C1 £4000
TOTAL £76000

Would anyone who is more knowledgeable than me like to compare these funds against the ones recommended by my IFA to see how they stack up?

I'm interested in a general critique of the funds, but mostly interested in whether people think the advice I got from this free tool would result in a better portfolio than the one recommended by my IFA (to the tune of 7k commission).

dunstonh

That is way too risky for medium/high (7 out of 10). There is too much going into high risk funds and not enough downside protection to offset them.

ElephantJuice

jamesd wrote: »

Dithering Dad, you might consider searching for one who uses NMA pricing.

Just a quick question - what's NMA pricing please?