Investment fees?

george4064

jem16 wrote: »

Dividend date is 1st September. Payment date is 30th September.

http://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discounts,-prices--and--factsheets/search-results/h/hl-multi-manager-income-and-growth-trust-accumulation

We don't know whether OP holds Income (Inc) or Accumulation (Acc) units.

Edit: ignore me, few posts up he says they are Inc units.

horace972897

george4064 wrote: »

Actually, shares/ITs/ETFs/binds/gilts are charged at 0.45% (capped at £45 per annum), this a separate charge to the % charge on funds in an ISA.

Really?

From HL Website:

Annual Management Charges

Shares, investment trusts, ETFs, gilts & bonds No charge

westy22

There is no charge for these in a HL Fund & Share Account but in an HL S&S ISA they are charged at 0.45% with a ceiling of £45 per annum.

xylophone

One of the holdings which makes up my Fund

It would be correct to refer to your Account.

You hold a

Self Invested Personal Pension Account

a Vantage Stocks and Shares Account

a Vantage ISA Account.

You hold Funds in those Accounts.

With regard to when dividends are paid on the Funds in those Accounts you can check the individual funds on the Hargreaves website.

Go into the website - click on Fund prices and research, type in the name of the fund in the space provided and you will find the information that you need.

Have you yet arranged internet access to your HL Accounts? This would make life easier when you see your IFA?

You may also wish to discuss your M&G holding with him and a decision on your Pru AVC?

For completeness you should also advise him of your expected TPS pension and of the Foundation amount information you have obtained in respect of your state pension.

r_i_c

bigadaj wrote: »

However you hold your investments there will be fees.

The ifa you see will need to be paid, his starting point may well be 3% initial and 1% annual, so there you immediately have £6k upfront and around £2k annually. On top of this will be platform charges and fund costs, though they may well be cheaper than you can get if you diy.

People and companies rarely work for nothing, these charges have always been there it's just that historically they were hidden as fees and commissions or bundled up in single charges.

Thanks. That amount - around £6000 is a further shock. Prior to this year I doubt I ever had that amount in my current account, for example. What does that initial amount get me - presumably a full year of advice?

It's a great shame my father wasn't more eloquent, he would mention figures every now and then but never ever discussed any charges or fees he was incurring. He had a very good pension and so these charges were probably just absorbed by what was coming in - this is not practicable for me because my pension does not begin until next spring and will be anyway quite modest. I think I need to bite the bullet with that top up, which should keep me out of trouble for a while, and give me time to weigh the dividends against the fees. It would have been out of character for my father to choose a multi manager fund which was not ultimately doing well, it's just that I am in the dark currently. Dad left no guidance or notes and what he did keep he shredded in the end. Perhaps he thought the shares would just be liquidated and so there was no point in discussing them with anybody? Strange if so, mum held shares which dad had researched, so she would be facing what I am facing now, had she lived long enough to fully come to grips with the investments.

At the moment I am moving forwards in blind faith it seems.

bowlhead99

So, perhaps your Dad thought that the portfolio he left behind would simply be liquidated and you would spend the money on whatever you wanted, including new investments or a big pile of gold or a cheap flat in the Costa Del Sunshine.

As the investments you have received are not inside tax wrappers, there is no penalty for liquidating them.

If you are under a bit of shock and awe from receiving this pile of investments in lieu of a father, which may be daunting, just turn them into cash and take professional advice on what to do next. Sounds simpler than it feels I expect, but it helps to be matter-of-fact I think.

After you have shopped around between IFAs you will probably pay less than 3% initial fee on that sum.

jem16

r_i_c wrote: »

Thanks. That amount - around £6000 is a further shock. Prior to this year I doubt I ever had that amount in my current account, for example. What does that initial amount get me - presumably a full year of advice?

If you are asked to pay £6k for initial advice then find another IFA. You should be able to get it a whole lot better than that as I said earlier.

The initial advice is just that - advice on what to do and how. It's a one-off fee.

Ongoing charges for the IFA looking after your portfolio should be around 0.5%. That should include ongoing advice with a yearly review and any Bed & ISA, Bed & Pension required.

this is not practicable for me because my pension does not begin until next spring and will be anyway quite modest. I think I need to bite the bullet with that top up, which should keep me out of trouble for a while, and give me time to weigh the dividends against the fees.

You should be able get HL to take any fees due out of your investment funds.

Remember it's not just about dividends vs fees - it's about total growth of your portfolio. You cannot avoid these fees as you will pay them anywhere.

It would have been out of character for my father to choose a multi manager fund which was not ultimately doing well, it's just that I am in the dark currently. Dad left no guidance or notes and what he did keep he shredded in the end. Perhaps he thought the shares would just be liquidated and so there was no point in discussing them with anybody? Strange if so, mum held shares which dad had researched, so she would be facing what I am facing now, had she lived long enough to fully come to grips with the investments.

No-one is saying it won't do well, just there are no guarantees. If you're hot happy with that then perhaps investing isn't for you. Although in saying that it's an awful lot of money to leave in cash.

Your father may not have been aware of the charges as funds used to be bundled - ie all the charges were there but just not as obvious. The charges would just have been paid via the funds.

At the moment I am moving forwards in blind faith it seems.

Give the IFA a chance. A good IFA can be very worthwhile and can help you learn or simply leave it to them.

r_i_c

jem16 wrote: »

Any IFA taking 3% initial and 1% annually on a £250k portfolio would be best avoided.

0.5% annually would be more the norm on this size and the OP should be aiming for advice of no more than £2k.

At the moment we have a very inexperienced investor using one of the dearest platforms and their own in house multi manager funds which have fairly high ongoing charges. It's quite likely that an IFA would be able to reduce the platform charge and fund charges which may go quite a way to making up for that 0.5% servicing charge for ongoing advice.

Yes it would be cheaper to DIY with the right platform and fund but at the moment I don't feel the OP is up to that. There is tax to consider plus Bed & ISA and Bed & Pension from April onwards. For someone who was not aware of fees and charges, this might be step too far for the moment.

Yes, thanks, my head spins a little faster each day at the moment. I had erroneously thought that these funds and holdings were 'set up', established, stable and after transfer would require very little in the way of maintenance. How very mistaken I was.

The 'meet & greet' interview is free, it is at this point I must determine what he (it is a he in this case) is expecting. So, as you suggest, 0.5% annually would be what I'm looking for and hoping for advice of no more than £2k. I presume that 2k is the up-front figure?

Anything over that and I will politely decline, or demur, looking for another IFA: there are several locally. Since this is such a financially prickly zone I may still drop by my solicitor to see if they recommend an IFA they personally know of.

Wow, I thought the IHT figurework was the end of my figurework for now, but it seems those numbers just keep on coming.

Onward.

r_i_c

jem16 wrote: »

If you are asked to pay £6k for initial advice then find another IFA. You should be able to get it a whole lot better than that as I said earlier.

The initial advice is just that - advice on what to do and how. It's a one-off fee.

Understood

Ongoing charges for the IFA looking after your portfolio should be around 0.5%. That should include ongoing advice with a yearly review and any Bed & ISA, Bed & Pension required.

Okay

You should be able get HL to take any fees due out of your investment funds.

So it's alright to let HL sell shares to raise top up / fees as they see fit, as and when? I was concerned that I was going into some sort of penalty zone by not having this HL 'float' of some £300 instantly available? But its okay to let HL take care of that, no especial need for me to transfer the fee direct from my bank account please? I was about to do that.

Remember it's not just about dividends vs fees - it's about total growth of your portfolio. You cannot avoid these fees as you will pay them anywhere.

I see. And the IFA will be able to see the whole picture? Which I cannot of course, being a lay person.

No-one is saying it won't do well, just there are no guarantees. If you're hot happy with that then perhaps investing isn't for you. Although in saying that it's an awful lot of money to leave in cash.

That's plan B, I do have a 123 high interest current account now, but I would be anyway reluctant to pull the stops on this fund. HL had seen mum and dad well over the years, or HL would no longer have been invested in.

Your father may not have been aware of the charges as funds used to be bundled - ie all the charges were there but just not as obvious. The charges would just have been paid via the funds.

I see, thanks.

Give the IFA a chance. A good IFA can be very worthwhile and can help you learn or simply leave it to them.

Fingers crossed for the IFA then - if the charges are within what is acceptable I will go for it

xylophone

Fingers crossed for the IFA then

See post 45 above.

Correct terminology will help your IFA - make a complete list of all accounts/pensions/investments etc and take it with you.