St James Place and Choosing a Pension

mrj0e

Hey all,

First time post!

I'm recently self employed and am looking at updating my pension currently with Aegon.

I'm looking at St James Place and others. What should I compare against? Charges? No. of Funds? Nicest logo? Who should I avoid?

Help!

joe

jem16

mrj0e wrote: »

Who should I avoid?

Probably St James' Place to be honest.

Very slick and very expensive but very limited.

To be serious they are restricted advisers who can only recommend their own products. Even a Restricted IFA with whole of market access will offer much, much more.

Find yourself an IFA or Restricted FA from ww.unbiased.co.uk.

dunstonh

I like coming across people with SJP pensions. They have some of the most expensive options going and to date, they hold the biggest difference in charges I have come across compared to what I did. Over 300k using the same projection rate.

An IFA is not going to be able to match the slick brochures and glossy material that SJP can churn out. However, you will be paying for all that with SJP many times over.

General rule of thumb is to use an IFA or a restricted (but whole of market) adviser. Not one tied to a limited or single tied product range.

jamesd

Naming SJP made the first part easy: not them.

First decide what you want to invest in, then look for a place that can deliver them with your desired level of customer service at the most competitive price.

sandsy

To invest with SJP, you will need to take advice from one of their advisers. Their advice costs are some of the most expensive in the market at 4.5% of the investment amount although they sometimes drop this to win the business. Their advisers won't give you information that lets you compare an SJP product with any other product.

Their products are also renowned for being pricey. As well as the basic product costs, you'll pay extra for most of the investments. And if you pull out of the contract within the first 6 years, you'll be hit with an exit penalty.

Do yourself a favour and find an independent adviser who can review the entire market for you.

COLLEGEQUEEN

Hi, How did you get on? I am expecting a visit from SJP regarding my pension pot and I'm unsure who to approach for the best advice.

dunstonh

COLLEGEQUEEN wrote: »

Hi, How did you get on? I am expecting a visit from SJP regarding my pension pot and I'm unsure who to approach for the best advice.

An IFA can trounce an SJP sales rep every time. The IFA wont have the same level of glossy material but then you are paying for that many times over with SJP.

There is a search engine from the Personal Finance Society that is not paid for by advertisers. They also check qualifications and statement of professional standing http://www.thepfs.org/yourmoney/find-an-adviser/
Other search engines are advertiser driven or paid for entries.