A J Bell website not working

_pete_

ColdIron wrote: »

Plug your numbers into this for a few 'what ifs'
http://www.comparefundplatforms.com/

Thank you - that's a very helpful link.

I'd be interested to hear from anyone with experience of the fixed price (or capped price) platforms.

Maybe I should start a separate thread.....

EdSwippet

_pete_ wrote: »

I did dip into the thread about Interactive Investor and wasn't hugely encouraged. Alliance Trust *look* great, but I've not seen much feedback from users on the quality of their service, and I'm wondering what the future holds for them.

As it happens, I have SIPPs with both Interactive Investor and Alliance Trust (yeah, inefficient I know -- it's a long story, and perhaps some day I'll get round to consolidating them).

Depending on what type of investor you are -- and absent a functional crystal ball or tarot deck -- either might be fine. I hold only passive tracker funds, all accumulation units, and at the moment neither contribute to nor draw from either pension. Admittedly that leaves very little to go wrong, no dividends to collect, no tax certificates, only the occasion tax reclaim on gilt funds. If I fell into a coma for the next ten years they should both tick along okay. I'm currently a happy customer of both. They accomplish exactly what I need, which is a cost-effective and hassle-free 'parking place' for cheap trackers.

One of these two SIPPs was formerly at Youinvest. By moving away a couple of years ago after the previous AJ Bell price hike I saved myself £150/year. With the latest price hike that saving rises to a little below £600/year (it's a sizeable SIPP). No regrets.

_pete_

EdSwippet wrote: »

As it happens, I have SIPPs with both Interactive Investor and Alliance Trust (yeah, inefficient I know -- it's a long story, and perhaps some day I'll get round to consolidating them).

Depending on what type of investor you are -- and absent a functional crystal ball or tarot deck -- either might be fine. I hold only passive tracker funds, all accumulation units, and at the moment neither contribute to nor draw from either pension. Admittedly that leaves very little to go wrong, no dividends to collect, no tax certificates, only the occasion tax reclaim on gilt funds. If I fell into a coma for the next ten years they should both tick along okay. I'm currently a happy customer of both. They accomplish exactly what I need, which is a cost-effective and hassle-free 'parking place' for cheap trackers.

One of these two SIPPs was formerly at Youinvest. By moving away a couple of years ago after the previous AJ Bell price hike I saved myself £150/year. With the latest price hike that saving rises to a little below £600/year (it's a sizeable SIPP). No regrets.

Thank you very much for taking the time to share your experience. My situation (trackers etc) is almost identical to yours. My two main concerns are (a) the transfer to a new platform will be a nightmare with each side blaming the other for delays etc, and (b) the new provider will change its pricing model just like A J Bell has done.

I think I just need to bite the bullet - the comparison site that Coldiron pointed me towards suggested that I will be paying £6k over the next 10 years for the privilege of staying with A J Bell....

EdSwippet

_pete_ wrote: »

My two main concerns are (a) the transfer to a new platform will be a nightmare with each side blaming the other for delays etc

Every in specie SIPP transfer I've done has been glacial. My transfer from Youinvest took more than 24 weeks and included (as you might guess) a number of follow-up emails and phone calls, and in the latter stages a perfectly bi-directional occurrence of finger-pointing.

Fortunately, the transfer was in specie so I was never 'out of the markets' and could be fairly unconcerned about slowness. And ultimately the delays worked somewhat in my favour, as I was paid compensation which helped to offset part of the Youinvest transfer out charges!

_pete_ wrote: »

... and (b) the new provider will change its pricing model just like A J Bell has done.

It's certainly a concern -- there's no guarantee any platform won't do this. Two things are perhaps worth bearing in mind, though. The first is that both Alliance Trust and Interactive Investor make their flat fees a selling point, so it seems unlikely they would change them unless something fundamental altered (got bought out by AJ Bell, for example!). The second is that AJ Bell is, so far, the only platform that has hit some of its customers with an indigestible cost increase without also offering a cost-free transfer out.

It sounds like you will recoup your AJ Bell transfer-out fees relatively quickly, so even if the (unlikely?) worst happens and you have to move again in a couple of years you should still win relative to staying put with AJ Bell.

_pete_

EdSwippet wrote: »

Every in specie SIPP transfer I've done has been glacial. My transfer from Youinvest took more than 24 weeks and included (as you might guess) a number of follow-up emails and phone calls, and in the latter stages a perfectly bi-directional occurrence of finger-pointing.

Fortunately, the transfer was in specie so I was never 'out of the markets' and could be fairly unconcerned about slowness. And ultimately the delays worked somewhat in my favour, as I was paid compensation which helped to offset part of the Youinvest transfer out charges!

Thank you very much for sharing your experience. A 'glacial' transfer is something I am keen to avoid as I have very limited tolerance of incompetence, particularly when the finger-pointing starts.

However, I would be wanting to transfer my whole SIPP 'in specie'. If I understand you correctly, this means that I wouldn't be 'out of the market'.

I don't know what would happen to my monthly contributions though. Would they have to be suspended while the transfer takes place?

Thank you again for taking the time to comment.

badger09

EdSwippet wrote: »

It's certainly a concern -- there's no guarantee any platform won't do this. Two things are perhaps worth bearing in mind, though. The first is that both Alliance Trust and Interactive Investor make their flat fees a selling point, so it seems unlikely they would change them unless something fundamental altered (got bought out by AJ Bell, for example!). The second is that AJ Bell is, so far, the only platform that has hit some of its customers with an indigestible cost increase without also offering a cost-free transfer out.

Not true. Hargreaves Lansdown changed their charging structure in 2014, resulting in large fee increases for many, myself included. To add insult to injury, they also increased exit fees and offered no free 'get out' option:mad:.

Only after many formal complaints did they relent.

EdSwippet

_pete_ wrote: »

... I have very limited tolerance of incompetence, particularly when the finger-pointing starts.

Maybe things have improved in the two years since I last tackled this. Much seems to depend on which underlying funds platform(s) your SIPP providers use, and whether or not the platforms involved have signed up to any automated transfer processes.

It may be frustrating, but mostly it's just waiting (and waiting, and waiting), and definitely preferable to paying a platform hundreds or even thousands of pounds a year that could otherwise be saved. If the amounts are large it's also better than moving as cash and being out of the markets for perhaps a week or so -- take this past week as an example of one during which you wouldn't have wanted to be moving in cash.

_pete_ wrote: »

However, I would be wanting to transfer my whole SIPP 'in specie'. If I understand you correctly, this means that I wouldn't be 'out of the market'.

Exactly. In specie means that you move everything intact. If you start out the transfer with 123 units of fund XYZ on platform A, at the end of it you have 123 units of fund XYZ on platform B. Sometimes -- often, if glacial! -- there is a dividend paid out during the transfer. Where that happens it usually seems to go to the platform you've transferred away from, and they will eventually automatically send it on to your new platform. Eventually.

_pete_ wrote: »

I don't know what would happen to my monthly contributions though. Would they have to be suspended while the transfer takes place?

No, I don't think so (although in my case there were none).

The process is: a) open new SIPP, b) send transfer forms to new SIPP, who will engage with old SIPP to proceed with the transfer, sometimes c) confirm transfer to the old SIPP provider, and then d) wait. Once you've opened the new SIPP, though, you should be free to make payments in even as the transfer from the old one rumbles through whatever manual process the providers seem to go through when transferring.

EdSwippet

badger09 wrote: »

Not true. ...Only after many formal complaints did they relent.

Indeed, but they did offer it in the end. Interactive Investor tried the same a year or two before Hargreaves Lansdown, when the whole RDR thing started in earnest. Eventually they too relented under customer pressure.

As far as I know, AJ Bell is so far the only platform that has not backed down but has successfully been able to force its customers into paying to move away to avoid a large, unilaterally imposed, and uneconomic fee increase.

grey_gym_sock

EdSwippet wrote: »

Once you've opened the new SIPP, though, you should be free to make payments in even as the transfer from the old one rumbles through whatever manual process the providers seem to go through when transferring.

there is no rule against paying into several SIPPs in the same tax year (unlike paying into S&S ISAs). so you can disable new contributions on the old SIPP, and start them on the new SIPP, as soon as the new SIPP is open. and you can request the in specie transfer at the same time, but it doesn't matter if it is completed much later.

incidentally, if you have any automatic reinvestment of investment income inside your existing SIPP, you might want to turn that off before starting the transfer process. otherwise, it might make it more complicated - e.g. all the investments might be transferred, but then some more are bought, which also need to be transferred.