Choosing an IFA and fees

dunstonh

Bianchiintenso wrote: »

Which leads me back to who has the liability and the workload, the IFA I mentioned or the financial services distribution company? My guess is the one that i would have to sign a contract with?

The principal has the regulatory liability. They will have some commercial agreement in place with the appointed rep to recover any liability. The appointed rep is the one doing the work. The Principal is responsible for oversight and making sure the work is done. If you had to complain, it would go to the Principal. The principal would have to settle a successful complaint. The contract you have though will be arranged with the appointed rep but will reference the principal. If the appointed rep vanishes (retires/dies or just leaves) then the principal is required to take over ongoing cases. For transactional cases, there is no issue as the service ends once the transaction is completed.

Linton

Bianchiintenso wrote: »

Which leads me back to who has the liability and the workload, the IFA I mentioned or the financial services distribution company? My guess is the one that i would have to sign a contract with?

The IFA (if that is what s/he is) has the liability as they are the one saying that the proposed portfolio is right for you. Someone doing the technical work in the background cant do that.

bostonerimus

So the IFA is responsible for the advice, but might not be producing it...or maybe even understanding it. That sounds very sensible to me ;-). The multiplication of middlemen is a great way to increase fees.

dunstonh

bostonerimus wrote: »

So the IFA is responsible for the advice, but might not be producing it...or maybe even understanding it. That sounds very sensible to me ;-). The multiplication of middlemen is a great way to increase fees.

That is incorrect and a complete misundertstanding of what has been said.

capital0ne

bostonerimus wrote: »

So the IFA is responsible for the advice, but might not be producing it...or maybe even understanding it. That sounds very sensible to me ;-). The multiplication of middlemen is a great way to increase fees.

Not only will the fees increase, but when it all goes belly-up each will lay responsibility with the other so the poor client will be left high and dry!
It's closed shop - you will not win if you complain.

capital0ne

dunstonh wrote: »

That is incorrect and a complete misundertstanding of what has been said.

And another ruse used by IFAs (and other professions) is to confuse and obfiscate - then when it goes belly up it will be your fault for being too ignorant to understand what you've bought.

The meeting I had with an IFA many years ago provided by my employer (Civil Service) talked down to me as tho' I couldn't possibly understand what he was talking about, he treated my wife as someone to just offer him a cup of tea and a biscuit and not to worry herself whilst us men discussed this difficult subject.

Needless to say I didn't go beyond this initial meeting.

HappyHarry

capital0ne wrote: »

And another ruse used by IFAs (and other professions) is to confuse and obfiscate - then when it goes belly up it will be your fault for being too ignorant to understand what you've bought.

The meeting I had with an IFA many years ago provided by my employer (Civil Service) talked down to me as tho' I couldn't possibly understand what he was talking about, he treated my wife as someone to just offer him a cup of tea and a biscuit and not to worry herself whilst us men discussed this difficult subject.

Needless to say I didn't go beyond this initial meeting.

I would hope that IFA has moved on or got out of his job by now.

I recognise you are not an avid fan of IFAs, but what you describe here is not normal. You talk about ruses and fault, as if this is normal procedure for an IFA, where as in reality, you couldn’t be further from the truth.

Good IFAs will want to help educate those not versed in financial planning, as this will strengthen the client’s understanding and further the long-term relationship between the IFA and client.

Treating your wife as someone to serve tea and biscuits? He sounds like a dinosaur. That’s really not what anyone would expect from an IFA in the 21st century!

dunstonh

And another ruse used by IFAs (and other professions) is to confuse and obfiscate - then when it goes belly up it will be your fault for being too ignorant to understand what you've bought.

You are just being argumentive and obtuse on purpose. Trolling to provoke a response you can report no doubt. It isn't going to work.

Bianchiintenso

In my never ending quest for knowledge to help me in my future 'imminent' decision, could anyone throw light on these charges for managing my pension please.
capital/accumulation units 3.5% pa (OK straightforward, i get that)
Bid to offer spread 5% of all payments (how do i work this out ie how many bids/offers pa?)
Annual management charge 3/4% of capital unit fund
Expense deduction £6.88pm
Fund switch charge £0 (?)
Do they see inline with industry norms for a big pension co?
thanks in advance

LHW99

Bid to offer spread 5% of all payments (how do i work this out ie how many bids/offers pa?)

That presumably means that everytime you want a cash payment the amount you sell the units at is 5% leaa than the (current) price that you would buy if you were investing.
So if you were wanting a payment every month, there would be twelve payments / spreads, annual payments would trigger one.
But then you would presumably take 1/12 of the annual payment every month, so if the unit price (bid / offer) remained the same it wouldn't make a difference.
In reality actual amount in £'s of that 5% would depend on how the unit prices changed with time, so if there was a "fat finger" event mid month, it wouldn't have much effect unless that was the day you sold.