Financial Advice

dunstonh

fred246 wrote: »

Or you could pay a fortune to an IFA to have it invested in the Standard Life money market pension fund as I did. Actually I think they have closed it because it was too bad.

The IFA would recommend an investment that is in line with your risk profile. If, after discussion with you, it is felt that you will not accept any investment risk, then a cash option is suitable.

Or, it could be that a cash portion is required as part of the wider portfolio (that is very common).

or it could be that a different fund was recommended and later closed and you didnt respond to the requests to pick an alternative fund and you were placed in the cash fund.

So, which of these is it? And if it was a recommendation, why did the IFA recommend it to? You would know this because it is part of the discussion you had and is contained in the report you would have read.

BTW, its not a bad fund and it is still open. it does exactly what it is meant to do. No more, no less. It is actually a fund that is used when other funds are closed and the person doesnt respond to requests to pick an alternative.

Finally, you mention you paid a fortune to the IFA. However, you also said it was on a commission basis. So, you didnt pay a fortune. Std Life didnt have fee based pensions with your time period. They paid a commission out of the annual charge (unless you are going back to the 80s and IFAs didnt exist until 88. With mono charged pensions, the provider wouldnt breakeven on the commission paid vs fees paid until around year 10-15.

fred246

The IFA invested it for me. She had the financial knowledge. It was very hard to check what she had invested it in before the internet. I paid it for a few years. I then took on a large mortgage and she told me to stop paying into it. I carried on because I could afford it. A couple of years later she got really irate and shouted "stop paying it - it's rubbish". So I stopped. She never explained why it was so bad. She never offered to do anything with it. The IFA died and I have now invested it more appropriately.

fred246

She did actually get me the very large mortgage. It was more of a liar loan actually but it is now all paid off so I have always been very grateful to her for doing that. The pension I was less impressed with but it now forms part of a portfolio of investments which have allowed me to take early retirement.

grey_gym_sock

fred246 wrote: »

She did actually get me the very large mortgage. It was more of a liar loan actually but it is now all paid off so I have always been very grateful to her for doing that. The pension I was less impressed with but it now forms part of a portfolio of investments which have allowed me to take early retirement.

wow, what a plot twist! the IFA turns out to be the heroine in the end! and the narrator turns out to be unreliable!

fred246

In what way is the narrator unreliable?

atush

fred246 wrote: »

iFAs have a history of shady practices and have their own interests at heart.

Rubbish. Salesmen do (ie FAs) but not IFAs.

atush

bcreek wrote: »

yeah that's sort of what unnerves me - does sound like IFA is the way to go but there are so many out there I just don't know where to start, or how much you can trust in the individual...

Who do you work for? Have you joined their pension? that is th eplace to start. You've been paying a whole lot of tax you dont need to.

atush

fred246 wrote: »

IFAs have previously engaged in practices that have been morally wrong. Why do you think commission has been banned? I remember the days well when IFAs got commission for selling products. "If only I could find someone to sign this form I would make hundreds". "Hello Fred. Could I come and speak to you about pensions please?". As a young professional I couldn't do my job because I'd be receiving about 5 phone calls a day from IFAs just trying to get commission. Only one pig could get their snout in the trough and they made your life a misery.

Very few IFAs have been found to do wrong. You are confused over the difference between IFAs, FAs and tied salesmen. It is the latter 2 which most complaints are about, and why comission was banned.

Stop talking rubbish and learn the difference.

atush

But they will still do the minimum they can get away with - who wouldn't.

Any professional who wants repeat business, or word of mouth recommendations, will do the best job. I'd hate to be a customer of yours?

atush

fred246 wrote: »

Just looking at the last product an IFA sold me. Massive commission and then ongoing trail commission for 12 years. No reviews during that period. Sold to someone in their twenties. Invested in Standard Life Money Market Pension fund. Surely one of the most abysmal funds available. In those days you had no knowledge and the all knowing IFA invested it for you. So when trail commission was banned they invented annual reviews where they can charge a massive amount for 'reviewing' your investments. There are thousands of IFAs and they target people who they think are earning good money so they did keep phoning me and they were very hard to get rid of. Even when you told them you didn't want their services they would phone you again asking if you'd had a rethink.

It wasnt an IFA probably- as you dont know the difference. It was most likely an FA, or a tied sales agent.

In any case you last used an adviser well over a decade ago. Everything ahs changed.