True Potential - are they any good?

Johndonuts

Hello again.
I posted a thread a while ago asking about St. James's Place, which I have a trust fund with. After realising their huge upfront fee, plus ongoing management fees, I decided not to invest any more money in a separate fund with them, and opted to meet with a financial advisor. But whilst this advisor is advertised as independent, he works for True Potential, another wealth management company. And he pretty much only wanted to pitch an investment with them, although said he could come up with his own?


The upfront fee with True Potential is as low as 1.25% if investing over £50,000, and 2% if investing under that amount. Management fees add up to about 1.75% per annum.
The main concern is that they don't seem to have been around as long as SJP, and I'm not convinced they offer the same returns?


But looking at their performance with the newer fund which was set up in Oct 2015, and was pitched to us, they seem to have performed quite well.
I suppose my apprehension here is that this particular fund is only looked at on a yearly basis.
I believe SJP have people managing their funds on a monthly basis? True Potential did more poorly in 2017, but I know this could be the case with all investments.
SJP seem to say they hope to achieve around 7% on my medium risk fund, and True Potential about 5%, although I am aware there are never any guarantees.


I added up the figures and found that despite the horrendous 4% fee SJP charge, they would still bring in greater returns than True Potential if those percentages were typical, but it is all guess work.
I have never heard of True Potential before, so wonder if anyone uses them, or has heard about them in a positive or negative way?
Trustpilot reviews are both negative and positive, perhaps more positive, but then that site is a heap of ham to me...so take reviews on there with a heap of salt.


I will get more advice before deciding who to invest with, I do know I am not confident enough to go it alone at present.


So far I can only compare two companies, I will look for more, but in the meantime if anyone has any advise about this company, I would love to hear it.
Thank you.

masonic

"See how much you'll pay for a Fully-Managed Investment Portfolio
Service Costs: 0.40%. Product Costs: Typically 0.82%"

Hard to see why you'd need an adviser when they market a robo service directly to investors for substantially less.

dunstonh

I believe SJP have people managing their funds on a monthly basis?

Dont fall for that marketing hype. All funds have people working on them daily.

The main concern is that they don't seem to have been around as long as SJP

They have been around a long tim. However, it should be treated the same way. Do not use.

SJP seem to say they hope to achieve around 7% on my medium risk fund, and True Potential about 5%, although I am aware there are never any guarantees.

Is that using exactly the same volatility measure? If not, then its pointless comparing as all risk scales vary. Medium with one company could be high with another or low with another. We break medium risk into 4 categories and across those four is around a 40% difference in equity. Risk profiles are usually split by a volatility rating. That gives you the context that word descriptions of cautious or medium cannot give you.

I have never heard of True Potential before, so wonder if anyone uses them, or has heard about them in a positive or negative way?

They used to phone me up once or twice a year trying to get me to give up my IFA status and join them. I could see no benefit for an IFA unless that IFA was close to retirement and looking at an exit in the next few years or was lazy. I can't see any reason an IFA would want to use them in their clients best interests. However, all that said, what they offer is suitable. Much in the same way SJP is suitable. You would probably say better than a bank offering but not truly IFA. Neither is an option I would want to find myself in but if you did, it would not be a wrong outcome.

Maybe a filter should be added to questions-to-ask-an-IFA. Do you use or mostly use a single investment provider/solution. If yes, then move on.

ianthy

My long standing IFA joined True Potential 12 months ago. He completed my pension transfer etc., but I then found the ongoing costs associated with TP were too expensive V the performance. I now manage my own funds, they are not TP funds. I am happy to pay for advice as and when I need it.

I think Dunstonh is right, my ex-iFA is near to retirement with a massive portfolio of clients, so no doubt it suits his retirement plan to join TP.

sandsy

The bigger question is why you are only looking at working with advisers who aren't independent and are only interested in pushing their own company's investment proposition?

Why don't you have a chat with a truly independent adviser?

Flim

I have been with SJP and left them for TP. The main reason for leaving SJP (besides all the negative reviews on here ref costs), was they did not seem to be able to offer any actual advice other than ..just give me all your money. Over the time we were with them we made about 5 % overall (low risk), which I was basically happy with. (My priority at the mo is to at least maintain pace with inflation).

We then changed to TP as I wanted some more specific advice. (Their FA has been far more helpefull). However, to date we have only averaged about 2% overall (low risk), but I guess it is early days. (I hope). I wish I had the brains to DIY!

dunstonh

I wish I had the brains to DIY!

Or use an IFA. The choice should be DIY or IFA. As simple as that. Rather than out of the frying pan into the fire.