How do I find a good IFA

WTY433

Oops - Duplicated response

WTY433

Over a 5 year period I have summised that on quotes obtained so far..

SJP want £56562 and the 2 IFAs so far want £27,500 + £32,500 so not small sums.
These were from searching adviser book for IFAs fairly local to me (15 miles) who can handle pension transfers.
The options were limited as there weren't that many.
Living in the North West I wouldn't say they were "City firms"
I have had someone approach me offing rates you state but currently I do not know them from Adam. The offer came from someone seeing my posts. It could well be genuine and I would do what checks I could before taking it further.

How do I get to qualified advisers who will charge these sorts of rates?

RADDERS

Depending on whereabouts in the north west you are, I used a firm in Cumbria and were very happy with their service.

WTY433

I'm in Warrington, Cheshire

BritishInvestor

WTY433 wrote: »

I have asked the questions and the results are very interesting.
So far as follows

SJP = 1.81% per year with 6 Year tie in and not an IFA (original discussion ) 4.5 on key facts but written documentation reducing this to 3%

IFA 1 = 2.4% initial with ongoing 0.25% per year (Report included in 2.4%) - Farsight
IFA 2 = 2.2% initial then 0.75% ongoing -plus £1500 for report. - Prosper
IFA 3 = Awaiting e-mail. - Beauford

A few questions


Does the SJP ongoing number include ALL costs? My understanding was that the SJP annual charge for a pension is 1.5% (0.5% to the adviser) which doesn't leave a lot for fund costs (ALL funds costs - OCF + transactional charges).


What portfolio have they recommended?


How often does their adviser propose to rebalance the portfolio?


How will you benchmark their performance (risk adjusted) to confirm that their "distinct approach to investment management" is superior to something simple such as Vanguard?


What will they be doing for their 1.8% a year - solely managing your investments is not sufficient, IMO

dunstonh

Does the SJP ongoing number include ALL costs? My understanding was that the SJP annual charge for a pension is 1.5% (0.5% to the adviser) which doesn't leave a lot for fund costs (ALL funds costs - OCF + transactional charges).

SJP often quote AMC when everyone else is using OCF+transaction costs.

How often does their adviser propose to rebalance the portfolio?

Propose and actual are often two different thing. A recent SJP case we took over had a selection of single sector funds with no strategy and the adviser hadnt done anything to them in years.

What will they be doing for their 1.8% a year - solely managing your investments is not sufficient, IMO

For a lot of people, thats mostly what they want. Rebalancing, review the suitability and make adjustments, comfort conversations, bed & ISA, bed & pension etc.

soulsaver

dunstonh wrote: »

With £625,000 you should be looking to get that initial charge down to around £2000 ish. The adviser ongoing charge that dominates is 0.5%. They should be your targets and should be easily achievable.

Boutique firms tend to charge more. City firms tend to cost more (more expensive locations).

Is that £2k on £625k a typo? I was mostly quoted c.3% which would be nearer £20k!

Aegis

Not speaking for dunstonh, but I certainly couldn't do a DB case for £2,000. Internally, we work on the basis that the report has to be prepared by a subject matter expert, backed by a full cash flow forecast with numerous stress-test scenarios and checked internally by two pension transfer specialists, one during the process and one before the report is provided. It's a huge undertaking and probably the riskiest business that we take on for typical clients, so we just can't bring the cost down to £2k for anyone.



That said, £20k seems far too much for the work done based on my own work in this field over the last seven years.

dunstonh

Is that £2k on £625k a typo? I was mostly quoted c.3% which would be nearer £20k!

To be fair, £2k on a DB transfer would be very low. £2k on a £625k cash investment is what I was thinking when I typed that (i.e. a PPP transfer, new money or transfer of existing investments). So, a typo in respect of this thread subject. I would think around £5k.

3% with no cap or tiering is just taking the P.

soulsaver

dunstonh wrote: »

3% with no cap or tiering is just taking the P.

Totally agree. I paid 0.85% in the end on £340K.