Can financial advisor move my pension?

Pension_Geek

Linton wrote: »

I am a little surprised at your statement that the adviser (FA or IFA?) gets 0.5% annually (0.5% monthly is 6%/year!) from the platform. The highest total DIY platform charge is HL at 0.45% so presumably you are claiming that the platform is charging you significantly more than this in total.

I would have thought this is an ongoing adviser fee paid by the platform (but not necessarily required). Not out of the ordinary. What the client gets for that is something between them and their adviser.

Pension_Geek

beesmax wrote: »

He has a charge for research and advice done by his firm, as well as a set percentage for all funds that he transfers. Those are his terms which I agreed to and am happy with as an ongoing part of the contract. So far he hasn't billed me but I'm expecting that once the transfer is complete, I'll be getting the bill. The problem is not that I don't want to pay him.
The issue is that I did not agree with the transfer of my money but he went ahead regardless. I'm now in a situation where I'm not happy with the transaction. I am quite happy to pay him for the research and recommendations he made as agreed but not with the fact that he just moved my money without my decision.

You need to speak to him personally, best in writing to express your concerns. This might just be a misunderstanding, but you need to speak to him. You do have cooling off rights as well.

Linton

Pension_Geek wrote: »

I would have thought this is an ongoing adviser fee paid by the platform (but not necessarily required). Not out of the ordinary. What the client gets for that is something between them and their adviser.

My point is that if the platform is paying the adviser 0.5% they must be charging the customer even more to cover their costs, which seems unlikely. Perhaps the 0.5% is the ongoing charge for the adviser to manage the portfolio.

Pension_Geek

Linton wrote: »

My point is that if the platform is paying the adviser 0.5% they must be charging the customer even more to cover their costs, which seems unlikely. Perhaps the 0.5% is the ongoing charge for the adviser to manage the portfolio.

Just off the top of my head, Nucleus charge 0.35% platform fee, many advisers will take 0.5%, and then you have the fund charges. Overall could be in the region of 2% depending on fund choices.

There are some platforms charging "orphan clients" extra now too, as there is extra admin involved.

What you pay your adviser, platform provider and fund manager can vary, but its not always cheap.

Pension_Geek

And I should add to that, that the platform won't consider what value the customer gets for the adviser fee. Its simply part of the relationship. The Platform fee pays for the admin of the platform.

Linton

Pension_Geek wrote: »

Just off the top of my head, Nucleus charge 0.35% platform fee, many advisers will take 0.5%, and then you have the fund charges. Overall could be in the region of 2% depending on fund choices.

There are some platforms charging "orphan clients" extra now too, as there is extra admin involved.

What you pay your adviser, platform provider and fund manager can vary, but its not always cheap.

Agreed - what I read from the OP was that this 0.5% was some sort of extra commission. However it now looks that the Adviser believed that the OP wanted ongoing management whereas the OP believed he was just getting advice. So its a misunderstanding rather than some sort of devious behaviour on the part of the adviser. It would be interesting to see what the signed agreement actually said.

beesmax

to clarify, the platform charge is around 0.35% and the advisor charge is 0.5%. That amount, as the wording goes, will be taken off the value of my investment.
One thing I hadn't appreciated was what you described, Pension Geek, about the fact that my advisor has taken over management of my pension fund within the umbrella of his company. Something he refrained from mentioning when I asked him what the wording of the letter of authority was about.
But your assessment has been helpful.

Brynsam

Instead of banging on here, why not contact him for some answers? You keep blaming him for not telling you things, but I wonder exactly what you signed?

beesmax

Brynsam wrote: »

Instead of banging on here, why not contact him for some answers? You keep blaming him for not telling you things, but I wonder exactly what you signed?

If you read the WHOLE thread, you would have noticed that I've already mentioned TWICE in clarification that I have spoken to him several times and I also quoted the terms I signed for, what the terms and charges are etc, and that is NOT the problem.
Also you will see that in fact the original question I asked about has been confirmed already by Pension Geek which is what my last post refers to. Not sure what you're actually adding to this conversation that is valuable, beyond "banging on" about nothing in particular.
In summary, the IFA acted out of turn and I have now written to my pension companies to cancel the transfer. I'm terminating my relationship with this guy. Moral of the story, don't hand over authority to these guys.

sandsy

beesmax wrote: »

He has a charge for research and advice done by his firm, as well as a set percentage for all funds that he transfers. Those are his terms which I agreed to and am happy with as an ongoing part of the contract. So far he hasn't billed me but I'm expecting that once the transfer is complete, I'll be getting the bill. The problem is not that I don't want to pay him.
The issue is that I did not agree with the transfer of my money but he went ahead regardless. I'm now in a situation where I'm not happy with the transaction. I am quite happy to pay him for the research and recommendations he made as agreed but not with the fact that he just moved my money without my decision.

So it sounds like you need to pay him for the research and advice. However, as you never agreed to the transfer, it sounds like you need to dispute that part of the bill, raising a formal complaint with the company if required.

Additionally, you should tell the new provider that you wish to cancel the ongoing adviser charge and make clear to your adviser that you are not contracting for ongoing advice services with him.