investment advice

Brown_Bear

eskbanker wrote: »

All the tinfoil hat stuff is probably best kept to the other threads that are more appropriate locations for that sort of thing - OP here is recently widowed and looking for assistance with sensible options for their kids' legacy, so I'd suggest that clouding the issue with that sort of talk is unlikely to be helpful....

OP sounds like the exact demographic that bank fraudsters etc go after.

eskbanker

Brown_Bear wrote: »

OP sounds like the exact demographic that bank fraudsters etc go after.

Advising OP to be vigilant is fair play, but dropping hints about the need to consider all sorts of alternative non-mainstream 'investments' seems rather less constructive to me in the circumstances.

Anyway, enough said, no need to derail this thread any further....

jimjames

dkmee90 wrote: »

0.70% Adviser Charge
0.25% Platform Charge
1.00% Investment Fund Charge

That last number and suggestion of 1-1.5%seems somewhat on the high side. With RDR I'd expect that to be below 1% now, an adviser should be getting better rates.

DoctorStrange

£7,500 is a lot to spend on any service, so have a good think about what exactly you're going to receive for such an outlay and whether you feel that is good value for money.

There's so much free information out there these days and there are many helpful forums (like this one!) which can answer questions you may have, which you can then factor in when deciding whether it's worth paying so much to someone for advice.

For what it's worth, I'd say the first thing you need to think about what you really want from your investments. Do you want to chase potential big returns and don't mind losing some of the money if it goes badly? Or would you rather preserve what you have and add to it slowly and steadily?

Do you want to lock it away and rarely think of it, or would you like to be able to get some or all of it immediately if you had to?

Once you're absolutely clear on your goals, you can work backwards to select the right course of action to help you achieve them - and by doing your own research and asking questions you might just find you'll save yourself thousands

dunstonh

That last number and suggestion of 1-1.5%seems somewhat on the high side. With RDR I'd expect that to be below 1% now, an adviser should be getting better rates.

Based on mine and other advisers on the site that have mentioned their charges, the OCF tends to range around 0.3-0.6%. Advisers are required to include transaction charges on the figures they use. Whilst most of us here will disregard those, an adviser should not.

I am wondering if this is a wealth management company. They seem to compete with SJP for high costs

AnotherJoe

Is the company SJP by any chance ?

Brown_Bear

eskbanker wrote: »

Advising OP to be vigilant is fair play, but dropping hints about the need to consider all sorts of alternative non-mainstream 'investments' seems rather less constructive to me in the circumstances.
...

I think the OP is sensible enough to read a range of opinions. That's why most people post here.

Unfortunately, loads of older people are getting stung by telephone bank fraudsters etc.
If it's all in one account - that's a risk.

A few gold sovereigns buried in the garden is much safer from fraud scams, hacking etc.

Obviously this has different risks. But for the elderly, who cannot really keep up with the latest online frauds etc - I think it's a good option.

celt80

The company is not SJP its GMB Portfolio Services.

As I have said I'm new to investments as we never had spare money to invest when my wife was here. I'm far from daft though thats why I'm asking for advice here. I'm 38 so I'm in no hurry to chase big returns with more risk, I would just like to know that I'm going to build on what I invested over the long term. I would still have money aside that I'm not investing so that I have money to hand if needed, we took good advice regarding life and critical illness insurances as well as pensions.

I thought the £7500 was rather high which is why I'm seeking all your advice which is greatly appreciated.

bowlhead99

Brown_Bear wrote: »

I think the OP is sensible enough to read a range of opinions. That's why most people post here.

Unfortunately, loads of older people are getting stung by telephone bank fraudsters etc.
If it's all in one account - that's a risk.

IMHO, the OP doesn't sound like a confused little old man who, after taking professional independent financial advice on how to invest his wife's legacy into a medium risk strategy for his kids, might run into the issue that because all the money was in one investment account, he would be tempted to transfer a large portion of that money to a telephone fraudster.

A few gold sovereigns buried in the garden is much safer from fraud scams, hacking etc.

The OP is looking for advice on how to grow his £250k to provide for the family's future. If you literally mean 'a few' gold sovereigns (say, four or five of them) you have deployed less than half a percent of his capital and it will not make a material difference to his long term outcome, so is not really worth doing.

Perhaps you mean a larger quantity.

He is investing wife's money for his kids. Though we don't know his background I'll make a leap into the unknown and suggest that his offspring are minors who do not yet have capacity to invest the money for themselves.

Perhaps the kids are young and naive. When they find buried treasure in the garden and sell it to their mates for some sweets or give it to a passing homeless man, not having the comprehension that the money was supposed to support them through university and get them on the property ladder, we might expect the OP to regret following your advice

Imagine their precious little faces after a lack of judgement in which they tell some friendly-looking window cleaner that daddy keeps his money at the bottom of the garden, and then at the weekend the nasty man comes back with some friends wearing masks and they bludgeon daddy to death and dig it up.

obviously this has different risks. But for the elderly, who cannot really keep up with the latest online frauds etc - I think it's a good option.

- Storing a substantial amount of money in bullion in your garden to avoid potential telephone scams or an "untrustworthy UK government" is clearly something fraught with risk.

- The OP who is seeking advice on this forum does not seem like he is elderly and unable to keep up with media advice to avoid scams; nor unable to comprehend advice from investment professionals selling an independent advisory service. He is just looking for a steer on the costs of such advice as an alternative to learning how to DIY.

- As eskbanker suggested earlier, "All the tinfoil hat stuff is probably best kept to the other threads that are more appropriate locations for that sort of thing" rather than "clouding the issue" with the pros and cons of every eventuality.

DoctorStrange

"I'm in no hurry to chase big returns with more risk, I would just like to know that I'm going to build on what I invested over the long term. I would still have money aside that I'm not investing so that I have money to hand if needed"

So would it be fair to say that you're happy to lock the funds away for 7-10 years, and that you're happy to sit on any losses that happen during that time, in the hope they'll bounce back over the years?