OEIC Income Fund

Annie123_2

Hello, my sister has a large investment in Scottish Widows Momentum Income Fund which is summarised here http://www.digitallook.com/cgi-bin/digital/security.cgi?username=&ac=&id=104410#?cht

It doesn't look like the funds doing very well and she's wondering whether to switch but has no idea. Her advisor at Lloyds doesn't seem to be advising.

dunstonh

Her advisor at Lloyds doesn't seem to be advising.

They aren't allowed to. They are tied agents not IFAs.

It doesn't look like the funds doing very well

Its a bank fund so that is to be expected. The better Scottish Widows funds come from the SWIP side not the SW side and LTSB tied reps dont get access to those.

Its not actually doing bad. Its just that the underlying assets are mostly fixed interest and its been a poor year for those. With interest rates looking to be on the turn now you would expect to see an improvement in fixed interest funds.

The link you gave comparing it to the FTSE100 is pointless as it only holds 14% in equities compared to the FTSE100 which is 100%. You cannot compare the low risk fund against the medium/high one.

There are a lot of better options but you need to understand that the fund itself has had a bad year because of where it invests. Not because it specifically is a bad fund.

Annie123_2

thanks very much dunstonh, sorry about the link was just trying to get some indication of how the fund is doing and not sure where to look.

"The better Scottish Widows funds come from the SWIP side not the SW side", how could we get some advice about the better funds and should she consider transferring?

dunstonh

If you want whole of market advice, you get it from an IFA. There is a UK database at www.unbiased.co.uk (filter by postcode but nothing else. some of the other filters, in particular qualification, are flawed. i.e. you put a qualification in but it will only show those that have recorded that particular qualification. Not those at an equal level with a different version or higher)

Tied agents can only represent the company they work for and offer the products their company allows.

Scottish Widows reps at LloydsTSB get less Scottish Widows products available to them than an IFA, some of their versions are cut down in features (or internal rules) and all of them are more expensive than an IFA can offer.

Their reps also cannot portfolio plan, discuss products of another company apart from generically and cannot recommend cancellation or fund switches on their own products. An IFA can do all those things hence the independent.

Avoid salesforce IFAs (national and regional firms) as salesforces are the evil in financial services (whether tied, multi-tied or independent). You are less likely to get decent financial advice from someone with sales targets.