Saint James's Place

steampowered

jimi_man wrote: »

If all people are interested in is food purely as fuel, then Aldi/Lidl is the way to go, every time.

All very true. The difference between that example and SJP is transparency over costs.

When you go shopping, the costs are very obvious. You can make an informed decision whether you want to pay 30p for a yogurt at Aldi or £1 for a better yogurt from Waitrose.

SJP are not at all transparent about their costs. Most of SJP's customers have no idea how much they are paying. Someone with SJP with an average portfolio could easily find they have paid SJP £1 million over their lifetime. That's the problem - if a customer really thinks SJP is worth that then that's fine, but I think most SJP customers would be shocked to find out what they are paying.

Boleyn19

This has been a very interesting thread to read.
My parents were long-term customers with SJPP using the same adviser for all those years. My Dad had something of a good financial head and SJPP helped with setting up a trust to go towards IHT. When my Dad died he left my brother and I some money and I moved my share out to my IFA's platform (ISA and SIPP) and other ISAs and savings. My Mum died in January and I'm wondering what to do with her SJPP money. I was going to move out money to the ISA and leave the rest as a comparison. But wondering now as I did not realise that they are so expensive or anything about exit fees.

SweatyBald

Exit fees get the headlines and I zoomed in on them. Since they taper off it's unlikely they'll affect you unless any of her investments are recent. Good luck with that, I did the same last year. No fun at all.
I guess what I mean Is, ensure they don't affect you.

londoninvestor

Boleyn19 wrote: »

This has been a very interesting thread to read.
My parents were long-term customers with SJPP using the same adviser for all those years. My Dad had something of a good financial head and SJPP helped with setting up a trust to go towards IHT. When my Dad died he left my brother and I some money and I moved my share out to my IFA's platform (ISA and SIPP) and other ISAs and savings. My Mum died in January and I'm wondering what to do with her SJPP money. I was going to move out money to the ISA and leave the rest as a comparison. But wondering now as I did not realise that they are so expensive or anything about exit fees.

Be especially careful about "leaving" the money with SJP if what that actually means is setting up a new SJP product in your name. Their front-loaded fee structure means that could be an expensive thing to do without thinking about it.

Boleyn19

londoninvestor wrote: »

Be especially careful about "leaving" the money with SJP if what that actually means is setting up a new SJP product in your name. Their front-loaded fee structure means that could be an expensive thing to do without thinking about it.

The units in her ISA (no longer an ISA of course) and Unit Trust are being transferred into my name at no cost.What else should I be aware of going forward?

londoninvestor

Boleyn19 wrote: »

The units in her ISA (no longer an ISA of course) and Unit Trust are being transferred into my name at no cost.What else should I be aware of going forward?

Particularly anything related to their insurance bond products, which their trusts tend to be based on.

Boleyn19

Update to my SJPP inheritance. The unit trust was transferred to my name 26 June and I was told that the ISA was actioned and in process. As I had not heard anything since then (no transfer, no account registration/login) I phoned today. The team has "messed up" and not done anything with the ISA. The person has escalated it and I asked that she put something on the email regarding their mistake to speed things up. She said "hopefully" it will go quickly. I've emailed the advisor who was with my parents for so long.
Not filled with confidence about them at all.

londoninvestor

Boleyn19 wrote: »

Update to my SJPP inheritance. The unit trust was transferred to my name 26 June and I was told that the ISA was actioned and in process. As I had not heard anything since then (no transfer, no account registration/login) I phoned today. The team has "messed up" and not done anything with the ISA. The person has escalated it and I asked that she put something on the email regarding their mistake to speed things up. She said "hopefully" it will go quickly. I've emailed the advisor who was with my parents for so long.
Not filled with confidence about them at all.

It's almost as if the sense of loyalty they instil in some clients is based on smooth talk and salesmanship, rather than service and value for money.

Boleyn19

Another update. Apparently as the money to be transferred into my name was in an ISA I needed to give explicit signed permission for it to be unwrapped. No-one told me about this so I did not give this permission (given the ISA status ceases on probate). So when the team got the instruction to transfer without this permission they did nothing. Not one of them thought to contact me - direct or via the FA. I've put in a complaint.

SonOf

Another update. Apparently as the money to be transferred into my name was in an ISA I needed to give explicit signed permission for it to be unwrapped.

It automatically becomes unwrapped on death. You are not in a position to give permission either way.

So when the team got the instruction to transfer without this permission they did nothing. Not one of them thought to contact me - direct or via the FA. I've put in a complaint.

Communication should be with the executor of the estate. Is that you or someone else?