Views on Royal London Governed Portfolio

JoeCrystal

Mick70 wrote: »

yeah ive questioned the IFA about ongoing charge if do the transfer but he has said this is the most critical part of what they offer , seeing as the sum is over £1m . I can cancel the IFA management charge at any point so may try it for a year and see if benefit or not as this area is all new to me at moment

That makes sense. What are you actually going to get from the IFA for the ongoing servicing charge?

bostonerimus

Mick70 wrote: »

Im surprised at that , well done to you , i had been given impression the lowest rate would be 0.35%
If I use RL going forward I will be charged 0.35% by RL (large value fund) and 0.35% by the IFA also, giving total combined annual charges of 0.7% - wonder if i should question it now?

When you are use to being beaten over the head with a cricket bat then being punched in the face seems good. In my DIY world 0.7% sounds like a lot to be paying each year. I'd also double check on your statements to make sure of that number and also about any drawdown and transfer fees.

bostonerimus

Mick70 wrote: »

yeah ive questioned the IFA about ongoing charge if do the transfer but he has said this is the most critical part of what they offer , seeing as the sum is over £1m . I can cancel the IFA management charge at any point so may try it for a year and see if benefit or not as this area is all new to me at moment

If you stick with RLGP4 why do you need the IFA? To slowly reduce risk in the portfolio as you approach retirement by adding some other RLGP funds? That seems easy to do over the years. I can see a need for the IFA for transfers and set up and then for developing a drawdown plan, but what do they do for the ongoing fees?

Mick70

JoeCrystal wrote: »

That makes sense. What are you actually going to get from the IFA for the ongoing servicing charge?

qtrly reviews on performance , risk reviews , communication with RL as and when necessary ?

Mick70

bostonerimus wrote: »

When you are use to being beaten over the head with a cricket bat then being punched in the face seems good. In my DIY world 0.7% sounds like a lot to be paying each year. I'd also double check on your statements to make sure of that number and also about any drawdown and transfer fees.

the transfer fee is a whole different matter, to transfer my pot DB to DC , charge is 0.75% of the pot

JoeCrystal

Mick70 wrote: »

the transfer fee is a whole different matter, to transfer my pot DB to DC, the charge is 0.75% of the pot

Personally, I think £7,500 fees for getting £1 million pot is a good deal!

Mick70 wrote: »

qtrly reviews on performance, risk reviews, communication with RL as and when necessary?

You can get the performance on your fund by the factsheets which are available on the RL website. Quarterly review sounds a bit overkill, to be honest. The communication aspect I found is a matter of my IFA forwarding the email from me to RL regarding the change in the contribution for example (and for free as I did the transfer on a transactional basis). I am not sure 0.75% servicing charge by an IFA is worth it in my judgement. However, as you said earlier on, stick with it for a year and see if you are happy with it.

bostonerimus

Mick70 wrote: »

qtrly reviews on performance , risk reviews , communication with RL as and when necessary ?

That's easy to do yourself and should take just a few mins. RL management are making the investment decisions so other than long term strategic changes that happen over years and that should be easy for you to make, what is there to do?

bostonerimus

JoeCrystal wrote: »

Personally, I think £7,500 fees for getting £1 million pot is a good deal!

I know that this is an unfair comparison as I'm in the US, but on $1M I pay $700. And when I go to do drawdown I'll still pay $700 which would be 1.8% of a 4%, 40k drawdown. With 7500 in fees that would be 19% of a 4%, 40k drawdown. But your fees should be less that that with 1M in that pot, but I still wonder if there are any drawdown fees.

davidwatts

bostonerimus wrote: »

but I still wonder if there are any drawdown fees.

£204 one-off fee to set up "income release" if done during the first 12 months, nothing after that.

JoeCrystal

bostonerimus wrote: »

I know that this is an unfair comparison as I'm in the US, but on $1M I pay $700. And when I go to do drawdown I'll still pay $700 which would be 1.8% of a 4%, 40k drawdown. With 7500 in fees that would be 19% of a 4%, 40k drawdown. But your fees should be less that that with 1M in that pot, but I still wonder if there are any drawdown fees.

As far as I can see from my research, according to their charge literature, To use Income Release, there’s an initial one-off charge of £204 which covers the costs in setting up and administering the Income Release Account. However, if the pension plan has been in force for 12 months or more when the Income Release switch on, then they would not apply this charge.

Yes, that was an unfair comparison! Everything is cheaper across the pond!