IFA ongoing fee..Why pay?

Aegis

fred246 wrote: »

Either the regulator needs to act or customers need to toughen up. £2.5K a year to glance at my portfolio? You're having a laugh. I'll give you £200. That's more than enough.

It's not. Offer me that and I'll tell you to go away, no matter what firm I belong to.

Malthusian

Aegis wrote: »

It's not. Offer me that and I'll tell you to go away, no matter what firm I belong to.

At which point both of you walk away happy - Fred doesn't want advice and you don't want to give it to him, so a mutually beneficial deal has been struck.

Aegis

Exactly. I have plenty of clients willing to pay a reasonable fee for my services, I don't need to deal with chancers that want to offer me far less than what I'm worth.

fred246

Why would you want to transfer a pension into something that you thought was better and then allow it to be stifled by an IFAs charges? Doesn't seem much point. You have to remember that an IFA has no practical skills. It's not like servicing your own car or doing your own surgery. An intelligent person can gather their skills very quickly. A week reading an investment book on holiday was all it took for me. Once you understand it you do a better job than an IFA simply by cutting out the middle man.

Malthusian

fred246 wrote: »

An intelligent person can gather their skills very quickly.

And people not as clever as you?

Speedbird676

There are lots of factors, not just intelligence.

Just like some people use a travel agent to book their holidays, whereas I prefer to book directly myself. I generally get a better deal but also like more control over what I'm getting and the flexibility to change the bits in between the flights.

Likewise, after I met an IFA and did some research I decided to DIY. That was partly driven by the fees but also by becoming interested in investing and wanting more control.

Horses for courses - some people will see value in paying for someone to do something you don't want to do yourself whilst others prefer not to.

fred246

Malthusian wrote: »

And people not as clever as you?

As I say they need to negotiate hard. Once you understand investments it only takes a few seconds to glance at a portfolio. You see it on this forum. If someone posts their portfolio an IFA will crticise it in seconds. £200 is more than enough. The IFAs won't voluntarily reduce their prices. The regulators feel they have to 'leave it to the market'. People paying for IFAs need to take the lead and get better value from their investments.

[Deleted User]

Speedbird676 wrote: »

Horses for courses - some people will see value in paying for someone to do something you don't want to do yourself whilst others prefer not to.

But the FCA are saying quite a bit more than that at #130

fred246

ZingPowZing wrote: »

But the FCA are saying quite a bit more than that at #130

Yes they are saying it is a straightforward task. Straightforward tasks shouldn't cost £2.5K. Generally it's called a rip off.

SonOf

ZingPowZing wrote: »

But the FCA are saying quite a bit more than that at #130

That is not what they are saying.

They have, quite rightly, pointed out that some firms are taking the P with their level of charges and that fees of that size are not adding value.

This is nothing new. For years, we have said on this site that some adviser firms are good value and some are poor value and some really charge disgraceful amounts.

That doesnt mean all advisers are bad value. it means the bad value ones are bad value.