IFA Charges

eskbanker

Wildsound said:

fred246 said:

£50 to check it over would be about right. What does a dentist charge for a check up? They are far more qualified than an IFA.

I'm curious to know what you're expecting an IFA to do for you when you go to see one?

Provide an umbrella to offer some sort of shelter from all those pigs flying around above?

redmalc

wow it looks like I have opened the IFA floodgates, well for reference I am not that savvy with investing myself and to date this tax year all of the investments have been made by my IFA and I am 10,20% to the good , that is minus his 0,5% so I am quite happy with that,

Albermarle

wow it looks like I have opened the IFA floodgates,

Most questions like yours tend to spark off the same predictable similar reactions from the same people.

BananaRepublic

zagfles said:

fred246 said:

bowlhead99 said:

fred246 said:

Would like to see a 'breakdown' on the £4.5K. How much of that is the 'getting out of bed fee' and how much is the 'putting on spectacles fee'?. £4.5K is a complete and utter joke.

As you have pointed out, it's only an hours work a year, and they are less qualified than a dentist, so probably should only be able to charge a little over minimum wage, so a tenner a year should be enough. I suppose they have some sort of costs of being in business, so maybe £20.

As you say, if people keep paying the £4500 they will keep charging it. What you should do is change the system from within: become an IFA customer, and then refuse to keep paying the £4500, so they will no longer be able to keep charging it. Instead, they will charge a more reasonable figure, like £10-20.

Have you not even read my first post? I have already suggested 2.5 to 5 times as much. £50.

The problem with the comparison with dentists is like you say, they are more qualified, it takes 4-5 years of hard study, which means they tend to get things right. IFAs often don't, resulting in sometimes big payouts. If dentists were less qualified, they'd probably end up charging more because more people would sue them for negligence! And IFAs handle vast amounts, so the payouts can be vast.

I've just been researching an IFA for a relative, they're quite small, seem reputable, get good reviews, but they've had 9 ombudsman decisions go against them in the last year alone! Stuff like Cape Verde investments! So all IFAs will pay for this through their insurance, just like eg all young people pay high car insurance because young people are more likely to have accidents.

How did you find out about the ombudsman decisions going against them? 

I don’t use an IFA, but I’ve known several people who do and they had no problems. 

zagfles

BananaRepublic said:

zagfles said:

fred246 said:

bowlhead99 said:

fred246 said:

Would like to see a 'breakdown' on the £4.5K. How much of that is the 'getting out of bed fee' and how much is the 'putting on spectacles fee'?. £4.5K is a complete and utter joke.

As you have pointed out, it's only an hours work a year, and they are less qualified than a dentist, so probably should only be able to charge a little over minimum wage, so a tenner a year should be enough. I suppose they have some sort of costs of being in business, so maybe £20.

As you say, if people keep paying the £4500 they will keep charging it. What you should do is change the system from within: become an IFA customer, and then refuse to keep paying the £4500, so they will no longer be able to keep charging it. Instead, they will charge a more reasonable figure, like £10-20.

Have you not even read my first post? I have already suggested 2.5 to 5 times as much. £50.

The problem with the comparison with dentists is like you say, they are more qualified, it takes 4-5 years of hard study, which means they tend to get things right. IFAs often don't, resulting in sometimes big payouts. If dentists were less qualified, they'd probably end up charging more because more people would sue them for negligence! And IFAs handle vast amounts, so the payouts can be vast.

I've just been researching an IFA for a relative, they're quite small, seem reputable, get good reviews, but they've had 9 ombudsman decisions go against them in the last year alone! Stuff like Cape Verde investments! So all IFAs will pay for this through their insurance, just like eg all young people pay high car insurance because young people are more likely to have accidents.

How did you find out about the ombudsman decisions going against them? 

I don’t use an IFA, but I’ve known several people who do and they had no problems. 

You can search here:

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decisions-case-studies/ombudsman-decisions

eskbanker

BananaRepublic said:

How did you find out about the ombudsman decisions going against them?  

Ombudsman complaint data volumes are published at https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/data-insight/half-yearly-complaints-data and decisions themselves are searchable at https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decisions-case-studies/ombudsman-decisions

TadleyBaggie

I use a IFA to manage a £320K SIPP and S&S ISAs, pay 0.5% and have no issues. The growth I've seen over the last 5 years, due to advice and management of the account by the IFA, is many times the fees paid. I'm certain if I'd been in charge of the investments the value would be way lower.

A good example, my IFA got me out of the Woodford funds over a year before everyone else was trying to bail out and failing.

dunstonh

How did you find out about the ombudsman decisions going against them? 

The FOS say its something like 85% have never had a complaint go to FOS, let alone rule against them.   So, to have 7 complaints go to the FOS within a year on a small local firm, would raise concern.  Using unregulated investments would be a concern.  I recall one stat from about 5 years ago that indicated that less than 1% used unregulated investments and other weird or unusual things.  Yet that 1% did an awful lot of it.   

 The FCA should force a pro-active review of any unregulated investment sales over the last 15 years.    It won't but it should.   

BananaRepublic

dunstonh said:

How did you find out about the ombudsman decisions going against them? 

The FOS say its something like 85% have never had a complaint go to FOS, let alone rule against them.   So, to have 7 complaints go to the FOS within a year on a small local firm, would raise concern.  Using unregulated investments would be a concern.  I recall one stat from about 5 years ago that indicated that less than 1% used unregulated investments and other weird or unusual things.  Yet that 1% did it an awful lot of it.   

 The FCA should force a pro-active review of any unregulated investment sales over the last 15 years.    It won't but it should.   

I did a search against local IFA’s and very few had complaints, none of which were upheld. 7 complaints would put me off. 

fred246

Our window cleaner does a good job but I would be unhappy if he charged 0.5% of our house value for washing them. £4.5K for glancing at a few sheets of paper is excessive. It's what's commonly known as a rip off.