IFA costs

Albermarle

bostonerimus said:

Coming from the US the UK pension world seems very bizarre. The following will not  answer your question, but just me letting go of my spleen. If the AVC is in a DB scheme then a transfer should not be allowed as you signed a contract along with a load of other people, if it's a DC scheme then you should be able to transfer it to a SIPP or similar DC scheme when you leave work, there should be no requirement for any advice and also no possibility of crying foul after the fact. I can see why the AVC administrator or the receiving company demand that you get some third party advice as in the UK people seem to want to be protected from their own bad decisions after the fact. However, the costs involved in getting that advice seem to be outrageous.

I think you have posted this to the wrong thread ?

ErinGoBrath

bostonerimus said:

Coming from the US the UK pension world seems very bizarre. The following will not  answer your question, but just me letting go of my spleen. If the AVC is in a DB scheme then a transfer should not be allowed as you signed a contract along with a load of other people, if it's a DC scheme then you should be able to transfer it to a SIPP or similar DC scheme when you leave work, there should be no requirement for any advice and also no possibility of crying foul after the fact. I can see why the AVC administrator or the receiving company demand that you get some third party advice as in the UK people seem to want to be protected from their own bad decisions after the fact. However, the costs involved in getting that advice seem to be outrageous.

If the costs are outrageous blame the ambulance chasers and greedy chancers that want all the benefits of high returns but accept none of the risks involved.

dunstonh

However, the costs involved in getting that advice seem to be outrageous.

From what I have seen of US advice, the UK seems to be higher qualified and regulated and cheaper.     (I have had several clients with US domiciled investments and they were quite frankly naff and twice as much as the UK)

I suspect the reality is that the cost of advice in the UK and US is not much different in that you can get cheap or expensive and that both extremes are probably similar.

TVAS

They are overcharging you. Offer to pay a flat fee 3k?

If you don't need the funds if it goes tits up why are you transferring now? Why not wait until the year of retirement? 

There does not seem to be a purpose to this transfer.