Help - IFA appears to have transferred pension pots without written consent

[Deleted User]

Sure. Forgive. As long as he pays up for the money you should have had but for his error. Has he offered to compensate?   

Not sure how long you’ve been out of the market,  I am up 4.5% in February.  Depending on your investments, your number would have been different, but most assets went up over the last few weeks.  

scdandem

There are over 5,000 advisers in the UK. Quite a few have probably made the error of clicking "proceed" on a certain provider's web interface without realising it meant "start the transfer process" rather than "print the forms for the client to sign". (As Dunston said, it's surprisingly easily done.) The number that have turned a cluck-up into a conspiracy by trying to shift blame onto the ceding provider, the one entity in the chain that is least to blame, can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand.

And as John Edwards says in his books, choosing a good advisor is about as easy as choosing a good individual fund to try and beat the market.

You are free to DIY if you are confident in your ability to manage your own money and don't feel that you would get any value from paying for advice, but a very random failure by a single IFA would be a strange reason to do it.

Indeed, so it's a good job that that wasn't the catalyst. I originally came on MSE to query the OMW costs quoted in the paperwork (that I never signed), sent to me by the IFA, and to do my own due diligence in checking I was getting a fair deal. See this thread - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6237316/moving-to-drawdown-costs-reasonable/p1

My fact finding (and multiple book/blog/video/website reading) mission led me to calling Royal London with a question, only to find the money had already been transferred.

scdandem

Deleted_User said:

Sure. Forgive. As long as he pays up for the money you should have had but for his error. Has he offered to compensate?   

Not sure how long you’ve been out of the market,  I am up 4.5% in February.  Depending on your investments, your number would have been different, but most assets went up over the last few weeks.  

Since 3rd Feb. I queried whether we would be disadvantaged by it all and he said we'd probably be slightly better off but that he'd make sure exactly the right (not sure if he said same) amount would be reversed back to Royal London. I guess I'll know what the figure transferred out was at some stage, but I'm not sure how I would work out what the figure should be had the money not moved?

IvanOpinion

I would like to think that if X shares went out then X shares would be moved back and any fees that might be incurred would be fully covered by the IFA.
From what those with a lot more experience of this are saying, it looks like the IFA just made an honest mistake.  Given that it appears they came recommended then it is up to you on whether or not you give them a second chance (he might even be inclined to sweeten the deal by offering you a bit of discount on his fees).

[Deleted User]

scdandem said:

Deleted_User said:

Sure. Forgive. As long as he pays up for the money you should have had but for his error. Has he offered to compensate?   

Not sure how long you’ve been out of the market,  I am up 4.5% in February.  Depending on your investments, your number would have been different, but most assets went up over the last few weeks.  

Since 3rd Feb. I queried whether we would be disadvantaged by it all and he said we'd probably be slightly better off but that he'd make sure exactly the right (not sure if he said same) amount would be reversed back to Royal London. I guess I'll know what the figure transferred out was at some stage, but I'm not sure how I would work out what the figure should be had the money not moved?

Do you know how many units you had had prior to the transfer and in which fund(s)? You should be able to get that information from RL. If the transfer  involved selling then moving the cash back to RL isn’t enough. The adviser needs to ensure you have enough cash to buy the same number of units you had prior to the transfer. 

scdandem

Deleted_User said:

Do you know how many units you had had prior to the transfer and in which fund(s)? You should be able to get that information from RL. If the transfer  involved selling then moving the cash back to RL isn’t enough. The adviser needs to ensure you have enough cash to buy the same number of units you had prior to the transfer. 

I don't but thanks for the guidance 👍🏻

cfw1994

IvanOpinion said:

I would like to think that if X shares went out then X shares would be moved back and any fees that might be incurred would be fully covered by the IFA.
From what those with a lot more experience of this are saying, it looks like the IFA just made an honest mistake.  Given that it appears they came recommended then it is up to you on whether or not you give them a second chance (he might even be inclined to sweeten the deal by offering you a bit of discount on his fees).

I think getting a nice discount on his hopefully already "mates rates" fees would seal the deal.....

Deleted_User said:

scdandem said:

Deleted_User said:

Sure. Forgive. As long as he pays up for the money you should have had but for his error. Has he offered to compensate?   

Not sure how long you’ve been out of the market,  I am up 4.5% in February.  Depending on your investments, your number would have been different, but most assets went up over the last few weeks.  

Since 3rd Feb. I queried whether we would be disadvantaged by it all and he said we'd probably be slightly better off but that he'd make sure exactly the right (not sure if he said same) amount would be reversed back to Royal London. I guess I'll know what the figure transferred out was at some stage, but I'm not sure how I would work out what the figure should be had the money not moved?

Do you know how many units you had had prior to the transfer and in which fund(s)? You should be able to get that information from RL. If the transfer  involved selling then moving the cash back to RL isn’t enough. The adviser needs to ensure you have enough cash to buy the same number of units you had prior to the transfer. 

& yes this is the only real way to *know* you have not been disadvantaged.   

It is entirely in your remit to chose to forgive.   You sound to me like you now know a bit more about how things work: whether that is enough for you to feel you want to move to DIY is something only you can say.....but if you can clearly lower any costs because of this incident, that will make you feel better in the future.

[Deleted User]

scdandem said:

Deleted_User said:

Do you know how many units you had had prior to the transfer and in which fund(s)? You should be able to get that information from RL. If the transfer  involved selling then moving the cash back to RL isn’t enough. The adviser needs to ensure you have enough cash to buy the same number of units you had prior to the transfer. 

I don't but thanks for the guidance 👍🏻

You need to set up a spreadsheet which lists everything you have, where you have it, dates of sales and purchases and other key events.  Its not a lot of work and you’ll be happy you have it.

 

scdandem

You need to set up a spreadsheet which lists everything you have, where you have it, dates of sales and purchases and other key events.  Its not a lot of work and you’ll be happy you have it.

Great idea, I love a spreadsheet!

IvanOpinion

scdandem said:

You need to set up a spreadsheet which lists everything you have, where you have it, dates of sales and purchases and other key events.  Its not a lot of work and you’ll be happy you have it.

Great idea, I love a spreadsheet!

How did we ever survive in the pre-spreadsheet era