How to get advice on £60000 in SIPP?

zagfles

Albermarle said:

zagfles said:

Albermarle said:

The problem is you can not just 'have a chat ' with an IFA or even an FA ( like with HL) . They are heavily regulated and have to go through a process of knowing everything about your financial situation before they will offer advice. In this area ' advice' has a particular  meaning, and if the advice is poor then you can have have some comeback .
Everything else ( like what we say on here ) is just general guidance /opinion/comment.
It is known there is a gap in the market for some kind of half way house for people with pots around your size , but I think at the moment it is still just something being discussed .
Have a look at this and keep reading the forum.
How to create a simple retirement plan - Monevator

There already is something - robo advice. Most people fit into broad categories of status, needs, objectives, attitude to risk etc shared with thousands or even hundreds of thousands others and don't necessarily need expensive individually tailored advice. Any more than they need tailored suits, shirts etc. Workplace DC pensions have been doing it for years and there's several that do it for personal eg see https://www.thetimes.co.uk/money-mentor/article/robo-adviser/

Yes, if it just about simple investing you are right . However I think many people would benefit from some wider advice. eg about pension  taxation matters ( you can see from some questions on here that many people are confused about this ) but without having to go for the full advice route . So something between robo advice and full personal IFA  service
In fact I think I remember now an article about some IFA groups offering speedy , low cost , over the internet only advise, so perhaps it already does exist. Like these I found on Google
About Us - Lower My Charges
About OpenMoney - Who We Are | OpenMoney (open-money.co.uk)

For factual stuff like pension taxation issues, written explainations are far better, eg articles on reliable websites eg Pru. We've had some utter rubbish on stuff like pension taxation written both directly by IFAs here and indirectly (people writing about what their IFA told them).

hodd

xylophone said:

Had you considered a transfer to Vanguard? They offer retirement portfolios.
https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/what-we-offer/personal-pension/personal-pension-account

The Vanguard Personal Pension is a flexible and tax-efficient way to save for your retirement. It's a Self Invested Personal Pension – so you have control over how you want your money to be invested.

I like the look of Vanguards Target Retirement Funds. The fees seem lower than the Robo platforms. 

I can transfer my HL SIPP cash into Vanguard or I can use HL to buy the Vanguard Target Retirement Fund. I think that makes little difference.

zagfles

hodd said:

xylophone said:

Had you considered a transfer to Vanguard? They offer retirement portfolios.
https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/what-we-offer/personal-pension/personal-pension-account

The Vanguard Personal Pension is a flexible and tax-efficient way to save for your retirement. It's a Self Invested Personal Pension – so you have control over how you want your money to be invested.

I like the look of Vanguards Target Retirement Funds. The fees seem lower than the Robo platforms. 

I can transfer my HL SIPP cash into Vanguard or I can use HL to buy the Vanguard Target Retirement Fund. I think that makes little difference.

It'll be cheaper on the Vanguard platform as their platform fee is 0.15% whereas HL's is 0.45%. But the Vanguard platform restricts you to Vanguard funds.

hodd

Can I use Vanguard’s platform to purchase their Target Retirement Fund and keep this in a SIPP? 

Edit: Doh! Yes, I can.

OldMusicGuy

I used HL for one-off financial advice several years ago when I started seriously planning for retirement. It was not cheap but perfectly adequate. The adviser did not push any of the HL managed funds but instead constructed a multi-sector portfolio for me of around 14 non-HL funds, most actively managed. 

However, it was a poor choice. Not because of the adviser but because of my ignorance. I found this site, read the books by John Edwards, looked at Monevator, Pensioncraft and similar and now have a simple portfolio consisting of three multi-asset funds that is achieving my objectives far more effectively than the complex (and high fee) portfolio the adviser built for me. I wish I had done all of that first before giving my money to an adviser.

ErinGoBrath

OldMusicGuy said:

I used HL for one-off financial advice several years ago when I started seriously planning for retirement. It was not cheap but perfectly adequate. The adviser did not push any of the HL managed funds but instead constructed a multi-sector portfolio for me of around 14 non-HL funds, most actively managed. 

However, it was a poor choice. Not because of the adviser but because of my ignorance. I found this site, read the books by John Edwards, looked at Monevator, Pensioncraft and similar and now have a simple portfolio consisting of three multi-asset funds that is achieving my objectives far more effectively than the complex (and high fee) portfolio the adviser built for me. I wish I had done all of that first before giving my money to an adviser.

What are your three funds, if you dont mind me asking?

JohnWinder

OldMusicGuy said:

.... but instead constructed a multi-sector portfolio for me of around 14 non-HL funds, most actively managed.
However, it was a poor choice. Not because of the adviser but because of my ignorance.

That seems a pretty charitable interpretation of what you described. Only several years ago 14 active funds as an expert's recommendation would seem naff advice. Turning their experience and your money into their money and your experience.

[Deleted User]

JohnWinder said:

OldMusicGuy said:

.... but instead constructed a multi-sector portfolio for me of around 14 non-HL funds, most actively managed.
However, it was a poor choice. Not because of the adviser but because of my ignorance.

 expert's recommendation would seem naff advice. Turning their experience and your money into their money and your experience.

Excellent.
Wish I had said that. 

OldMusicGuy

ErinGoBrath said:

What are your three funds, if you dont mind me asking?

I've picked three funds from the ranges of multi-asset funds from providers that are very popular on here, namely BlackRock Consensus, HSBC Global Strategy, L&G and Vanguard Lifestrategy. Blackrock also now offer MyMap as a competitor to Lifestrategy. 

I chose the funds to give me a bond/equity percentage split that suits my long term objectives and also to give me a global spread that I felt comfortable with. 

OldMusicGuy

JohnWinder said:

OldMusicGuy said:

.... but instead constructed a multi-sector portfolio for me of around 14 non-HL funds, most actively managed.
However, it was a poor choice. Not because of the adviser but because of my ignorance.

That seems a pretty charitable interpretation of what you described. Only several years ago 14 active funds as an expert's recommendation would seem naff advice. Turning their experience and your money into their money and your experience.

No, they did exactly as I asked. That's one of the things that people miss on here when they ding IFAs/FAs. I was typical of the "busy professional" who didn't have the time to "bother" about one of the most important aspects of their life, their DC pension pot (I have no DB pensions). I am hugely risk averse so came out very low on the risk scale, and my FA chose very low risk, low return options (including some money market funds). Once I educated myself I realised that I could invest at a higher level of risk while still having a good long-term outcome. 

So when I took charge of my investments I constructed a simple portfolio with a higher balance of equities than my FA had done. I also reduced charges. But the FA did exactly what I asked, they could not have convinced me to invest at a higher level of risk at the time because I did not understand enough about investing. And nor should they have done. OK, they did use a complex multi-sector portfolio which personally I don't think is necessary but then some people do. And this is one of the ways IFAs/FAs "show value".

That's why I always say to people it's better to educate yourself to some degree before deciding to go with an IFA/FA.