app for devere-investment

kuratowski

cisko65 said:

Thanks. I need to find a bank that decide what investments would be suitable for me and do it for me. Ideally invest the euros I have. So not brokers. 

If you need someone to decide what investments are suitable for you, again you are not looking for a bank you are looking for a financial adviser (for preference, an independent financial adviser).  Some banks do have sales teams, but they are tied - which means they won't sell you products from other providers that would be likely to be better value.

For €100k / £80k this is a borderline amount, where you may be able to find an adviser but not all will be interested.  Note that the advice is going to come at a cost.  If that hasn't put you off, there is a search on the following page which lists only advisers having the appropriate regulatory permissions in your local area

https://adviserbook.co.uk/ 

(Selecting "Confirmed independent" in the menu will show the whole of market advisers, not the tied ones.)

The alternative to financial advice - often recommended on this forum, and other similar sites/blogs where people seek ways to avoid incurring high fees - is to invest simply and cheaply by putting everything into a single multi-asset fund at the suitable risk level.  This is a self-contained portfolio that gives you a "one stop shop" of global diversification with automatic rebalancing.  The risk levels generally come on a scale of 1-5, and that's the only decision you have to make.  There's a comparison table of multi-asset funds on the following page.

https://monevator.com/passive-fund-of-funds-the-rivals/

(Most of the funds listed here are available through the platforms/brokers I listed before.)

eskbanker

cisko65 said:
I used the word 'funds' as I thought a bank could invest on funds on your behalf, but forget that, maybe "fund" is not the proper word

'Fund' may well be the right word but it is still quite difficult to tell what you really have in mind!  The word 'fund' is usually used to describe collective investment products that hold large numbers of underlying stocks (and/or other assets such as bonds), and they are a popular way in which to invest in a more diversified way than buying individual stocks - in particular the multi-asset ones highlighted by @kuratowski are generally seen as a good starting point for those wishing to invest for the first time.

However, your most recent posts now suggest that you don't really know what you want to invest in, so the most realistic starting point is to identify what your objectives are and from there how best to meet them, which may or may not require assistance from a professional adviser.  The issues of platforms/brokers and currencies should be very much secondary to the fundamental plan of what you're actually looking to achieve....

bostonerimus

Devere once tried to sell me a QROPS. The quality of their advice was severely lacking. I would never trust them with my money.

cisko65

kuratowski said:

cisko65 said:

Thanks. I need to find a bank that decide what investments would be suitable for me and do it for me. Ideally invest the euros I have. So not brokers. 

If you need someone to decide what investments are suitable for you, again you are not looking for a bank you are looking for a financial adviser (for preference, an independent financial adviser).  Some banks do have sales teams, but they are tied - which means they won't sell you products from other providers that would be likely to be better value.

For €100k / £80k this is a borderline amount, where you may be able to find an adviser but not all will be interested.  Note that the advice is going to come at a cost.  If that hasn't put you off, there is a search on the following page which lists only advisers having the appropriate regulatory permissions in your local area

https://adviserbook.co.uk/ 

(Selecting "Confirmed independent" in the menu will show the whole of market advisers, not the tied ones.)

The alternative to financial advice - often recommended on this forum, and other similar sites/blogs where people seek ways to avoid incurring high fees - is to invest simply and cheaply by putting everything into a single multi-asset fund at the suitable risk level.  This is a self-contained portfolio that gives you a "one stop shop" of global diversification with automatic rebalancing.  The risk levels generally come on a scale of 1-5, and that's the only decision you have to make.  There's a comparison table of multi-asset funds on the following page.

https://monevator.com/passive-fund-of-funds-the-rivals/

(Most of the funds listed here are available through the platforms/brokers I listed before.)

Hi again, I managed to read your post again only now. Thanks.
I might do another post as I seem to have changed subject from the title of this one. In the meantime, another question: 

If I need someone to decide what investments are suitable for me, you say:
''[...] Some banks do have sales teams, but they are tied - which means they won't sell you products from other providers that would be likely to be better value.''
Would it be ''safer'' though, compared to independent financial adviser? I might feel more reassured to invest £80k with a bank such as Barclays or Santander, even if they probably won't be better value.

I see you suggest https://adviserbook.co.uk/  to locate independent financial adviser. Is talking in person still important? 

kuratowski

An independent financial adviser won't hold your money themselves - they will place it on an investment platform, where it will be invested in various funds, run by various fund managers.  All three of these parties are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) - the adviser, the platform, and the fund house.  If anything goes wrong, you can complain to the firm, if they don't resolve it, you can go to the Financial Ombudsman.  And if the, fairly unlikely, event of insolvency you would be able to seek compensation from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).

The big banks may seem reassuring, because they are high street names, but the reality is most of them don't specialise in investments, their offering is no better than, and sometimes worse than, what you would get through a specialist investment company.  The regulatory protection for consumers is just the same either way, so it's no safer and could be worse value.

Regarding talking in person - you want to meet the adviser and explain your objectives, and they need to discover your full financial situation, in order to recommend something suitable for you.  Since the pandemic, a lot of these meetings have been on Zoom rather than face-to-face, though.

Having said all that - it's your money, and you need to be comfortable with your decision.  If you're fixed on going for financial advice from a high street bank, I think HSBC do offer this.  And maybe some of the others.

I am not sure about Barclays - a lot of the banks pulled back from investment advice following the credit crunch, some of them now only offer online questionnaires, robo-advice, not personalised advice.  If you were going to follow a digital "advice" service then, to be frank, you would probably get equally suitable suggestions just posting a thread on here, but at less cost.

cisko65

Hi again

I've started contacting a couple of financial advisers. Regarding independent ones, I talked to Fintuity, a digital adviser (I will do a separate post to hear if somebody has used them); and, as a non-independent, Allard Whiteley who joined St. James's Place Wealth Management. I'll try to contact some others.

But on what basis do you select one? Besides checking they are FCA regulated, and instinctive like/dislike, what are the most important info to get in order to compare them? Fees and policy are not that simple, for me, to compare. I need an adviser to choose an adviser... (this Forum helps).

Also, I was very interested in what Kuratowski and Eskbanker say about funds.

As Kuratowski mentions, the alternative to financial advice is 'to invest simply and cheaply by putting everything into a single multi-asset fund at the suitable risk level'. For ex. iWeb or Interactive Investers, or Fidelity, for £80k.

Would I need to be more knowledgeable thought? I cannot understand what the investor (me) needs to do. Is it the investor who chooses a specific multy-asset fund? Are the brokers just in charge of doing the ''technical side''?

I'm trying to do some homework but still need to go to your classes.

Thanks very much.

P.S.

The title of this thread is a bit misleading now. I might do a separate one.

jimjames

St James Place are quoted by many as being one of the most expensive places to use

cisko65

jimjames said:

St James Place are quoted by many as being one of the most expensive places to use

Thanks, good to know. 
I'll post a separate thread about comparing charges. 

Eco_Miser

cisko65 said:

Would I need to be more knowledgeable thought? I cannot understand what the investor (me) needs to do. Is it the investor who chooses a specific multy-asset fund? Are the brokers just in charge of doing the ''technical side''?

I'm trying to do some homework but still need to go to your classes.

Thanks very much.

P.S.

The title of this thread is a bit misleading now. I might do a separate one.

The broker/platform buys/holds/sells funds at your instruction.

You choose the fund(s).

To help you choose the funds you read here, at Monevator, Morning star Trustnet, the funds' sites, maybe elsewhere.

https://monevator.com/vanguard-lifestrategy/ is a good place to start, Follow the links in the Alternatives section.

You can change the title of the thread. That's easier than explaining everything again.

kuratowski

If going it alone and selecting a multi-asset fund by yourself, you would need to make the following decisions:

1. Do you definitely want to invest.  If you need to use this money in under 10 years, don't invest it, save it instead, as there is too much risk of loss over short time frames.
2. What is your risk level.  Each fund series has several offerings on a risk scale of 1-5.  This defines the balance between bonds and equities within the fund.  You need to weight up how much you value capital preservation (minimising the size of possible losses through bonds) versus the opportunity for growth (through equities).  The lowest risk level is typically around 80% bonds and 20% equities (less risk, less growth potential). The highest risk level is usually all equities (more risk, more growth potential).
3. Which tax wrapper to use.  If you are holding for retirement, then use a SIPP.   If not, then S&S ISA for the first £20k and use a General Investment Account for the rest, moving £20k inside the ISA each year.  Note if you stop living in the UK, then the ISA would lose its tax advantages.
4. Which fund series to use (Vanguard Lifestrategy, HSBC Global Strategy, LGIM Multi Index, Fidelity Multi Manager, etc).  The Monevator comparison table, linked earlier, can help with this, but at the end of the day there's no right or wrong, and this of secondary importance compared to the previous choices.  The HSBC one is cheapest (but costs aren't the only thing to consider).
   
5. Which platform to hold it on.  Again, the Monevator site has a comparison table, which was linked earlier.  As your portfolio is of a certain size, you would find it most economical to use iWeb or Interactive Investor.  (NB. I am ruling out Fidelity now, because that would only be low cost if you were holding ETFs, but the multi-asset funds we are suggesting are not ETFs.)