St James Place Wealth Management

dunstonh

segovia said:

Sunnylifeover50plan said:

If her husband transferred a couple of years ago then it will be easier for her to assess value add?

I had a look at a friends investment with them, they have "own funds" and a charge structure which front loads fees and locks people in for 5 years but it's all in their packs and there to read. My friend will need a very good return year on year to mitigate the risk of charges eroding the value.

They are not the type of couple who would proactively monitor charges and performance, they trust their advisers and associates are doing their job correctly and diligently. It reminds me of a conversation we had with another of my wife's colleagues who said quote "you never see the charges, they come out of the fund automatically"  - with her mindset if you can't see them they they don't really exist. If she got an invoice for 10K at the end of each year she may think differently. 

This is possibly a difference between a vertically integrated firm and an IFA.  With an IFA, the platform will send an annual charges disclosure that breakdown all the charges over the last 12 months and shows the platform charge, fund charges and adviser charges.     So, it is very visible.  Vertically integrated firms have a loophole that they do not need to break it down but just show the total.

zagfles

Yes but I wonder if research has found that pensions from people that used SJP are higher than those that do not? That's the usual defence to high charges isn't it?

cfw1994

segovia said:

A close friend is a bout to get her 1 Million £ DB scheme transferred to STJP.
Should she be worried?
Her husband already transferred his a few years ago, similar pot 

Why is she transferring it?
You mentioned later they don't closely monitor things: clearly it is their money & decision, but do you know of a decent IFA who you could recommend they get in to discuss?

SJP do somehow hold a magical curse over some of their victims customers.  A good pal of mine uses them: won't hear a word said against them.  Get's a lovely lunch once a year (perhaps not this past year!) & 'believes' he is onto the best thing.....at the end of the day, it's his money: I avoid the topic now!
 
As dunstonh put it: the choice has to be DIY or IFA.   Anything else is madness!!

coyrls

The fees should keep a £1M pension below the LTA.

segovia

cfw1994 said:

segovia said:

A close friend is a bout to get her 1 Million £ DB scheme transferred to STJP.
Should she be worried?
Her husband already transferred his a few years ago, similar pot 

Why is she transferring it?
You mentioned later they don't closely monitor things: clearly it is their money & decision, but do you know of a decent IFA who you could recommend they get in to discuss?

SJP do somehow hold a magical curse over some of their victims customers.  A good pal of mine uses them: won't hear a word said against them.  Get's a lovely lunch once a year (perhaps not this past year!) & 'believes' he is onto the best thing.....at the end of the day, it's his money: I avoid the topic now!
 
As dunstonh put it: the choice has to be DIY or IFA.   Anything else is madness!!

I have no idea as to what the motive is for transferring, I would imagine a 1M pot would give a very comfortable pension and inflation proof. 

Albermarle

coyrls said:

The fees should keep a £1M pension below the LTA.

Maybe when posters ask about tactics to reduce LTA , instead of recommending early crystallisation, three small pots etc we just say transfer your pension to SJP and problem solved !

eskbanker

segovia said:
I would imagine a 1M pot would give a very comfortable pension and inflation proof. 

....but somewhat less comfortable than if it was being managed by almost anyone other than SJP!

TBC15

It’s hard to believe in this day and age that anyone capable of amassing a 1 M pension pot doesn’t know how to google SJP.

jamesd

dunstonh said:

Last person I saw who had us competing against SJP had £500,000.  SJP were charging £25,000 initial fee to our £2,500 and the solution we offered from the whole of market was half the annual cost of SJP.  That gives an indication of the cost differences.

We also did a pension transfer away from SJP some years back which holds the record for us of the largest cost saving.    The difference in projections using the same growth rate (so only charges are the difference) was over £300,000 lower with SJP.  In other words, the effect of charges reduced the pension by £300,000 if the same growth rates were achieved.

It's also worth noting that advisers here are prohibited from contacting people to offer their services but nothing prohibits posters sending them a private message asking for their business contact details.

Frankly, I'd be happy to use dunstonh myself and your friends would be far better off with the services offered there.

segovia

TBC15 said:

It’s hard to believe in this day and age that anyone capable of amassing a 1 M pension pot doesn’t know how to google SJP.

Busy lives, ageing parents, concerns about siblings future, generally struggling with dealing with the day to day challenges of living in the 21st century, information overload.  Some people just can't cope with making this type of decision, they are vulnerable targets for the likes of SJP. I assume the sales pitch was very polished and regrettably some people don't understand percentages, they are unable to mentally compute the actual cost in £'s