Quilter?

jbuchanangb

My experience with Quilter (or Old Mutual Wealth as they used to be called) is that of opening a Stocks & Shares ISA and a Collective Investment Account (CIA) with them. The funds in both were the same and were selected for me by an Independent Financial Advisor who was nothing to do with them. OMW operate the platform. I paid the advisor a one-off fee for the work he did understanding my investment goals, attitude to risk, investment preferences - i.e. ethical portfolio required.  At the start I agreed to pay OMW platform fees, and a monthly fee to the advisor for ongoing advice. Not long (< 3 Months) after I made the investment the IFA company was taken over by another firm, who sent a new representative along who wanted me to remove all the funds from the ISA and CIA accounts, and let him re-invest and manage them on my behalf. As I did not wish this to happen, I cancelled my arrangement with them, and informed OMW that I would now continue on a non-advised basis. Over 2 or 3 subsequent financial year-ends I successfully instructed OMW to perform so-called bed-and-ISA operations to move investments from the CIA to the ISA such that all the funds originally invested are now in the ISA. I pay Quilter the platform fee, and am aware that the fund managers' fees are incorporated into the unit values of the funds. After 5 years invested the portfolio seems to be valued about 50% more than when it went in, which is not too disappointing. My experience may not be typical, but as someone who knows virtually nothing about the world of stocks and shares, it seems to be OK at the moment.

legalfreak

bostonerimus said:

What are the reasons for this Quilter recommendation? Why would you do this rather than going with a mainstream platform like H&L etc and buying some of the thousands of well known funds with significant track records from companies like Vanguard, Blackrock, iShares, HSBC etc

Because I don't feel confident enough to self-manage what for me is a large sum of money. I don't have the time to follow all the ins and outs of stock markets and the Cirilium platform seems to be widely diversified.. Your suggestion is to invest in passives and Monevator which I follow and trust also recommends this approach but I am always willing to listen to a contrary view (perhaps leading to indecision paralysis...).  

legalfreak

milton1970 said:

 My opinion is they overcharge & under perform - get a true IFA if you want advice 

I can't see why in theory a FA can't give advice and good advice too. 

jbuchanangb

Have a look at https://www.unbiased.co.uk/.