Useless Financial advisor

BigDarren

I was in two minds whether to write this post or not,  I believe I have been mislead by a Financial Advisor and there has been many redflags.

I set up an investment which i was told was very low risk 4 years ago and the advisor in the room on the day said it's a very low risk investment It shouldn't lose you any money and showed me an example of another portfolio that made 50k- as I'm coming up to retirement and naturally cautious I thought If i can make 15-20k over the investment before i retire 

For the first two years the growth was stagnant at best but my advisor was contacting me 1 a year through Phone call and one appointment 

Then COVID hit and naturally the investment started to go the other way but I knew that the economy would bounceback after vaccine rollout and easing of restrictions but between March 2020 and April 2021 I had no contact from my advisor, as a shielder that time in my life was just focused on trying to stay alive so didn't really focus on it during that period.

My advisor said on the phonecall that they'd set up a meeting in a couple of months time, that never happened and my son looked on the online portal and my investments are starting to lose money. From being told a low risk investment to being around £10,000 down after 4 years and the lack of contact has frustrated me

They have also lied to me from the start, I'm in the processes of taking the money out because I can't stand for there !!!!!! much longer or afford to lose anymore

Is there anything i can do? Given that the world of finance is full of carpet baggers I don't believe that the company would do anything if I complained about it and I'm not sure the authorities care.

eskbanker

What's the name of the advisor company, and do they appear on the FCA register?
What are the investments?
How much did you invest?
What documentary evidence do you have of the fact-find and subsequent recommendations?

dunstonh

Then COVID hit and naturally the investment started to go the other way but I knew that the economy would bounceback after vaccine rollout and easing of restrictions but between March 2020 and April 2021 I had no contact from my advisor, as a shielder that time in my life was just focused on trying to stay alive so didn't really focus on it during that period.

Markets fell between Feb and March 2020 but were generally back up again by late Summer and finished year strongly.

2021 was a positive year.  Its only recently that investments have gone through a period of loss.

From being told a low risk investment to being around £10,000 down after 4 years and the lack of contact has frustrated me

Most investors are back to 2020 in terms of their current values.  Gilts are pretty much the only area showing a loss over the last 4 years but they didnt suffer during spring 2020 with Covid.   

We need to know what you are invested in.

badger09

Financial Advisor can offer only products from a restricted range. Often, they are likened to a salesman

Independent Financial Advisor can offer products from the whole of the market. 

Which did you use?

What are the investments?

Some recent investors are currently suffering losses ‘on paper’. By selling your investments you’ve turned that paper loss into a real one. 

Eyeful

1. What the name of this low risk investment?
2. Is the advisor an FA or IFA?
3. Are they on the FCA register?
4. How did you find out about this advisor?
5. How many advisors did you interview?
6. Do you have a hard copy of the "fact find" and why they thought it suitable for you needs?
7. You say its down by £10k, but what was the percentage it was down?

Exodi

Be interesting to know what you are interested in, covid was a bull run for most markets - only recently (basically from the start of 2022) have investments started to fall.

It must be a very interesting portfolio to be -20% having rode the covid boom. I'd expect most portfolios having been invested for the past 4 years would still be up.

MEM62

BigDarren said:

I was in two minds whether to write this post or not,  I believe I have been mislead by a Financial Advisor and there has been many redflags.

FA or IFA?  There is a chasm of difference between the two.  

BigDarren said:

From being told a low risk investment to being around £10,000 down after 4 years and the lack of contact has frustrated me

Down £10K against what level of investment and invested in what?  With most mainstream investments you should not be down after 4 years but a £10 fall against a £50K investment very different to a £10K fall on a £200K investment.  

BigDarren said:

I'm in the processes of taking the money out because I can't stand for there !!!!!! much longer or afford to lose anymore

So you are crystalising your losses.  If that wise before you have had some feedback?   

BigDarren said:

Given that the world of finance is full of carpet baggers 

That is not generally the case these days.  That misconception is a couple of decades out of date. 

BigDarren said:

I don't believe that the company would do anything if I complained about it and I'm not sure the authorities care.

The company certainly aren't going to do anything if you don't complain.  What response you get from the regulatory body will depend how the company you used is regulated and your specific circumstances.  

You really need to answer the questions posed by others here if you want informed feedback on your situation.   
 

Troytempest

I wonder when BigDarren will return with the details requested?

BigDarren

eskbanker said:

What's the name of the advisor company, and do they appear on the FCA register?
What are the investments?
How much did you invest?
What documentary evidence do you have of the fact-find and subsequent recommendations?

The advisor company ia Wren Sterling they are  on the FCA register

They put it into two different areas one being an investment with Jupiter and the other being an Investment with Fidelity.

The initial Investment was £150,000 plus a 4500 fee to set it up, last year my advisor was meant to set up an appointment with me in August to have a talk about the Investment Portfolio it was at 167,000 last August so since then its lost around 14% and my advisor never contacted me it took me looking at it myself and keeping a track of it. 

I'm due to retire but since I have invested it, the storms seem to be never ending, stagnant growth between 2018-2020, but i was expecting that as it was the first couple of years, Covid hit but there was light at the end of the tunnel and the Investments picked up, at the moment it is Never ending bad news.  I got told very low/minimum risk when Investing it, I have a report somewhere upstairs but I would need a fair bit of time to set this up. 

I'm on the minimum wage and due to retire in the next couple of years so waiting it out would be a bad idea If it continued to go down. The only thing I can think of is draw it out and put in a high interest bank account and hope to recoup some of the losses.I just panic that we get to January and another 10-20k is gone.

Sorry I was low on detail in the original post.

Linton

BigDarren said:

eskbanker said:

What's the name of the advisor company, and do they appear on the FCA register?
What are the investments?
How much did you invest?
What documentary evidence do you have of the fact-find and subsequent recommendations?

The advisor company ia Wren Sterling they are  on the FCA register

They put it into two different areas one being an investment with Jupiter and the other being an Investment with Fidelity.

The initial Investment was £150,000 plus a 4500 fee to set it up, last year my advisor was meant to set up an appointment with me in August to have a talk about the Investment Portfolio it was at 167,000 last August so since then its lost around 14% and my advisor never contacted me it took me looking at it myself and keeping a track of it. 

I'm due to retire but since I have invested it, the storms seem to be never ending, stagnant growth between 2018-2020, but i was expecting that as it was the first couple of years, Covid hit but there was light at the end of the tunnel and the Investments picked up, at the moment it is Never ending bad news.  I got told very low/minimum risk when Investing it, I have a report somewhere upstairs but I would need a fair bit of time to set this up. 

I'm on the minimum wage and due to retire in the next couple of years so waiting it out would be a bad idea If it continued to go down. The only thing I can think of is draw it out and put in a high interest bank account and hope to recoup some of the losses.I just panic that we get to January and another 10-20k is gone.

Sorry I was low on detail in the original post.

Thanks for the info.  Did the £150000 in 2018 include the £4500 fee or was the fee additional? I assume you havent added or removed any money from your investments since then.

A bit more info would be helpful: what are the names of the Jupiter and Fidelity funds?  We should then be able to see what sort of funds your advisor chose, whether the choice was surprising, and what would be the expected returns in the past 4 years and why.

Dropping 14% since last August is not too surprising as many investments, including some supposedly safer ones, have dropped by a similar amount thanks to Ukraine, global supply problems and rising interest rates.  That I am afraid is bad luck with the timing as it is very unusual to see such a range of different types of investment fall together.

bostonerimus

I have a generally low opinion of financial advisors - independent or not. But in this case the losses are not surprising given the direction of the markets recently. It would help us, but more importantly you, to know exactly what funds you own. If you don't understand how your money is invested how are you able to judge the service you are getting or the reports from you advisor? You find yourself in a common situation now that the risk of retirement income generation has been transferred from the employer to the employee. So I would advise you to dig out that report and do some research on the funds you have and understand how they will work for you, that might settle your mind a bit.