Charges for stock and shares investments

casadaoliviera

We have had money invested with Brewin Dolphin for a number of years. Now they have used another company for investing part of our money in the American market - supposedly to use their expertise. This company charges for this and Brewin Dolphin have not reduced their fee accordingly. Does anyone know if this is right and if I can do anything about this. We are meeting our financial advisor about this shortly!
Thank you.

eskbanker

You'd need to establish exactly what each of the fees and charges are for before determining if there's any double-dipping involved.

Linton

If you can tell us the fee and the total amount of money invested (roughly) then we should be able to suggest alternative cheaper but appropriate options.

Paying someone specifically to invest in the USA sounds way over the top unless perhaps you are talking £1Ms.  Why not use a USA fund for virtually nothing?

Albermarle

Do you mean the advisor you are using works for Brewin ?

Sometimes advisor firms outsource the actual investing to a third party, known as a DFM ( Discretionary Fund Manager) However I am pretty sure they can not just do this without agreeing it with you first.

There is one significant difference. If the advisor is doing the investing, they have to clear any changes of investments with you first, whereas a DFM does not . Although they will work within guidelines .

jimjames

If the fee is a % then it should relate to the funds being managed. If it's a fixed amount then you need to reach agreement with the provider or go elsewhere