Moving SIPP to Fundament and Timeline

CaptainParkingspace

My financial advisor wants me to move my old Quilter SIPP which I've had for many years over to a Fundment pension (www.fundment.com) and Timeline (www.timeline.co), as he says it will reduce costs. It seems reasonable (although I still don't really understand what the two services do despite having it explained, reading some documentation and looking at the websites), but I am nervous about moving my entire life savings to a clever fintech startup just as I approach retirement. Does this sound like a good move?

QrizB

CaptainParkingspace said:

My financial advisor ...

... are they a Financial Advisor, or an Independent Financial Advisor?

An FA is a sales rep, tied to one provider's products. An IFA can advise on and potentially recommend products from every provider.

LHW99

If you don't understand what is being proposed, you need to go back to your adviser and keep asking questions until you do. That is the reason you pay an adviser IMO

xylophone

Moving SIPP to Fundament

Where the sun don't shine? Sorry, couldn't resist...

CaptainParkingspace

Point taken - I have asked him to explain the arrangement to me again. However I have already tried to read explanations like the following:

Not sure what a platform is?
An investment platform offers secure online access to a wide range of tax efficient wrappers and assets. This lets your adviser hold all your investments in one place, even if these are with different fund managers or investment providers.Doing so makes it much easier for you and your adviser to view a full picture of your investment portfolio, instead of having information spread all over the place. We also action instructions from your adviser to help manage your investments, for example topping up your Stocks & Shares ISA. Fundment is completely independent of your financial adviser and has no influence over the investments or wrappers they recommend to you.

which leaves me no clearer about what it is to be honest. Nothing on www.timeline.co/about means anything to me either.

Neither "Fundment" nor "Timeline" are search-friendly names so I haven't been able to find any independent assessments of whether it's a good idea.

xylophone

https://compareandinvest.co.uk/faq-items/whats-the-difference-between-an-adviser-platform-and-a-diy-platform/

If you were a do it yourself investor, you would also use a "platform" but would choose one like eg Hargreaves Lansdown or Fidelity or AJ Bell through which you could choose and buy funds or shares or gilts etc.

https://www.ftadviser.com/platforms/2023/01/24/advisers-flock-to-test-new-platform-fundment/

https://www.timeline.co/

Quilter is also a platform.

https://www.ft.com/content/0a298bed-3ef8-4475-babb-04cddade625d

Financial Advisers use specialist platforms through which they manage their clients' investments.

Have you been a client of this adviser for a number of years? He currently uses Quilter?

Is he independent?

QrizB

All other things being equal, it doesn't matter what platform your adviser uses; it shouldn't affect your choice of investments.

Platforms have charges; hopefully your adviser has explained (or can explain) how the paltform charges with Fundment compare to those with Quilter, and what this means for you.

As xylophone says, you also choose a platform if you're a DIY investor. If I wanted to invst £10000 in VLS80 (a popular Vanguard fund) I could do so on Vanguard's platform, or on HL's, or on iWeb's (etc). The same fund but different platforms with different features and different charges.

LHW99

CaptainParkingspace said:

Point taken - I have asked him to explain the arrangement to me again. However I have already tried to read explanations like the following:

Not sure what a platform is?
An investment platform offers secure online access to a wide range of tax efficient wrappers and assets. This lets your adviser hold all your investments in one place, even if these are with different fund managers or investment providers.Doing so makes it much easier for you and your adviser to view a full picture of your investment portfolio, instead of having information spread all over the place. We also action instructions from your adviser to help manage your investments, for example topping up your Stocks & Shares ISA. Fundment is completely independent of your financial adviser and has no influence over the investments or wrappers they recommend to you.

which leaves me no clearer about what it is to be honest. Nothing on www.timeline.co/about means anything to me either.

Neither "Fundment" nor "Timeline" are search-friendly names so I haven't been able to find any independent assessments of whether it's a good idea.

I think in plain English it means:

1) Their online system is secure - I should hope so.

2) Your independent advisor can choose any investments they think are right for you.

They can manage them all in the one online pplatform, even if you have a SIPP, ISAs and unwrapped investments

3) You can have a look at what you have, as well as the adviser

4) The platform doesn't make decisions on the investments, your advisor gives the instructions (eg buy / sell) and the platform (managers) do what they're told.

CaptainParkingspace

OK, so changing platform from Quilter to Fundment makes sense. My FA (yes he is independent and he has advised me for many years) has estimated that it will reduce charges by a couple of thousand pounds per year. This was the part I understood from his explanation - that my actual funds are in Blackrock, HSBC etc and all I am doing is switching to a different management service.

Can anyone help me understand what Timeline.co will be doing, and what risks I should be aware of?

CaptainParkingspace

LHW99 said:

I think in plain English it means:

1) Their online system is secure - I should hope so.

2) Your independent advisor can choose any investments they think are right for you.

They can manage them all in the one online pplatform, even if you have a SIPP, ISAs and unwrapped investments

3) You can have a look at what you have, as well as the adviser

4) The platform doesn't make decisions on the investments, your advisor gives the instructions (eg buy / sell) and the platform (managers) do what they're told.

Thanks. I suppose my real question though is how is the proposed arrangement is different from what I have now in terms of the risks to my life savings. The Quilter website doesn't go on about platforms other than it being part of the URL (platform.quilter.com), while Fundment don't seem to talk about Collective Retirement Accounts. Having money in a pension I can understand. That pension fund being managed via a software platform, and being able to switch to a different service provider to manage the same pot, I can also understand. Beyond that I am not sure what I am letting myself in for and my instinct is not to meddle with it.

dunstonh

Can anyone help me understand what Timeline.co will be doing, and what risks I should be aware of?

Timeline offers a discretionary management service.  Not a full works DFM but a cheaper Model Portfolio Service (MPS).      

Most IFAs do not hold discretionary permissions.  So, they cannot adjust the portfolio without discussions with you first.   Timeline holds discretionary permissions.  So, they can make the adjustments to the portfolio as and when needed (typically quarterly).   It adds a small layer of cost compared to an advisory portfolio but it means changes can be made quickly and on time.
e.g. an advisory portfolio of index trackers could cost 0.08%.   The IFA would likely rebalance it around once per tax year (rebalance would include adjustments).  They could be more than 12 months if you are seen early in the tax year one year and later the following year (so low cost is a positive but frequency of review is a negative).         The Timeline portfolio of trackers would also cost 0.08% but timeline have to be paid. So, that can add another circa 1%.  So, the total cost is 0.18%.  So, cost is a negative (but its still cheaper than off-the shelf solutions) but frequency of reviews/adjustments are a positive.

Full DFMS are an bigger layer of extra charges and don't add any value unless you like bragging that you have an investment manager you speak to.  Advisory IFAs tended to not use these because they viewed the cost as pointless.   DFM via MPS is a low-cost way to run a portfolio on a discretionary basis but without a significant jump in charges.    I too recently started offering a DFM MPS because the costs have fallen.  Timeline was one I looked at.

The IFA still has responsibility for the due diligence and suitability of the DFM  MPS portfolio

 The Quilter website doesn't go on about platforms other than it being part of the URL (platform.quilter.com), while Fundment don't seem to talk about Collective Retirement Accounts. 

Quilter is a platform.   Collective Retirement account is Quilters marketing name for their SIPP. So, no-one else will be talking about Collective Retirement accounts.
Fundment is a platform.   Their pension product is a SIPP.

Timeline is available on a range of platforms, including Quilter.  It will just be cheaper on Fundment.

Beyond that I am not sure what I am letting myself in for and my instinct is not to meddle with it.

You outsource your investment decisions to your IFA.    Your IFA wants to move from advisory to discretionary.   The IFA can explain the pros and cons (which I have pretty much summarised above).   

Moving away from Quilter will reduce charges (Quilter is quite an expensive platform nowadays and I have been moving my legacy clients from them).