St James Place Partnership

martindias

Yes i am amongst those who handed over the investment of my pension to SJPP. I draw down about £8000 a year for the joys i which i seem to pay £4000 in charges on a fund of £230000. Hssve to say those charges are not easy to see on my online platform dashboard. Now i am 70yrs ans have been receiving a pension since i was 63 years i thought now is a good time to review whether i am getting the nest value for money. I recently approached an IFA to seek advice, but this also would include reviewing my £500,000 GIA portfolio. I was told the charges would work out at about £7000 initially and then an annual charge of about 1% if i took up the IFA's management. 

I am swimming in information overload and trying to make a decision is ver difficult when advice would almost equal my annual pension drawdown.

Any advice? I have just written to SJPP to ask the to clearly tell me my AMC in the last financial year and to see if there is a way of reducing those charges. I have to say that i have overall been rather pleased with the preformance of my pension fund which forecast accounts tell me will last well into my 90s!

Albermarle

I was told the charges would work out at about £7000 initially and then an annual charge of about 1% if i took up the IFA's management. 

1% initial fee is about right, but 1% ongoing is high for a £750K portfolio. I would aim for £5K max and 0.5% .

which forecast accounts tell me will last well into my 90s!

Normally drawdowns are managed so that the pot does not run out.

ColdIron

A friend of mine was in a similar position a few years ago. He decided to leave things as they were. He reasoned that:

• He had already paid the initial fees, they were unrecoverable, and he was past the 6 year exit charges
• He too was happy with the fund performance though I don't think he put much effort into comparing them with alternatives
• He had an investment bond with them so it would be hard to sever ties completely
• He wasn't sure that the effort and disruption was worth his time (though not the money)

However he has redirected all subsequent investments (ISA not pension) elsewhere and is happy with the cost savings

It's a difficult one and people's circumstances and attitudes differ. If I were you (and I'm not) I would pursue it further

wmb194

martindias said:

...I draw down about £8000 a year ... on a fund of £230000.

I have to say that i have overall been rather pleased with the preformance (sic) of my pension fund which forecast accounts tell me will last well into my 90s!

That's about 3.5% p.a. so even for SJP it shouldn't be too hard to make it last.

dunstonh

I was told the charges would work out at about £7000 initially and then an annual charge of about 1% if i took up the IFA's management. 

Charges vary across firms.   Some firms are "prestige" - i.e. very plush offices in a city,  wine and dine, not so many clients per adviser so they can spend more time talking to you etc.  However, most are smaller localised firms working out of small offices or home offices, usually with much lower operating costs.       Some firms are greedy. Some are fair.     

On £750k, £7000 is high.(it could be a lot worse. think what SJP would be).  1% ongoing is also too high.  On £100k, 1% would be fine.  But on 750k it is greedy.   

Ideally, you should be looking for around £3000 initial (for rural firms - closer to £5k for city firms) and 0.50% ongoing in respect of adviser charge.

That is unless the 1% was the bottom line.
e.g. 0.15% platform, 0.17% funds and 0.50% IFA equals 0.82% pa.

I have to say that i have overall been rather pleased with the preformance of my pension fund which forecast accounts tell me will last well into my 90s!

So, within around 10% life expectancy.   I prefer them not to run out, but modelling is forecasting with a wide variation.  I gave a model to a client recently that showed their draw rate on their portfolio could see them run out at age 86 in the worst case scenario of have £1.5m at that same age.    

Bad quality software tends to present a single line, such as the median.   I prefer the software that shows the range of outcomes likely.

However, the point is that modelling is not the same as performance.     Model it on optimistic assumptions and it will look better than another adviser using pessimistic assumptions.   

london21

Is it possible to move elsewhere cheaper?

Someone approached me from St James place and they seems pushy and I was not conformable with them. 

boingy

If those charges are £4000 per year on a £230000 pot you definitely need to change provider.

Take a look at SIPPS or Roboinvesting 

Find the best & cheapest SIPP in 2024 (moneytothemasses.com)

I don't think you need an IFA but if you do then choose a cheaper one!

All of that stuff in your first post represents people creaming off chunks of your money that could be staying in your pension or going into your pocket.

martindias

All helpful comments - thanks. i'll be checking out more IFAs before i make a decision

Bright_Star85

We have been with SJP since the mid 90's as a family as we have multiple trusts with them amongst over investments individually. 
Over the years they have saved our family alot from taxes by passing down money efficiently.  We see our adviser David, twice a year due to the complexity,  some times more. They don't charge any additional fee's for additional meetings throughout the year. As for people saying their "expensive", that usually comes from "IFA's". Our costs are 1.78% pa sometimes a little more due to transaction charges. We know its not the cheapest and certainly not the most expensive but our view as a family is that we don't want cheap, we want safe. And this is what SJP have provided us with, with abundance. 

Two years ago we, as trustee's collectively tested the field with 2 IFA firms, just to do our own due diligence after all of these years. Within 5 minutes of discussion both IFA's were pulling up articles and press clippings  that we had already been over with our adviser David at the time they were published. 
We found it disgusting and desperate to say the least. 

Safe to say that our funds will not be moving anytime soon! 

dunstonh

They don't charge any additional fee's for additional meetings throughout the year. 

They don't need to charge extra as the ongoing charge covers that.   

As for people saying their "expensive", that usually comes from "IFA's". Our costs are 1.78% pa sometimes a little more due to transaction charges.

Wow, that is expensive.   I have just finished a review where the ongoing cost is 0.82% p.a.

We know its not the cheapest and certainly not the most expensive but our view as a family is that we don't want cheap, we want safe. And this is what SJP have provided us with, with abundance. 

Why are you associating cost with safe?  That is bizarre.

Safe to say that our funds will not be moving anytime soon! 

Indeed, the drag of charges on your portfolio will have that effect.

Within 5 minutes of discussion both IFA's were pulling up articles and press clippings  that we had already been over with our adviser David at the time they were published. 

So, you spoke to your sales rep and believe them over two independents.   Your sales rep is trained to counter negativity.  Looks like his training has done the job.

InvesterJones

Bright_Star85 said:

We have been with SJP since the mid 90's as a family as we have multiple trusts with them amongst over investments individually. 
Over the years they have saved our family alot from taxes by passing down money efficiently.  We see our adviser David, twice a year due to the complexity,  some times more. They don't charge any additional fee's for additional meetings throughout the year. As for people saying their "expensive", that usually comes from "IFA's". Our costs are 1.78% pa sometimes a little more due to transaction charges. We know its not the cheapest and certainly not the most expensive but our view as a family is that we don't want cheap, we want safe. And this is what SJP have provided us with, with abundance. 

Two years ago we, as trustee's collectively tested the field with 2 IFA firms, just to do our own due diligence after all of these years. Within 5 minutes of discussion both IFA's were pulling up articles and press clippings  that we had already been over with our adviser David at the time they were published. 
We found it disgusting and desperate to say the least. 

Safe to say that our funds will not be moving anytime soon! 

Welcome to the forums - have you joined just to defend SJP? I'd be interested to know why you think SJP are especially safe - I'd have thought the trouble they keep getting into with regulators would be a factor against their safety compared to other platforms.