St James Place Partnership

artyboy

InvesterJones said:

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.

3 posts, all staunchly defending SJP. Nothing at all suspicious to see here...

InvesterJones

artyboy said:

InvesterJones said:

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.

3 posts, all staunchly defending SJP. Nothing at all suspicious to see here...

Let's hope it's not someone actually involved in the SJP business or they'll be in yet more trouble!

Osborneonenil

Another issue with SJP, that many investors may not be aware of, is how difficult they can be to deal with when administering an estate - providing valuations and tax info required by the executors and release of funds after probate has been granted.

If we all boycotted companies on the basis of poor customer service then none of us would open any accounts or invest money with any organisations of course but from my experience of dealing with estates, the two that stand out and that I would always avoid are SJP and Barclays.

(From personal experience, the other company on that list are Ryanair but that's for a different discussion.)

Rollinghome

Bright_Star85 said:

Our costs are 1.78% pa sometimes a little more due to transaction charges.

“Compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it … he who doesn't … pays it.” - Albert Einstein. 

Unfortunately, it works similarly for paying high investment fees.  Paying 1.75% p.a. will mean that an average of about one third of the returns on your money are pocketed by SJP every single year, relentlessly compounding the drag on your returns. 

Warren Buffett compared compounding returns to rolling a snowball down a hill. Paying 1.75% pa for advice will result in a much smaller snowball. Especially so when you are restricted to the adviser's own funds, as with SJP, rather than having access to all the best investments available.

Malthusian

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. 

Notably absent from this post is an example of how they saved taxes and how much.

Anyone who hangs around investment forums long enough will become familiar with how trusts flogged by tied advisers and solicitors to generate fees can cost thousands of pounds or even more while achieving nothing.

Trusts are subject to more penal rates of taxation than individuals, so the starting point is that giving money to a trust increases your tax bill. It can save tax if you know exactly what you are doing, and your life goes according to the plan on which the tax strategy was based. But as the starting point is that you pay more tax, the onus is on you to say why you didn't.

Anyone who actually has managed to save money using sophisticated trust planning would be keen to explain exactly what they did and how much they saved by doing it, and compare it with what the tax bill would have been if they did nothing, to demonstrate the quality of their adviser.

Otherwise it is an extraordinary claim without any evidence.

The claim becomes even more extraordinary when the adviser in question is SJP, who are known for flogging offshore bonds in trust with no obvious reason other than that offshore bonds are impossible to move away from the provider (SJP again) without triggering a chargeable event and typically paying an enormous tax bill. (Unlike ISAs and pensions where you can transfer to another ISA or pension provider while keeping them in the tax wrapper.)

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". 

Strange wording for a consumer who has been happy with tied advice for decades and never felt the need to seek independent advice. Sure, you don't feel the need to seek independent advice, but why would you question the whole concept of independent advice by putting it in scare quotes? 

Stubod

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......

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

..there's none so blind......etc....

Albermarle

artyboy said:

InvesterJones said:

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.

3 posts, all staunchly defending SJP. Nothing at all suspicious to see here...

On the other hand if I ever mention anything negative to my SIL about SJP, she defends them vigorously as well.
I think their selling point is that they keep in regular contact, are aware of personal details and ask about the family etc
So you get a warm fuzzy feeling as you are shelling out the fees !

LHW99

london21 said:

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. 

It is agreed on these boards that you can either:

a) DIY - can be cheapest, but you need to put time and effort in to understand what would suit your case, and hold your nerve if markets get iffy.

b) Use an IFA - more expensive than DIY, but regulated and able to choose investments from the whole of market as well as do all the risk tolerance and planning stuff you'd have to do for yourselfif you DIY

c) Use an FA (which include SJP and others). Most expensive, only select from a restricted rangeof investments, often own brand, but are regulated and should do all the risk tolerance / planning for you.

Obviously there are the unregulated / scam lot, but no-one should go there.

So just check the the person who "approached" you actually was legitimate. I had thought that was not allowed now, and in general I would not respond to a cold call on principle.

ColdIron

Reputable companies should not cold call

My time in a cold-calling factory for SJP partners where we were told to lie

https://citywire.com/new-model-adviser/news/my-time-in-a-cold-calling-factory-for-sjp-partners-where-we-were-told-to-lie/a2385035

Voyager2002

InvesterJones said:

artyboy said:

InvesterJones said:

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.

3 posts, all staunchly defending SJP. Nothing at all suspicious to see here...

Let's hope it's not someone actually involved in the SJP business or they'll be in yet more trouble!

No chance: surely SJP employ staff who know how to spell!