Coutts

solidpro

Coutts won't talk to you unless you have a minimum of £1m to invest.

Lets say you've accumulated £1m in SIPP through Vanguard and HL and have 20 years to go before needing to access it, would you leave it all there forever or go and have a meeting?

HappyHarry

Why would you be wanting to use Coutts? They offer a handful of model portfolios for those with less than £10m. You would likely be much better speaking to a local IFA.

artyboy

It's the shiny card innit? That and getting one up on Farage...

dunstonh

Coutts won't talk to you unless you have a minimum of £1m to invest.

Natwest do use the Coutts name for badge for marketing. For example, their robo service which has no minimum uses the Coutts name.    Its not very good (but not bad either - just your typical mid range robo).   I have transferred several out with very easy justification.

Lets say you've accumulated £1m in SIPP through Vanguard and HL and have 20 years to go before needing to access it, would you leave it all there forever or go and have a meeting?

Why would you want to pay to use Coutts?

solidpro

I have looked into IFAs and discussed before why I'm not doing that. I just assumed if you were putting £1m into a bank like Coutts you might get the services akin to an IFA for free. The question was literally 'go to a meeting' or not bother, rather than take £1m and put it into Coutts.

HappyHarry

It’s not free with Coutts.

GeoffTF

Coutts will be more expensive than most IFAs, which will be more expensive than leaving it where it is, or perhaps moving it to cheaper platforms.

Swipe

Their tariff fees are listed here:

https://www.coutts.com/content/dam/rbs-coutts/coutts-com/Files/private-banking/private-client-banking-tariff.pdf

Eyeful

Nothing to do with money comes "free" or is without "some form of risk".
It is just that you may not understand how the charges are hidden or who is paying for what they say is free.
Just remember "if it looks to good to be true, its because you do not understand the risks involved".

Very high net worth individuals are also unlikely to be price sensitive. So businesses dealing with such persons, will be charging  them high fees. 
Someone has to pay for the "free stuff" and businesses will make sure it is not going to be them. 

So when it comes to investments it basically comes down to either educating yourself or paying for advice.

When paying it is either an IFA or someone who can only advise you on the products their company has to offer you.
The latter no matter what fancy names they like to go by, are basically salespersons.
In either case you just have to hope the advice is good and appropriate.

GeoffTF

Eyeful said:

Very high net worth individuals are also unlikely to be price sensitive. So businesses dealing with such persons, will be charging  them high fees.

I do not know where "very high net worth" begins, but my experience with £millions is that I pay less than small investors, particularly on a percentage basis. The published tariff does not mean much if they want your business.

Futuristic

£1m is not a lot in grand scheme of things to such businesses (IFA) and your investment style does not really change from 100k to 1m if you still have 20+ yrs to go (you'd keep investing in say VWRP or whatever) , at that amount you are probably better off using a fixed free broker and paying an IFA for one time advice when you need it or have a check up every X years. 

If you're already actively invested and have some idea of what you're doing then you probably don't need hand holding with paying an IFA do everything for you.