Skipton BS Money Review - Pensions Advice?

manchesterlady

I have a few savings accounts with Skipton Building Society and they recently invited customers in for a free ‘Money Review’. 

I took them up on the offer as I’m interested to get a 2nd opinion on my current portfolio and route to retirement. I’ve been with my IFA for a while so want to see if there’s anything better out there.

I’ve just been to see the adviser - after spending 1 hour on a video call with their colleague 2 weeks ago on a ‘fact-finding’ session going through my existing pensions and  ISAs. 

My assumption was that the face to face meeting with the ‘official’ adviser today would have presented me with an initial 2nd opinion ahead of possibly transferring one or more of my pension pots to Skipton to manage. 

Turns out that the hour was just going through all the bumph, services they provide, what would happen next etc. I’m not sure it was worth an hour of my time or me providing them with a bunch of information about my pots.

I’m interested to hear from the wise sages of the forum if they a) Have any experience of Skipton financial advice services and pension management (as opposed to just being a good building society) and b) If you have shopped around for a new IFA and what you looked for in a new IFA.

Thank you in advance. 

dunstonh

I took them up on the offer as I’m interested to get a 2nd opinion on my current portfolio and route to retirement. I’ve been with my IFA for a while so want to see if there’s anything better out there.

Your IFA is whole of market.  So, they can pick from the marketplace.  Skipton is not whole of market.

I’m interested to hear from the wise sages of the forum if they a) Have any experience of Skipton financial advice services and pension management (as opposed to just being a good building society) and b) If you have shopped around for a new IFA and what you looked for in a new IFA.

What is wrong with your current IFA?
What are you looking for in an IFA?

IFAs will typically adjust their services to suit your needs.   So, as long as your communication with the IFA is good, then they should be able to adapt to what you are after.  

manchesterlady

Thank you. There’s nothing inherently wrong with my current IFA - it was just that they are the only IFA I’ve had and I’ve been with the same firm for getting on for 20 years, so now the pot is a lot bigger and I’m getting closer to retirement. I’m not going to proceed with Skipton as you rightly point out that they are restricted and not an IFA.

i suppose that I’d like a bit more of a personal service from my IFA rather than a twice-yearly video call, but that’s for me to communicate, as you mention!

I will be moving from England to Scotland next year, so at that point it would make sense to find a new IFA as I want that personal relationship, so it’s useful to start thinking about exactly what I want/need and to look at costs and charges.

Albermarle

manchesterlady said:

Thank you. There’s nothing inherently wrong with my current IFA - it was just that they are the only IFA I’ve had and I’ve been with the same firm for getting on for 20 years, so now the pot is a lot bigger and I’m getting closer to retirement. I’m not going to proceed with Skipton as you rightly point out that they are restricted and not an IFA.

i suppose that I’d like a bit more of a personal service from my IFA rather than a twice-yearly video call, but that’s for me to communicate, as you mention!

I will be moving from England to Scotland next year, so at that point it would make sense to find a new IFA as I want that personal relationship, so it’s useful to start thinking about exactly what I want/need and to look at costs and charges.

You might want to post on here the charges you are paying, as after 20 years you might be in an expensive scheme.
Best to break it down if you can.
Advisor charge
pension provider platform charge
Investment charges.

You should get some interesting feedback .

Marcon

manchesterlady said:

Thank you. There’s nothing inherently wrong with my current IFA - it was just that they are the only IFA I’ve had and I’ve been with the same firm for getting on for 20 years, so now the pot is a lot bigger and I’m getting closer to retirement. 

Maybe that's because your IFA has been doing a good job...?!

You can have a personal relationship with an adviser without necessarily seeing them face to face. Dispensing with someone who has provided an admirable service for several decades (assuming that's the case) might just be a tad short sighted, especially if you've not given them any indication that you would welcome greater levels of contact.

LHW99

And if the meetings are done remotely, there is no absoute reason why a move to Scotland shoud be a problem for you / them

dunstonh

I will be moving from England to Scotland next year, so at that point it would make sense to find a new IFA as I want that personal relationship, so it’s useful to start thinking about exactly what I want/need and to look at costs and charges.

Not sure that is a reason for change.  I have a cluster of clients all over the country where we use phone, zoom, emails etc and never meet up personally.

manchesterlady

To follow up: I went through my current fees/charges for my IFA and what Quilter charge for funds held, as follows:

1. Adviser Ongoing Servicing Fee:
1% per year of value of each account (I have a Collective Retirement Account and a S&S ISA)

2. Service Charge:
First £50k = 0.30%
£50 -£500k = 0.20%
£500k - £1m = 0.15%

3. Managed Portfolio Service Charge:
This is specific to the fund I’m in - Wealth Select Managed Active8 = 0.15% of portfolio each year

4. S&S ISA:
Recurring charges = 2.22% of fund value

It will be interesting to hear the feedback!

dunstonh

1. Adviser Ongoing Servicing Fee:
1% per year of value of each account (I have a Collective Retirement Account and a S&S ISA)

1% is typical for smaller values.   Many firms taper it down as your value gets higher.  e.g. to 0.50% around £500k.

2. Service Charge:
First £50k = 0.30%
£50 -£500k = 0.20%
£500k - £1m = 0.15%

Quilter is a mid range platform. It offers some functionality that is not available on others (I had to do a disqualifying pension credit case with them recently as they were one of only a handful that would do it).  However, its pricing is also mid range.   The low cost platforms start at around 0.15% now.  

3. Managed Portfolio Service Charge:
This is specific to the fund I’m in - Wealth Select Managed Active8 = 0.15% of portfolio each year

Now, this is where it gets interesting.   The Quilter agents (restricted FAs) use the Wealth Select funds.   They are available for IFAs to use, but not many do.

So, are you sure you have an IFA and not a Quilter agent (Intrinsic was their old name before the Quilter rebrand)?   Check a letter from your adviser and look at the footer where the FCA text is written.    Does it say they are directly authorised by the FCA or does it say they are appointed representatives of..... ?   

4. S&S ISA:
Recurring charges = 2.22% of fund value

Far too high by 2024 standards.  It was high by 2014 or even 2004 standards.   Fully managed funds will push the cost up but with mid range pricing on the platform and full cost pricing on the adviser charge, the use of managed funds in a own-brand MPS is not value for money.