Should I stay with current IFA or jump ship?

BobGray

Well, like anything else in life, you get what you pay for.  In our case my wife and I had an IFA for many years before we realised that his advice was severely limited in breadth and accuracy.  His dealings when transferring funds between retail providers were not at all transparent and his advice was limited to "it will come right given time", "smoothed return funds are good".  Of course he was limited to offering familiar "retail" products like PRU, Royal London, Hargreaves, Aviva etc.  Finally, last year we had had enough and initiated a thorough expose and a six month transfer to Fisher Investments.  What a difference.  Professional to the nth degree.  With a proper understanding of our ability to accept risk, not a tenetative tick box review of our uninformed ideas of risk, we now have a 100% equity portfolio.  The portfolio is benchmarked using the Global MSCI and therefore not bias towards US, Europe, Asia etc. and has a varied spread of sectors which is actively reviewed and reported on.  We are not experts but feel totally informed and appraised of the Global markets and volatility we are to expect.  We have both UK and US councellors on tap for current updates to help us maintain our discipline and advise us with ongoing retirement strategy.  Oh, and not to be dismissed, Fisher's charges are less than those we were being charged between the IFA and the retail investment products.  All charges are made ultra clear upfront well before being signed up.  We settled in by Aug last year and enjoyed a 10.5% gain for the 5 months of the year that achieved 23% for 2024, following a 22% for 2023.  With ongoing Bull markets we expect 15 to 20% this year despite the sluggish current performance based on known Global negatives. With our 100% equity fund we experience daily volatility of +/- £60k but we feel comfortable that the fund is still making good progress.  All of this performance detail is presented to us on a continual basis through our personal councellors with reference to the Global MSCI benchmark.  So far, we have had three informative "meet the team" luncheons for all the local Fisher investors in our fund, where portfolio decisions are explained taking current market sentiment and performance into account; good to meet others in the same investment boat.  Again, what a difference to our previous retail IFA.  I would fully encourage anyone's thoughts of moving on to a more professional Global investment platform. Do your research and expect any worthwhile offer to take six months to transition.

MeteredOut

Trustpilot reviews do not align with your comments

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/fisherinvestments.com

See also: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6435508/ifa-fisher-investments and https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6460175/fisher-investments-uk-opinions

Yes, a wealth manager may deliver better results than a poor IFA, but a decent IFA should deliver better results than any fund manager, due to the significantly lower fees and wider market options.

Just don't expect "meet the team" lunches with an IFA. 

arthur_fowler

BobGray said:

Well, like anything else in life, you get what you pay for.  In our case my wife and I had an IFA for many years before we realised that his advice was severely limited in breadth and accuracy.  His dealings when transferring funds between retail providers were not at all transparent and his advice was limited to "it will come right given time", "smoothed return funds are good".  Of course he was limited to offering familiar "retail" products like PRU, Royal London, Hargreaves, Aviva etc.  Finally, last year we had had enough and initiated a thorough expose and a six month transfer to Fisher Investments.  What a difference.  Professional to the nth degree.  With a proper understanding of our ability to accept risk, not a tenetative tick box review of our uninformed ideas of risk, we now have a 100% equity portfolio.  The portfolio is benchmarked using the Global MSCI and therefore not bias towards US, Europe, Asia etc. and has a varied spread of sectors which is actively reviewed and reported on.  We are not experts but feel totally informed and appraised of the Global markets and volatility we are to expect.  We have both UK and US councellors on tap for current updates to help us maintain our discipline and advise us with ongoing retirement strategy.  Oh, and not to be dismissed, Fisher's charges are less than those we were being charged between the IFA and the retail investment products.  All charges are made ultra clear upfront well before being signed up.  We settled in by Aug last year and enjoyed a 10.5% gain for the 5 months of the year that achieved 23% for 2024, following a 22% for 2023.  With ongoing Bull markets we expect 15 to 20% this year despite the sluggish current performance based on known Global negatives. With our 100% equity fund we experience daily volatility of +/- £60k but we feel comfortable that the fund is still making good progress.  All of this performance detail is presented to us on a continual basis through our personal councellors with reference to the Global MSCI benchmark.  So far, we have had three informative "meet the team" luncheons for all the local Fisher investors in our fund, where portfolio decisions are explained taking current market sentiment and performance into account; good to meet others in the same investment boat.  Again, what a difference to our previous retail IFA.  I would fully encourage anyone's thoughts of moving on to a more professional Global investment platform. Do your research and expect any worthwhile offer to take six months to transition.

Not at all suspicious for a first post

FIREDreamer

BobGray said:

Well, like anything else in life, you get what you pay for.  In our case my wife and I had an IFA for many years before we realised that his advice was severely limited in breadth and accuracy.  His dealings when transferring funds between retail providers were not at all transparent and his advice was limited to "it will come right given time", "smoothed return funds are good".  Of course he was limited to offering familiar "retail" products like PRU, Royal London, Hargreaves, Aviva etc.  Finally, last year we had had enough and initiated a thorough expose and a six month transfer to Fisher Investments.  What a difference.  Professional to the nth degree.  With a proper understanding of our ability to accept risk, not a tenetative tick box review of our uninformed ideas of risk, we now have a 100% equity portfolio.  The portfolio is benchmarked using the Global MSCI and therefore not bias towards US, Europe, Asia etc. and has a varied spread of sectors which is actively reviewed and reported on.  We are not experts but feel totally informed and appraised of the Global markets and volatility we are to expect.  We have both UK and US councellors on tap for current updates to help us maintain our discipline and advise us with ongoing retirement strategy.  Oh, and not to be dismissed, Fisher's charges are less than those we were being charged between the IFA and the retail investment products.  All charges are made ultra clear upfront well before being signed up.  We settled in by Aug last year and enjoyed a 10.5% gain for the 5 months of the year that achieved 23% for 2024, following a 22% for 2023.  With ongoing Bull markets we expect 15 to 20% this year despite the sluggish current performance based on known Global negatives. With our 100% equity fund we experience daily volatility of +/- £60k but we feel comfortable that the fund is still making good progress.  All of this performance detail is presented to us on a continual basis through our personal councellors with reference to the Global MSCI benchmark.  So far, we have had three informative "meet the team" luncheons for all the local Fisher investors in our fund, where portfolio decisions are explained taking current market sentiment and performance into account; good to meet others in the same investment boat.  Again, what a difference to our previous retail IFA.  I would fully encourage anyone's thoughts of moving on to a more professional Global investment platform. Do your research and expect any worthwhile offer to take six months to transition.

Hello Mr Fisher! 😂😂😂

artyboy

artyboy said:

Fisher... just a bunch of SJP wannabies. And the annoying thing is that they are carpetbombing me with their rubbishy faux hand drawn cartoon ads. Doesn't matter how many negative comments I leave (and they delete), they just won't go away. Absolute shysters.

At the risk of repeating myself...

Cus

FIREDreamer said:

BobGray said:

Well, like anything else in life, you get what you pay for.  In our case my wife and I had an IFA for many years before we realised that his advice was severely limited in breadth and accuracy.  His dealings when transferring funds between retail providers were not at all transparent and his advice was limited to "it will come right given time", "smoothed return funds are good".  Of course he was limited to offering familiar "retail" products like PRU, Royal London, Hargreaves, Aviva etc.  Finally, last year we had had enough and initiated a thorough expose and a six month transfer to Fisher Investments.  What a difference.  Professional to the nth degree.  With a proper understanding of our ability to accept risk, not a tenetative tick box review of our uninformed ideas of risk, we now have a 100% equity portfolio.  The portfolio is benchmarked using the Global MSCI and therefore not bias towards US, Europe, Asia etc. and has a varied spread of sectors which is actively reviewed and reported on.  We are not experts but feel totally informed and appraised of the Global markets and volatility we are to expect.  We have both UK and US councellors on tap for current updates to help us maintain our discipline and advise us with ongoing retirement strategy.  Oh, and not to be dismissed, Fisher's charges are less than those we were being charged between the IFA and the retail investment products.  All charges are made ultra clear upfront well before being signed up.  We settled in by Aug last year and enjoyed a 10.5% gain for the 5 months of the year that achieved 23% for 2024, following a 22% for 2023.  With ongoing Bull markets we expect 15 to 20% this year despite the sluggish current performance based on known Global negatives. With our 100% equity fund we experience daily volatility of +/- £60k but we feel comfortable that the fund is still making good progress.  All of this performance detail is presented to us on a continual basis through our personal councellors with reference to the Global MSCI benchmark.  So far, we have had three informative "meet the team" luncheons for all the local Fisher investors in our fund, where portfolio decisions are explained taking current market sentiment and performance into account; good to meet others in the same investment boat.  Again, what a difference to our previous retail IFA.  I would fully encourage anyone's thoughts of moving on to a more professional Global investment platform. Do your research and expect any worthwhile offer to take six months to transition.

Hello Mr Fisher! 😂😂😂

Daily volatility of 60k, so a portfolio of 6m, and just stick it in a 100%tracker with extra fees.  Sounds like great value.

dunstonh

 Of course he was limited to offering familiar "retail" products like PRU, Royal London, Hargreaves, Aviva etc.

Incorrect.  HargreavesL do not make their products available to IFAs.
Pru and RL are restricted product providers.
Aviva have a whole of market platform (so that's about 30,000 odd investments available).
You have fallen for marketing.  Or perhaps you have some link to Fisher and are pretending to be a satisfied client for marketing?

 The portfolio is benchmarked using the Global MSCI and therefore not bias towards US, Europe, Asia etc. 

By default, Global MSCI will be biased towards US due to its very nature.  And just because it is benchmarked to an index doesnt mean it will beat that benchmark.  

Oh, and not to be dismissed, Fisher's charges are less than those we were being charged between the IFA and the retail investment products.

Your IFA must have been expensive then, as Fisher's charges are typically higher.  A lot higher.   Looking online, their fees are around double a typical IFA operating in the same target market.  (platform 0.15%, funds 0.17%, IFA 0.50% = 0.82%.  Fisher appear to be around 1.5%).
 If you wanted to benchmark to a global index then picking a global tracker would have been the best solution.

Fisher, like SJP, targets those who want a contact-heavy service.  That costs a lot of money, and you pay for it.  However, if it is what you want, then fair enough.    IFAs tend to be lighter touch as most consumers don't need to pay for all the things you are paying for.   However, if you asked the IFA to charge more and provide a similar service, I am sure they would do so.

Like most IFAs, we get people from the likes of SJP and Fisher who want to leave them because they are expensive and offer nothing special for them.    The odd IFA client will occasionally go the other way because they think the grass is greener on the other side.    

QrizB

BobGray said:

.So far, we have had three informative "meet the team" luncheons for all the local Fisher investors in our fund

Luncheons that you paid for.

If you had no investments with Fisher, would you choose to take their team out to dinner at your own expense?

Sunnylifeover50plan

Just read the thread updates. I sense a disturbance in the force. Troubled, I am, lol.

Ibrahim5

All financial advisers charge big fat fees that are totally out of proportion for work done. They all have to make sure the paperwork is correct so you can't sue them when your investments plummet. They all try to pretend to be your best mate so when you discover how much they are charging you find it hard to dump them. IFAs and FAs can charge whatever they want. If you think of used car salesmen then an IFA can sell any car. An FA can only sell one brand eg Audi. Audi make sure that they have a reasonable selection of cars so whatever most customers want they will have an Audi  to suit. So you will have many happy customers who go to the same guy and drive an Audi. He could have gone to an independent used car dealer and got another brand but he is quite happy with his Audi. Fisher and SJP will have many happy customers. I know an IFA who used to spend all their life 'entertaining clients'. They would collect any restaurant receipts from anyone to help with their accounting.