Anyone experience with Blevins Franks?

pecunianonolet

Hi there,

as the title says, I am looking for people having used in the past or currently using Blevin Franks  https://www.blevinsfranks.com/

Would be great if you could share your experiences, good or bad, how they compare to others and how their cost/service aligns. 

If you don't want to share in public, feel free to PM me. 

Thanks!

Eyeful

Their website does not show their charges or fees. This leads me to think they must be very expensive.

pecunianonolet

Eyeful said:

Their website does not show their charges or fees. This leads me to think they must be very expensive.

I have no idea what expensive or cheap is as never used anything like that before, hence me asking for advice here 

Eyeful

1. There is the old saying "If you have to ask the price, you can not afford it"

I always take the the view when someone makes their charges & fees hard to find, or worse do not even quote them, they are going to be very expensive & more than I am willing to pay. They want to get you talking to them, so that the can get you to buy the expensive product.

Seeing that they use the term "Wealth Management Advisers" confirms this .

2. How did you hear about them?

3. I suggest you first find out if the are Independent Financial Advisers (IFA) who are supposed to work for you
or are  Financial Advisers (FA), who are basically sales persons who work for the company that employs them,
https://www.which.co.uk/money/investing/financial-advice/how-to-find-a-financial-adviser-afZ375F6BIiC

poseidon1

pecunianonolet said:

Hi there,

as the title says, I am looking for people having used in the past or currently using Blevin Franks  https://www.blevinsfranks.com/

Would be great if you could share your experiences, good or bad, how they compare to others and how their cost/service aligns. 

If you don't want to share in public, feel free to PM me. 

Thanks!

I had professional business to business dealings with the firm back in the 1990s when they were just a boutique tax and accountancy practice specialising in the ex pat tax advisory market.

You will see from the link below that the original business owners sold in 2012 and the business has since evolved into an ( expensive ) all singing all dancing international wealth management and tax advisory business. I have no doubt that given their tax advisory history, they still  retain a reasonably decent team of tax consultants but my guess ( and that's all it is ) the business model would be for the tax advisory arm to drive business to the wealth management arm with a view to growing AUM.

https://international-adviser.com/stone-simmonds-acquire-blevins-franks/

Regrettably my experience of their professional credentials was whilst they were under a very different management structure. Given they are an ex pat focused business you may struggle to find anyone on this forum with any actual experience of their current services.

pecunianonolet

Eyeful said:

1. There is the old saying "If you have to ask the price, you can not afford it"

I always take the the view when someone makes their charges & fees hard to find, or worse do not even quote them, they are going to be very expensive & more than I am willing to pay. They want to get you talking to them, so that the can get you to buy the expensive product.

Seeing that they use the term "Wealth Management Advisers" confirms this .

2. How did you hear about them?

3. I suggest you first find out if the are Independent Financial Advisers (IFA) who are supposed to work for you
or are  Financial Advisers (FA), who are basically sales persons who work for the company that employs them,
https://www.which.co.uk/money/investing/financial-advice/how-to-find-a-financial-adviser-afZ375F6BIiC

1. Very aware of that saying, however, a first meeting to get to know each other is usually free and to establish the services required to put a package together
2. Through a friend who attended a presentation of a local office at his sailing club with primarily British expats
3. Good shout, I am not looking for someone to manage funds, it's more about tax advise e.g. double tax treaties between UK and a country I am thinking of moving to

poseidon1 said:

pecunianonolet said:

Hi there,

as the title says, I am looking for people having used in the past or currently using Blevin Franks  https://www.blevinsfranks.com/

Would be great if you could share your experiences, good or bad, how they compare to others and how their cost/service aligns. 

If you don't want to share in public, feel free to PM me. 

Thanks!

I had professional business to business dealings with the firm back in the 1990s when they were just a boutique tax and accountancy practice specialising in the ex pat tax advisory market.

You will see from the link below that the original business owners sold in 2012 and the business has since evolved into an ( expensive ) all singing all dancing international wealth management and tax advisory business. I have no doubt that given their tax advisory history, they still  retain a reasonably decent team of tax consultants but my guess ( and that's all it is ) the business model would be for the tax advisory arm to drive business to the wealth management arm with a view to growing AUM.

https://international-adviser.com/stone-simmonds-acquire-blevins-franks/

Regrettably my experience of their professional credentials was whilst they were under a very different management structure. Given they are an ex pat focused business you may struggle to find anyone on this forum with any actual experience of their current services.

Thanks for sharing and I would be mainly after their tax advisory services to move my residence from the UK into another country. I am aware that it might be difficult to find experience of their current services here, but this forum has been full of surprises and amazing advice before so always worth a try. 

Theastonmartinman

I'm also considering them but am wary, have you seen the financial ombudsman case, I can't post links but its not hard to find.

  looks like the charges were high and investor not told, but that was within the rules, doesn't inspire confidence!

 

masonic

Theastonmartinman said:

I'm also considering them but am wary, have you seen the financial ombudsman case, I can't post links but its not hard to find.

  looks like the charges were high and investor not told, but that was within the rules, doesn't inspire confidence!

This is the only upheld decision against them I could find:

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/decision/DRN2771745.pdf

Suggests they put the complainant in too risky a fund. The decision was to compensate them if it led to inferior returns to a more appropriate medium risk benchmark. It is likely it did not, based on what was stated at the beginning of the complaint. I suppose one of the benefits of using an advisory service is being able to raise such a complaint - having your cake (the benefits of an unsuitable investment) and eating it too (compensation if it doesn't work out).

The charges did not look unreasonable at 1.25% falling to 0.7%.