Pension advise

rockroll574

Last year my pension advisor came to my house for his yearly chat and he said that hewill have to put his % commission up from 0.7% to 0.9% because of new government guidelines saying that all his policy holders must be paying the same %
Has anyone else been asked to do this ? 

Hoenir

Vote with your feet if you consider that the fees you are paying don't add sufficient value

rockroll574

Its not the actual fee % I was just trying to find if it is government guidelines that he has to put the % up or is he just saying that so he can put my rate up ?

Marcon

rockroll574 said:

Last year my pension advisor came to my house for his yearly chat and he said that hewill have to put his % commission up from 0.7% to 0.9% because of new government guidelines saying that all his policy holders must be paying the same %
Has anyone else been asked to do this ? 

Or maybe he could reduce his commission to 0.7% for everyone?

Ask him for a link to these new 'guidelines'.

Guidelines aren't rules and the government doesn't set rules for the finance services industry - the FCA (normally) does. Sounds as if he might be trying to capitalise on this (which is nothing to do with pension policies): https://www.abi.org.uk/products-and-issues/topics-and-issues/important-rule-changes-to-the-pricing-of-home-and-motor-insurance/

Albermarle

rockroll574 said:

Last year my pension advisor came to my house for his yearly chat and he said that hewill have to put his % commission up from 0.7% to 0.9% because of new government guidelines saying that all his policy holders must be paying the same %
Has anyone else been asked to do this ? 

I have not seen this mentioned on this forum before, or seen it in any news, so I suspect he is talking BS.
Ask him where you can see this new guidance .

dunstonh

Last year my pension advisor came to my house for his yearly chat and he said that hewill have to put his % commission up from 0.7% to 0.9% because of new government guidelines saying that all his policy holders must be paying the same %

Complete and utter BS but based on a kernel of truth.

First of all, the Governement hasn't issued any guidelines.  The Government doesn't get involved.  The FCA is the regulator of financial services.

There has been no regulatory changes saying that charges must be the same.  Indeed, the opposite.  

Indeed, the recent trend is for tiered charging and cap and collars.    So, different rates for different amounts.  Plus, further encouragement for greater client segmentation (which again, can lead to differential charging).

The average ongoing advice charge is 0.77% across all client segments.  Some maybe 0.50% and some maybe 1.00% (that is the more typical ballpark range with percentages)

The kernel of truth is consistency of approach in that client segment.  i.e. if you have 50 clients in a particular client segment, then it would expect them to be charged the same tarrif.   However, that tariff can have different charging tiers, and you can still do discounts where appropriate.  e.g. family member groups.

kempiejon

rockroll574 said:

Its not the actual fee % I was just trying to find if it is government guidelines that he has to put the % up or is he just saying that so he can put my rate up ?

If he is just saying that, another poster has called BS, will it change your opinion of continuing to do business with him?
Of course he could just be confused, I preferred the idea of bringing all the commissions down to 0.7%.

wjr4

It’s not commission, it’s an annual adviser fee 

LHW99

Is it an IFA or an FA?

FA's seem to be a law unto themselves with charges, more so than IFA's (IMO)

Ibrahim5

Not all thieves carry swag bags. Some come to your house in a suit and ask for permission.

DT2001

My IFA’s firm had an external company review their charges and investment strategies. They wanted to be consistent and needed to increase charges due to rising business costs and regulatory requirements. 1% pa ongoing advice charge with a cap of £10k. Up from 0.5%. This was potentially offset in part by moving to a new platform and lower cost global tracker funds. It was the tipping point for me having recently been moved to a new advisor within the firm. I am now invested pretty much as they suggested but through ETFs. The savings , £1k p.m., are put aside to cover one off consultations for estate planning etc (which would have, understandably, been extra anyway). It was nerve jangling to start with but I have written down my plan and remind myself that the funds are the same as the IFA was recommending so performance will be similar. I have invested long term previously, under my own steam, so believe I will stick to my simple plan.