How to compare Lloyds IPS against other investements

DocProc

One of the problems with the Internet and a Forum such as this, is that you can only read the written word.

You can't hear any tone of voice or emphasis and you can't see any grins or smiles on the faces of people conversing with you.

Someone can type something , which they personally might feel is very lighthearted. However, the reader might well consider it to be quite blunt, rude and exceedingly personal or put down in bad taste.

And then there is the problem of grammar, not forgetting the problem of vocabulary.

I wonder why I bother on here at all?

Ooops! That was meant as a joke. I guess I'd better add a smiley.

Anyhow, I hope you see what I mean? Don't forget that most people who post up a response are actually trying to help. They are utilising their altruistic nature - in the main.

moneybelle:

Here's my threepennyworth...

Check out the Consumer Information section at http://www.fsa.gov.uk/

If you then go on to click on 'Useful Tools' you can compare products and even look at comparison tables.

There are tables for:

• Pension annuities
• Mortgages
• Savings accounts
• Stakeholder and personal pensions
• Unit trust and OEIC ISAs
• Investment bonds
• Savings endowments

If you look a bit deeper and check out the various links, there are all sorts of investment guides and you should even be able to find an Investment Manager or Financial Adviser. There are several types of the latter. eg, See them at:

http://www.investmentuk.org/investors/ifa.asp

Hope that is of help.

moneybelle

Doc: a career in the diplomatic service awaits you

munk

moneybelle, I would suggest you not take any financial advice from Lloyds TSB. Lloyds TSB will charge you around 3-5% upfront for any investment you take out with them. A better idea is to go to an IFA who will charge you considerably less than 3-5% for actual *independent* advice.

The key here is independent advice - Lloyds will only be touting their own financial products which limits your scope for a decent return. An IFA will have access to a much larger range of products/funds (2000+ instead of 40 or so at Scottish Widows).

Bear in mind that Lloyds bank year on year turn massive profits for themselves. This profit is made from excessively charging customers like yourself who go to them for advice on investments because they've been loyal customers for years and expect they'll be treated well in return or because they see Lloyds as being dependent, trustworthy and reliable.

The 'advice' you're given from Lloyds regarding financial investments does sound more than knowledgeable and reliable until you dig around a little and realize that in fact they charge a huge amount up front to suggest a very limited and badly balanced portfolio which you will be expected to look after yourself after it's initially set up. They do cover their backs well by having laid out their suggestions in a financial review prior to you agreeing to sign up.

Do yourself a favour and talk to an IFA and whatever you do don't take any 'advice' on investments from Lloyds TSB! Sorry this sounds harsh and this is my opinion only on the back of having seen my mum get mugged by Lloyds to the tune of £5000.

If you want stories of people who've been stung by Lloyds excessive charges and lack of care for how their customers fair financially, search this forum for 'lloyds flexible option bond'. Lloyds TSB are a bank, not a financial advisory service!

meester

moneybelle wrote: »

Please see comments below in red

I'd rather not, as it's impossible to reply to them using the quote button.

See the thing is you have come here asking about a personal service that is offered to you, people are offering their advice from experience and all you are saying is 'I'm not interested in your advice, you all suck, where's a website that will tell me, everyone knows you can trust websites'.

You will not find any website comparing Lloyds' service pushed on its clients with other options. It is just not that kind of product. The charges are not published online, it is a tailored service (not execution-only), and it is not one that ANYONE would choose except for the fact that they bank with Lloyds and Lloyds have done a sales job on them.

What you can get is advice on what you have been offered, but you have said repeatedly that you don't want that advice, in which case please, go ahead and do whatever Llloyds says, don't worry about the charges or the quality or range of the investment advice, they want a 'relationship' with you, so everything will be ok.

So at this point I would suggest that we all stop wasting each others time.

Good luck investing with Lloyds.

dunstonh

Lloyds private banking is a discretionary fund management service. They negotiate charges on management depending on size of portfolio. Typically they charge 1% on top of the charges that are normally levied on the investments. They will use shares as well as funds.

Discretionary fund management is a valid option if you have £250k-£500k plus to fully invest but less than that is pointless. Even then, you wouldnt use a bank because there are better options.

moneybelle

Thanks to everyone for input.

It has confirmed my need to research thoroughly. Everyone needs a starting point; even if it is Lloyds bank. Contrary to some reply posts, I have never been 'sold' on lloyds. I would never have posted here otherwise.

meester; advice is always useful and I always read it. But answering my original question was important to me (as more general advice on IFA's and investing is easy to get on the web) and DocProc had a very good point in his post about general mis-interpretation of meaning on forums. Appologies if you feel I have represented my feelings unfairly to you or anyone else.

moneybelle

dunstonh wrote: »

Lloyds private banking is a discretionary fund management service. They negotiate charges on management depending on size of portfolio. Typically they charge 1% on top of the charges that are normally levied on the investments. They will use shares as well as funds.

They are partnered with the Russel group for managing equities; offering a multi-manager approach. In theory they are able to switch from non-performing funds at will.

What you say about the 1% on top of the charges is not made clear in the sales pitch, I found it in an article yesterday.

munk

I skimmed over the part about IPS you wrote in your original post - I was under the impression it was a case of you being advised to invest in xyz Scottish Widows product because you had a bit of cash come through your Lloyds TSB account that had been flagged up as requiring an adviser to 'help you out with'.

Just for comparison, Hargreaves Lansdown offer a discretionary management service (same as Lloyds IPS / private banking service) for 0.5% pa iirc saving you at least 0.5% straight away there. As for comparing the quality of the service offered I don't know where you'd find that information.

Probably the best way to get a feel for it is to ask a number of different IFAs offering portfolio management services to give you an initial review of their services and charges and just see how you feel about each - not just on a financial level but also on an ... emotional level, see which one you 'get on with' best and feel most comfortable with. It may be the case that Lloyds do charge more but if you feel more comfortable with the advice they give ... ok I won't carry on with that sentence, it's just *wrong* going to Lloyds for financial advice!!!

dunstonh

They are partnered with the Russel group for managing equities; offering a multi-manager approach. In theory they are able to switch from non-performing funds at will.

All independents are multi-manager. Its how you integrate them that matters. Management of a portfolio is important but when do you know if a fund is non-performing.

What you say about the 1% on top of the charges is not made clear in the sales pitch, I found it in an article yesterday.

Charges and cost of advice need to be disclosed up front. At least in general. Specific charges may not be known until later but they are not doing this for free. They should indicate what the charges will be.

munk

The charges are listed in the brochure that they sent out, you'd expect no less from Lloyds.

belle - you said this above:

The money is in the bank; thats why, and they (very kindly!!) offered advice. But I don't have to take it. Now I'm doing my homework.

I know I sound cynical but it's only from personal experience - my mum also had the same opinion that Lloyds were very nice, pleasant, approachable and kind people and as such she trusted them to invest her money in the best way. They sent a number of 'advisers' out to discuss her finances and how to invest a large amount of money more suitably after my Dad passed away. Because she'd been with them for over 30 years and is quite trusting in general, she naturally trusted them to look after her interests. All of the advisers were very nice, kind and pleasant to a tee.

However the charges involved with her particular investment were very high - she paid full initial charges (3.5%) on an investment that I could have made for her for between only 0-0.25% - more than a 90% saving. May not sound a lot but on a large investment it's the difference between £3500 and £100-200 - a lot of money ! To top it all the fund she had all her money invested in was an absolute stinker and during 2 years when the stockmarket was booming and you'd have had to try hard to lose money, her investment did manage this unfortunately.

Admittedly you're talking about their private banking service which may actually be ok - hopefully you'd be getting a non-tied service there (ie not just limited to/fettered to Scottish Widows funds)... but just keep in mind that Lloyds charge big big money much more than you would pay with 99% of other financial managers I imagine. As I say I believe Hargreaves Lansdown charge only 0.5% and you could probably get similar or better offers from IFAs (try http://unbiased.co.uk/ for IFAs).

Sorry again for rant but really don't want others to get taken in by Lloyd's smooth talking.