Lighthouse Group Financial Solutions

eddyinfreehold
eddyinfreehold Posts: 213 Forumite
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in Pensions, annuities & retirement planning
My partner is organising retirement options and pensions. The union, ASCL, has a 'partner' Lighthouse Group. Are these people simply selling their annuities or are they genuinely offering impartial advice for the retiring teacher with their 'free' first consultation?

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  • BobQ
    BobQ Posts: 11,181 Forumite
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    edited 6 December 2017 at 12:31AM
    eddyinfreehold wrote: »
    My partner is organising retirement options and pensions. The union, ASCL, has a 'partner' Lighthouse Group. Are these people simply selling their annuities or are they genuinely offering impartial advice for the retiring teacher with their 'free' first consultation?

    My brother in law is a civil servant and used Lighthouse (also suggested by his union) for some advice on a second pension.

    He arranged a telephone consultation appointment and they gave advice. There was no hard sell of other products, they just answered his questions.

    They are not likely to encourage a caller to give up a defined benefit pension for an annuity since that would in most cases be bad advice unless say they had low life expectancy.
    Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are incapable of forming such opinions.
  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 116,318 Forumite
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    The union, ASCL, has a 'partner' Lighthouse Group.

    i.e the Union get paid a chunk of the fee for anyone that uses them. It is a commercial relationship for the union. Not a beneficial one for the consumer. They are not independent but restricted. All adviser firms give the first appointment free.

    I dont know if lighthouse were the company a few years ago but I did deal with a teacher who had seen the union adviser and myself and the advice between us differed. The union adviser was pushing annuity on the AVC whereas I said to keep it in the AVC and use UFPLS for ad-hoc lump sums when needed as there was plenty of income. So, my only experience of the union adviser was not great.
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
  • tigerspill
    tigerspill Posts: 774 Forumite
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    Our union all uses Lighthouse. When I spoke with them (a few times), I didn't find them that knowledgeable and their fees seemed high.
  • BobQ
    BobQ Posts: 11,181 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post Combo Breaker
    dunstonh wrote: »
    i.e the Union get paid a chunk of the fee for anyone that uses them. It is a commercial relationship for the union. Not a beneficial one for the consumer. They are not independent but restricted. All adviser firms give the first appointment free.

    I dont know if lighthouse were the company a few years ago but I did deal with a teacher who had seen the union adviser and myself and the advice between us differed. The union adviser was pushing annuity on the AVC whereas I said to keep it in the AVC and use UFPLS for ad-hoc lump sums when needed as there was plenty of income. So, my only experience of the union adviser was not great.

    Interesting comment.

    I had imagined that a Union intending to support its members would be referring them to an Independent Financial Advisor, but as you say they do not claim to be an IFA.
    Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are incapable of forming such opinions.
  • jamesperrett
    jamesperrett Posts: 1,009 Forumite
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    My union also has a deal with them. I went to a seminar where they pushed things like trusts to avoid inheritance tax and also stock market related investments which were guaranteed not to fall in value (sorry I've forgotten the proper name for these). After reading things on here for a year or two, I felt the advice was a little outdated but the seminar did make me think about areas that I hadn't thought about before.
  • eddyinfreehold
    eddyinfreehold Posts: 213 Forumite
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    Interesting comments and food for thought. Thank you all.
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