Transfer to SIPP going wrong? Advisor still wants paid
BossHogg
Posts: 44 Forumite
back in spring of 2019 my wife and I were after pensions advice and sought help from a company that has helped set up employee schemes in the past for our Ltd company.
The long and short of it is that we agreed to transfer all our (non-final-salary) disparate pension pots (~£200K) into a AJ Bell SIPP and have it invested by Vanguard (hoping for medium risk ~5% return). For the sagely advice and actioning of this the advisers would invoice us for £2k.
My wife's pensions were not fully transferred, so a big chunk still with L&G (and doing quite well), but mine were all transferred (and £60 deducted from each that I was not expecting as a transfer fee), but big problem is that since June they have just been sitting there un-invested in the SIPP as a cash amount for pretty much half a year. This is being eaten away by management charges and gaining no interest.
I gather the original adviser left the company, and I got a new guy who seems to be struggling with his workload. He was talking about sorting out my wife's transfer into her SIPP and also starting to get mine invested 'a bit at a time' given current volatility in markets over brexit.
I do not think the delivery of their services warrants the full £2k, and was wondering if I could argue that even a 3% return for half a year lost on £200K is £3K so we just call it quits!
Any advice welcome.
The long and short of it is that we agreed to transfer all our (non-final-salary) disparate pension pots (~£200K) into a AJ Bell SIPP and have it invested by Vanguard (hoping for medium risk ~5% return). For the sagely advice and actioning of this the advisers would invoice us for £2k.
My wife's pensions were not fully transferred, so a big chunk still with L&G (and doing quite well), but mine were all transferred (and £60 deducted from each that I was not expecting as a transfer fee), but big problem is that since June they have just been sitting there un-invested in the SIPP as a cash amount for pretty much half a year. This is being eaten away by management charges and gaining no interest.
I gather the original adviser left the company, and I got a new guy who seems to be struggling with his workload. He was talking about sorting out my wife's transfer into her SIPP and also starting to get mine invested 'a bit at a time' given current volatility in markets over brexit.
I do not think the delivery of their services warrants the full £2k, and was wondering if I could argue that even a 3% return for half a year lost on £200K is £3K so we just call it quits!
Any advice welcome.
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Comments
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Could you just cancel their services, pay them nothing and do it all yourself?
Staying invested based on your asset allocation is the best approach. Pulling money out of the market and then going in “bit by bit” because of politics is bad investment advice.
Move back in as quickly as you can. On average, markets move up. Betting against a trend isn’t smart
P.S. your opportunity loss is more than 3k0 -
Make a formal complaint to the company about the service (or lack of it) you have received and the fact that you believe you have suffered financial loss as a result. If the complaints procedure isn't on their website, ask for a copy.0
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I'd be writing a complaint if I were you, due to the money sitting in cash and not being invested as per the recommendation (unless it was part of the recommendation e.g. invest a bit at a time). Did they not explain a transfer fee in the recommendation/suitability letter?I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). Any posts on here are for information and discussion purposes only and should not be seen as financial advice.0
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Make a subject access request to the company, and they will send you (normally free of charge) a verbatim copy of everything said between you, assuming it was recorded by them.0
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You were presumably fully invested before the platform consolidation and are significantly in cash now, with it would appear some half hearted plan to drip feed it in for no specific reason. That in itself appears to be a change in investment strategy from what you had before and what was supposed to happen.
If that is a reasonably accurate summary of it, you would appear to have a case for maladministration at least against the adviser. In the meantime, just get on with sorting it with or without their involvement.0 -
Did they not explain a transfer fee in the recommendation/suitability letter?
Probably this was a charge from the pension provider rather than the advisor.
Otherwise I agree with the others , seems a bit of a shambles for what is a simple transfer.0 -
Thanks all for suggestions - I have now sent off a complaint, and suggested that at the very least they forgo their fees to offset my lack of investment.
I expect I'll be hearing from them soon.
Their website does not indicate any complaint procedure, is there someone I can take it to (other than charlatans shouting about mis-sold SIPPs) in case they start arguing?0 -
A company with a timeline for dealing with complaints will likely delay to the limit (8 weeks in my case) and if there is no set timetable it could be longer still.
If you make a subject access request, they should oblige with no delay and within a month. The SAR should give you the information you need to proceed, and concentrate their focus too. Make sure they omit nothing.
https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/how-do-i-make-a-subject-access-request0 -
Thanks all for suggestions - I have now sent off a complaint, and suggested that at the very least they forgo their fees to offset my lack of investment.
I expect I'll be hearing from them soon.
Their website does not indicate any complaint procedure, is there someone I can take it to (other than charlatans shouting about mis-sold SIPPs) in case they start arguing?
Yes. If they don't respond within 8 weeks ( I think!) or you're not happy with how they deal with your complaint, you can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). It's free of charge to you so no need to go via any third party claim companies.0 -
Yes. If they don't respond within 8 weeks ( I think!) or you're not happy with how they deal with your complaint, you can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). It's free of charge to you so no need to go via any third party claim companies.
You're correct - the business must respond within 8 weeks at most. OP, have a look at https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/how-to-complain to understand what you need to do.Googling on your question might have been both quicker and easier, if you're only after simple facts rather than opinions!0
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