Would you trust a SERPS review company?
Discussion
We work with a handful of national advisory firms who can undertake this kind of work, our web sites typically appear in Google search results. One trick is to look on the FCA register at the firms details and the individuals underneath the firm (both are listed). This will tell you the company and individuals' histories.
It's right to be cautious, however the rogues are often only intent on taking you down one path and will sell you are very specific thing, and often the 'advice' part is not being undertaken or supervised by a regulated individual. For anyone savvy, alarm bells should start ringing fairly early in the process.
If in doubt, there are plenty of national and regional firms with long trading histories, little or no FSA/FCA/FoS compaint or intervention history and the products they discuss are unlikely to be specific holiday complexes or forests in far flung lands etc.
It's right to be cautious, however the rogues are often only intent on taking you down one path and will sell you are very specific thing, and often the 'advice' part is not being undertaken or supervised by a regulated individual. For anyone savvy, alarm bells should start ringing fairly early in the process.
If in doubt, there are plenty of national and regional firms with long trading histories, little or no FSA/FCA/FoS compaint or intervention history and the products they discuss are unlikely to be specific holiday complexes or forests in far flung lands etc.
Portafina is an IFA.
You could try thepensionreviewbusiness.co.uk (I disclose a connection through a mate there). They are FCA authorised and regulated and will review your pension(s) for free.
They will make alternative recommendations where appropriate (based upon where your pension is now and what your needs and requirements are) and you only pay their fee if you want to proceed with their advice.
I like them because they turn the whole 'trust' model between client and adviser on its head. Rather than you paying an adviser and trusting they are doing the best for you, they do the work and present everything in advance to you for free and then trust that you are satisfied enough to use them.
You could try thepensionreviewbusiness.co.uk (I disclose a connection through a mate there). They are FCA authorised and regulated and will review your pension(s) for free.
They will make alternative recommendations where appropriate (based upon where your pension is now and what your needs and requirements are) and you only pay their fee if you want to proceed with their advice.
I like them because they turn the whole 'trust' model between client and adviser on its head. Rather than you paying an adviser and trusting they are doing the best for you, they do the work and present everything in advance to you for free and then trust that you are satisfied enough to use them.
Simpo Two said:
I had a letter from 'Portafina' today telling me about tax free lump sums etc. No mention of charges of course, but they won't work for free. Whether they cost more or less than an IFA and whether they are beter or worse at advising is uncertain.
Used to be called 'Portal Financial' (see what they did there?). Fully regulated, decent firm (I don't do business with them now but have done in the past).Very efficient.
Most of these kind of firms will do a pension review for free then charge on a percentage basis. They bank on there being enough inefficiencies in your current pension(s) and enough accumulation time remaining that they can switch you to another pension and the improvements will more than cover their fees by the time you draw your pension.
Why do you need a 'SERPS review' or a 'pension review' ??
It's like feeling unwell, going to a doctor, and saying "I'm not well, but please only consider my left leg in the course of making your diagnosis. Nothing else Doc. Just my left leg"
Steer clear of these half-baked outfits. They'll find a reason to move your pension and charge you. No doubt about that.
Go to a proper, holistic, fee based IFA and spend your money on something of tangible value.
Buy their time. Not something that relies on a product sale.
It's like feeling unwell, going to a doctor, and saying "I'm not well, but please only consider my left leg in the course of making your diagnosis. Nothing else Doc. Just my left leg"
Steer clear of these half-baked outfits. They'll find a reason to move your pension and charge you. No doubt about that.
Go to a proper, holistic, fee based IFA and spend your money on something of tangible value.
Buy their time. Not something that relies on a product sale.
TFP said:
Why do you need a 'SERPS review' or a 'pension review' ??
It's like feeling unwell, going to a doctor, and saying "I'm not well, but please only consider my left leg in the course of making your diagnosis. Nothing else Doc. Just my left leg"
Steer clear of these half-baked outfits. They'll find a reason to move your pension and charge you. No doubt about that.
Whoa there! That's a pretty broad brush you're painting with. No, not all outfits think or work like that. Anyone with a view to a long career and a successful, compliant company in FS (not to mention the small matter of keeping the PI insurers happy) needs to work in clients' interests, not their own. More to the point, most firms are 'proper, holistic, fee based' IFAs.It's like feeling unwell, going to a doctor, and saying "I'm not well, but please only consider my left leg in the course of making your diagnosis. Nothing else Doc. Just my left leg"
Steer clear of these half-baked outfits. They'll find a reason to move your pension and charge you. No doubt about that.
The charging structures of IFAs vary, however many will have a mixture of fee and 'commission' (not that you're allowed to call it that for most products post RDR). There aren't many IFAs out there who will manage your ongoing investments for free- you're paying for the advice one way or the other, whether it's called fees (vatable) or charges for buying financial products (not typically vatable). One of my clients, a large, very well established firm of well respected IFAs, bills about 20% of their work as professional fees and 80% in relation to product purchase.
I work with a number if IFA firms, from the very small, 2 regulated individuals, up to the largest in the country. To suggest they're up to no good or failing to provide holistic advice, because they're willing to undertake a review at no cost and only charge if they undertake further work, is wide of the mark. These are companies where the compliance heads rules the roost. In fact, in many cases, I suspect the firms we work with, who offer the free consultations/reviews, are the very same kind of firms you're suggesting people go to. One and the same.
What people need to beware of is introducers who contact you and try to line you up for a specific investment right from the word go, and only use a tame IFA to sign something off.
We both do, I'm sure. We probably work with some of the same people.
There's a world of difference between a bucket shop full of telephone monkeys 'regulated' by a near-retirement CF30 sacrificing himself to make some hidden paymasters a quick, barely regulated buck, and a well established advisory firm doing things by the book. The services/fee structures they offer up front (for example, initial review of your situation at no cost) however, are not always the differentiators a potential client would see.
Also, bearing in mind a large proportion of the market are looking at pensions of comparatively low value (<£80k) with no other assets of value, these are not clients typical wealth management firms want to talk to- I know, as I'm often tasked with finding the ones they do want to talk to. For these mass-market people, who might be sat on poorly performing pensions with high charges and 10-15 years of accumulation to go, the services offered by bona fide, regulated firms in offering relatively low cost, insured and regulated advice, are of proper value.
There's a world of difference between a bucket shop full of telephone monkeys 'regulated' by a near-retirement CF30 sacrificing himself to make some hidden paymasters a quick, barely regulated buck, and a well established advisory firm doing things by the book. The services/fee structures they offer up front (for example, initial review of your situation at no cost) however, are not always the differentiators a potential client would see.
Also, bearing in mind a large proportion of the market are looking at pensions of comparatively low value (<£80k) with no other assets of value, these are not clients typical wealth management firms want to talk to- I know, as I'm often tasked with finding the ones they do want to talk to. For these mass-market people, who might be sat on poorly performing pensions with high charges and 10-15 years of accumulation to go, the services offered by bona fide, regulated firms in offering relatively low cost, insured and regulated advice, are of proper value.
I charge a set fee now (for personal or face to face advice), it doesn't matter how much, or little, a client invests into an investment or pension. It saves faffing around about price, it's open and honest and a client knows, from the off, what I'm going to charge them.
Like it or not, and whisper it quietly, but we are in a sales based sector. We can practice honestly, professionally, ethically and responsibly, but we are still dependent on making money and running a responsible business. That relies on understanding we work in a service sector where market forces generally prevail and making a pragmatic profit. The downside of course, is we get a rush to the bottom and everyone, ultimately the client, loses out.
I see no problem with focusing on a limited area of a client's financial world - sometimes, not everyone wants or needs to have an expensive study focusing on everything. As long as the work is good and diligent and all parties are aware of the limitations and the consequences of a limited scope.
Like it or not, and whisper it quietly, but we are in a sales based sector. We can practice honestly, professionally, ethically and responsibly, but we are still dependent on making money and running a responsible business. That relies on understanding we work in a service sector where market forces generally prevail and making a pragmatic profit. The downside of course, is we get a rush to the bottom and everyone, ultimately the client, loses out.
I see no problem with focusing on a limited area of a client's financial world - sometimes, not everyone wants or needs to have an expensive study focusing on everything. As long as the work is good and diligent and all parties are aware of the limitations and the consequences of a limited scope.
janesmith1950 said:
a well established advisory firm doing things by the book.
The problem in that particular sphere of finance is of trusting the people who wrote the book. Which throws the book itself into question. Which renders the quality of the firm advising on it meaningless. Lots of sound people have - albeit inadvertently - given lots of trusting folk lots of bad advice based on "the book" of one kind or another.(this is imho only)
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