Intelligent Money - your investment questions answered

[mikeiow]

JulianPH said:

You are quite clearly a fiscal genius Mike!

Must be: I also sold my total ~£2k of TSB shares the Friday before Black Wednesday back in ‘92....after which they would have been worth considerably less!

Mind you, that was just to allow me to buy a tidy XR2....timing is everything!

[I 8 a 4RE]

JulianPH said:

Hi there

This is because we haven't launched them yet!

We are structuring all of the holding templates for these on to our back office software, building them into our online application software, updating our Key Features documents to reflect them, redesigning our website to feature and explain them and training the office on them.

So most departments are involved right now in delivering this one way or another.

Whilst we are undertaking all of this it makes sense for me to add my global brand core buy and hold portfolio at the same time, rather than go though all of this a second time. So that will also be available to people who have requested access to this.

The past performance figures I have given on IM Index are 100% accurate synthetic simulations of all the assets held within each portfolio though. It is important people are aware these figures are not what they could have done, they are what they actually would have done.

Everything will be live on the website in 2 to 3 weeks, in advance of the launch a week or two later.

Any question please just ask!

Cheers

Julian

OK cool exciting. Will you be going D2C or purchase through a fund supermarket (i.e.: HL?)

[JulianPH]

I 8 a 4RE said:

OK cool exciting. Will you be going D2C or purchase through a fund supermarket (i.e.: HL?)

Thank you!

D2C only, so the added benefit of no platforms fees.

IM Index starts at 0.57% a year inclusive of everything (including your own named Private Client Manager).

When you consider HL charges 0.45% before you even add investment costs (and doesn't offer financial planning for this) then I think we have hit an exceptional level of value.

Basically this is the same as HL offering to provide a range of LS investments with all the underlying costs - and full financial planning - for an additional 0.12% a year.

As I have said here before, I really think we are underselling ourselves here!

Cheers

Julian

[ajh349]

Hi Julian,

My wife and I are joint benefactors to our Company's SSAS Pension which is held with the SSAS Practitioner.
The fund stands at £315k and it is not being used at present. We plan to add another £60k into this by the end of this tax year.
Are you able to recommend/advise if we are able to invest this fund in a safe product over a 5 to 10 year period.

Originally the plan was to find a Commercial Property, however we have been unable to find a suitable property.

Regards

Alan

[JulianPH]

ajh349 said:

Hi Julian,

My wife and I are joint benefactors to our Company's SSAS Pension which is held with the SSAS Practitioner.
The fund stands at £315k and it is not being used at present. We plan to add another £60k into this by the end of this tax year.
Are you able to recommend/advise if we are able to invest this fund in a safe product over a 5 to 10 year period.

Originally the plan was to find a Commercial Property, however we have been unable to find a suitable property.

Regards

Alan

Hi Alan

With a SSAS you could be paying for a lot of functionality that it doesn't sound like you use at the moment.

As for a safe product, it all depends upon your definition of safe!

Cash is deemed to be sate, but in reality you are loosing money to inflation each and every year at current rates.

IM Optimum Defensive or IM Index 20 (when it is available in a few weeks) may be something for you consider.

IM Optimum Defensive aims to give a higher average return over cash deposits over the long term and has averaged around 8.5% a year over the last 10 years.

This would have comfortably given real capital returns after inflation from a low risk investment portfolio. It does not give the certainty of cash though and whilst it has never had a negative calendar year this cannot be guaranteed.

This really is one where a good chat would help. We can establish what you are looking for and let you know all the options available to you (not just those from IM) and give you the pros and cons of each of them.

This should enable you and your wife to make an informed decision on how you would like to move forward.

Please feel free to PM me if you like, or contact Nik at [e-mail] and he can book in a phone call and/or arrange to meet up with you both, if you like.

There is no charge or obligation for this, it is all part of our service when people are considering whether or not to become a Private Client.

Cheers

Julian

[Stedman]

JulianPH said:

I simply would not be able to win.

Yet the situation is the exact opposite.

[JulianPH]

Stedman said:

JulianPH said:

I simply would not be able to win.

Yet the situation is the exact opposite.

I had to go back a few pages to put your quote into context and it did make me chuckle!

For anyone confused here is a summary:

In a few weeks we are launching IM Index - a purely passive range of portfolios in the Vanguard style of 100% equities, reducing to 80%, 60%, 40% and 20%.

The conversation a few pages back went along the lines of:

• So, basically, Vanguard don't have a pension/SIPP, don't provide personal financial planning at no extra cost and their LS funds have seriously underperformed what IM Index would have achieved

• "Yeah, but they are slightly cheaper"

• So what if we did what Vanguard do (at the slightly cheaper price) and they did what we do?

• "Then Vanguard would be better as they would have a pension, provide financial planning at no extra cost and delivered massive out-performance"

• But they don't do any of this and IM does...

• "Yeah, but they are still slightly cheaper"

This is why I could not win.

[Miopyk]

Good Morning. I came across this thread by accident last night and thought I’d take advantage of your generosity to ask a question for which I’m looking for an opinion and perhaps a little guidance rather than specific advice.

I have a DB pension which is with a company I stopped working for back in the early noughties. This has gradually accumulated over time and the transfer value is now well into six figures. The administrators have contacted me to ask if I’d consider coming out of the scheme and have offered a 10% enhancement to the transfer value if I did. This is very timely as I think I’m going to pack work in at the end of the current tax year with IR 35 kicking from April.

The offer is very tempting since the tax free lump sum I could take out is more than double the DB scheme offers and even investing the remainder in a low risk income scheme would appear to be more than double the annual income on offer, initially.

I think I understand the risks and because this would not be my only source of income would not leave us destitute if we suffered a significant loss. They are also paying for me to get independent financial advice which has already been arranged next week so will make a final decision once I’ve got that as I’m on a time limit before the offer lapses.

The questions I have are is there anything else I should be thinking about to help make the right decision and ask the right questions. And if I do decide to come out of the scheme what I should be thinking about to invest the money wisely.

Thanks

Edited by Miopyk on Thursday 25th July 10:49

[JulianPH]

Miopyk said:

Good Morning. I came across this thread by accident last night and thought I’d take advantage of your generosity to ask a question for which I’m looking for an opinion and perhaps a little guidance rather than specific advice.

I have a DB pension which is with a company I stopped working for back in the early noughties. This has gradually accumulated over time and the transfer value is now well into six figures. The administrators have contacted me to ask if I’d consider coming out of the scheme and have offered a 10% enhancement to the transfer value if I did. This is very timely as I think I’m going to pack work in at the end of the current tax year with IR 35 kicking from April.

The offer is very tempting since the tax free lump sum I could take out is more than double the DB scheme offers and even investing the remainder in a low risk income scheme would appear to be more than double the annual income on offer, initially.

I think I understand the risks and because this would not be my only source of income would not leave us destitute if we suffered a significant loss. They are also paying for me to get independent financial advice which has already been arranged next week so will make a final decision once I’ve got that as I’m on a time limit before the offer lapses.

The opinion I’m looking for is there anything else I should be thinking about to help make the right decision and ask the right questions. And if I do decide to come out of the scheme what I should be thinking about to invest the money wisely.

Thanks

Hi there.

It is good to see the company is covering the required financial advice on the potential transfer and that you seem to have a good handle on the matter.

One of the key things for you to look at is the projections of the DB scheme against a transfer to a DC scheme.

The other obvious factor is as things stand the provider/trustee/company are responsible for your pension benefits and maintaining them at the contractual level (including any inflation linking).

If you transfer that responsibility shifts to you.

The upside of transferring includes everything you have laid out and also the fact that the entire sum (what ever value it may be at that point) can be left to your wife and then to your children (outside of your estate for IHT).

The vastly increased tax free lump sum, flexible income options and ownership for future inheritance are extremely attractive to a great many people.

Whilst you have said you have other income it is still important that you understand the value of the benefits you would be giving up so you can properly compare these with the value of the cash you would receive in return and the additional benefits highlighted above.

If I were you I would have a chat with Nik as he is very specialised in this area and can help you with all of these points and give you a heads up on what you should be asking the financial adviser.

He can also give you a third party review of any advice you receive if you wish.

With regard to investing the money wisely you have many options and Nik can go over these with you too. Intelligent Money obviously offers a range of investment option but Nik will be able to go over other alternatives with you.

You can get him at [e-mail] and he does keep up to date on this thread so let him know your user name here and this will give him the heads up.

Just should if there is anything else or if I have missed anything.

Cheers

Julian

[Miopyk]

Thanks for your response Julian, email has been sent.

[JulianPH]

Miopyk said:

Thanks for your response Julian, email has been sent.

No worries, you should find Nik to be very informative and helpful.

[RowanF]

Hi Julian/Nik,

I have a rather small SIPP (£15k) that I contribute to and have recently started putting some additional monthly funds into an investment with ISA wrapper; all of the aforementioned are with HL; and I've just seen your thread here! Is this something I could bring to you, as a PH member? Appreciate your standard minimum investment is about 6/7 times what I have available, but saw you mention you were willing to waive this minimum for PH members?!

I've got about 30+ years of working ahead me (self-employed) so I'm looking at a long term plan here!!

[JulianPH]

RowanF said:

Hi Julian/Nik,

I have a rather small SIPP (£15k) that I contribute to and have recently started putting some additional monthly funds into an investment with ISA wrapper; all of the aforementioned are with HL; and I've just seen your thread here! Is this something I could bring to you, as a PH member? Appreciate your standard minimum investment is about 6/7 times what I have available, but saw you mention you were willing to waive this minimum for PH members?!

I've got about 30+ years of working ahead me (self-employed) so I'm looking at a long term plan here!!

Hi Rowan

You would be more than welcome as a Private Client with no minimum investment criteria and no initial charge.

Just insert the code PH2607 into the additional notes box when you put in your personal details.

Please feel free to contact Nik at [e-mail] if you would like to have a chat or require any assistance. Nik will be your Private Client Manager and can assist you in all aspects of your financial development.

As you are self employed there are many aspects of SIPPs that could provide you with far greater tax efficiency than you may currently realise. This is also an area Nik can work with you on over the coming years.

Cheers

Julian

[I 8 a 4RE]

TNX Julian, let us know when you launch.
Sounds like an interesting proposition.

[JulianPH]

I 8 a 4RE said:

TNX Julian, let us know when you launch.
Sounds like an interesting proposition.

4 -5 weeks until fully live. I'll post here, but we are now in the testing stage. Nothing we have not been doing for years, but a lot of back office work involved to deliver them as fully FCA compliant retail investments (and so there should be)

Cheers

Julian

[dmahon]

Julian suggested I post my pension question here. Rather than copy and paste, I will add a link.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Thanks!

[JulianPH]

dmahon said:

Julian suggested I post my pension question here. Rather than copy and paste, I will add a link.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Thanks!

Hi there, Nik is currently in a meeting with a Private Client but will get back to you this evening with a detailed response.

He may need some further info that you could provide here or off line if it sensitive.

Our aim will be to sort this out for you without paying advice fees.

Cheers

Julian

[supersport]

JulianPH said:

dmahon said:

Julian suggested I post my pension question here. Rather than copy and paste, I will add a link.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Thanks!

Hi there, Nik is currently in a meeting with a Private Client but will get back to you this evening with a detailed response.

He may need some further info that you could provide here or off line if it sensitive.

Our aim will be to sort this out for you without paying advice fees.

Cheers

Julian

Be interested to see the response here.

[Mazinbrum]

Would it be worth creating an PH IM FAQ ? There are a lot of pages to go through now.

[RowanF]

JulianPH said:

Hi Rowan

You would be more than welcome as a Private Client with no minimum investment criteria and no initial charge.

Just insert the code PH2607 into the additional notes box when you put in your personal details.

Please feel free to contact Nik at [e-mail] if you would like to have a chat or require any assistance. Nik will be your Private Client Manager and can assist you in all aspects of your financial development.

As you are self employed there are many aspects of SIPPs that could provide you with far greater tax efficiency than you may currently realise. This is also an area Nik can work with you on over the coming years.

Cheers

Julian

Many thanks Julian, I have signed up. I forgot to put the code in (duh!) so have emailed your enquiries mailbox copying in Nik to beg forgiveness