Intelligent Money - your investment questions answered

[JulianPH]

KTF said:

JulianPH said:

Intelligent Money is the new title sponsor of the championship.

Out of interest, how do you measure the return on something like this?

Hi mate

It is quite difficult. We have given a half price discount code on the initial charge (IMBGTC) and so can obviously track this (PHers still get the zero initial charge though) but other than that we just have to look at trends and any new spikes.

Brand awareness is another factor that we are looking to grow in the retail space, but is also difficult to measure.

Every time Aston/Bentley/Lambo/McLaren/Porsche/AMG/BMW/Audi and the rest mention the races on their social media they have to now call it the Intelligent Money British GT Championship and all cars will have Intelligent Money windscreen banners which will clearly show on any photos they post.

These brands have 202 million social media followers (that is followers, not just viewers) and their dedicated motorsports social media sites have 22 million followers.

So it should be quite far reaching.

Media has already started (https://www.sportbusiness.com/news/british-gt-championship-lands-intelligent-money-as-title-sponsor/ and https://motorsport.radio/british-gt-new-title-spon... and someone set up a new Wikipedia page after the announcement (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_British_GT_Championship). When we have the full media day in March I expect the serious coverage to start.

It should also be a lot of fun!

I hope to see you at one of the races!

[Jockman]

JulianPH said:

For 2019 our returns have been as follows:

IM Optimum

• IM Optimum Global Growth = 17.08%

• IM Optimum Global growth & Income = 14.90%

• IM Optimum Income = 14.03%

• IM Optimum Cautious = 11.48%

• IM Optimum Defensive = 7.28%

IM Index

• IM Index 100 = 22.65%

• IM Index 80= 18.39%

• IM Index 60 = 15.67%

• IM Index 40 = 12.41%

• IM Index 20 = 9.15%

PH Equity

• PH Equity = 23.66%

All figures are after charges and have no additional platform/SIPP/pension/ISA fees.

So my 2019 personal investment returns were 20%+ from various different portfolios (mainly IM Optimum Global Growth and PH Equity).

Everything did what it said on the tin, so to speak.


Cheers

Bonjour mon ami.

Good figures. You also have the 2 Target Dated Investment Strategies - one for income and one for withdrawal.

Do you have performance figures for these portfolios?

Are these the default portfolios to put new clients in rather than basic cash?

[Jockman]

Oh, and I can see all the charges for Index and Optimum. What about PH Equity?

[JulianPH]

Jockman said:

Bonjour mon ami.

Good figures. You also have the 2 Target Dated Investment Strategies - one for income and one for withdrawal.

Do you have performance figures for these portfolios?

Are these the default portfolios to put new clients in rather than basic cash?

Jockman said:

Oh, and I can see all the charges for Index and Optimum. What about PH Equity?

Bonjour Monsieur Jockman (or should that be Ecosseman! )

Thank you, we cannot (of course) take credit for rising markets, but we are very happy with how we have positioned our portfolios to take advantage of this without unnecessary risk taking.

It is impossible to give performance figure for the target dated portfolios as everyone is going to be in a different stage of their respective glide paths. Having said that, in the longer term growth phase they are effectively in IM Optimum Global Growth and are then blended down through the different risk/reward models until they hit their end objective (which would be either IM Optimum Income or IM Optimum Defensive.

It also isn't a jump from one portfolio to another, but a controlled blend to move through the portfolios.

In a nutshell though, the figures would be virtually identical to the IM Optimum figure depending where you were in your chosen glide path.

We don't put anyone into these as a default. You either select your portfolio(s) or cash pending investment at the outset.

The charge for PH Equity is 0.67% on the first £500k, 0.62% on the next £500k and 0.57% on anything else.

It has had a great first week of the year (1.8% up for the week) and was up 30% for 2019 in dollars, but the strengthening of the pound against the dollar brought the GBP pricing of the portfolio down a bit over the year.

I was actually chatting to Nik about this yesterday until he pointed out to me that "If you are moaning about it only being 24% up rather than 30% over the year, don't you think you are in a pretty good place"!

Anyway, a very happy New Year to you and let me know if the lads fancy another lunch (I promise not to drink a bottle of wine next time! ).

Cheers

[JulianPH]

I should of waited for this morning's price feed update. PH Equity is now up 2.58% since the 1st of Jan!

[JoeBolt]

JulianPH said:

A simple Vanguard account (once they have a pension wrapper) is something to look at if you are happy to not have a personal contact.

Vanguard is as good as it gets. Whilst they do not have a pension then Cavendish/Fidelity are other options for you to consider.

Jupiter Merlin Inc Portfolio | Acc is 1.48% a year, not zero!
We see this all the time (fees not being fully disclosed, being incorrect, or simply lied about - not that I am suggesting Standard Life ar lying) so you are not alone in this.

I would take Nik up and get a full evaluation before making any decisions.

Hi Julian,

Yes I will be contacting Nik in due course but one more question for you if I may. I've taken a look at the Vanguard website and unless I'm mistaken, it appears they do offer 11 different Retirement funds, they call them Target Retirement Funds. But why do you think this is necessary? Whats wrong with sticking with an ISA, with reference to my Standard Life Elevate account?

I don't think this is really a question which can accurately be answered on an individual level without knowing a lot of personal and financial details. Exactly the reason why IFAs conduct 'fact finding' sessions, determine a potential client's financial aspirations, attitude to risk, etc. (I'm getting perilously close to praising IFAs now. I'd better stop!)

Vanguard offer a long list of products and I wouldn't really have much of a clue which one would suit me best. I certainly need pointing in the right direction.

Very confusing why my Standard Life annual fees statement is so inaccurate. All the more reason to get out, I think.

Thanks again.

[JulianPH]

JoeBolt said:

Hi Julian,

Yes I will be contacting Nik in due course but one more question for you if I may. I've taken a look at the Vanguard website and unless I'm mistaken, it appears they do offer 11 different Retirement funds, they call them Target Retirement Funds. But why do you think this is necessary? Whats wrong with sticking with an ISA, with reference to my Standard Life Elevate account?

I don't think this is really a question which can accurately be answered on an individual level without knowing a lot of personal and financial details. Exactly the reason why IFAs conduct 'fact finding' sessions, determine a potential client's financial aspirations, attitude to risk, etc. (I'm getting perilously close to praising IFAs now. I'd better stop!)

Vanguard offer a long list of products and I wouldn't really have much of a clue which one would suit me best. I certainly need pointing in the right direction.

Very confusing why my Standard Life annual fees statement is so inaccurate. All the more reason to get out, I think.

Thanks again.

Hi JoeBolt

The different funds are for different age ranges, you pick the one that is the closet match to your age. Alternatively you can pick one based on your target date for wanting access the funds.

Intelligent Money also offer this style of investment (see Jockman's post above) but the are more sophisticated in that:

1) You can choose an option for income at your selected target date, or select an option for a lump sum for withdrawal (Vanguard don't give the income option).

2) We are far more precise in our target dating and as such have over 40 such portfolios. To make life easier we don't ask you to select from all of them, we just ask for your target date and end requirement (income or lump sum withdrawal) and then automatically place you in the right portfolio based upon your current age.

You can use these is a pension account or an ISA account.

With Vanguard they don't currently offer a pension account anyway (though it is apparently coming soon) so you would have to hold them in an ISA anyway.

Nik can go over all of this with you, but if this raises any other questions please just ask away here.

Cheers

[Jockman]

JulianPH said:

Jockman said:

Bonjour mon ami.

Good figures. You also have the 2 Target Dated Investment Strategies - one for income and one for withdrawal.

Do you have performance figures for these portfolios?

Are these the default portfolios to put new clients in rather than basic cash?

Jockman said:

Oh, and I can see all the charges for Index and Optimum. What about PH Equity?

Bonjour Monsieur Jockman (or should that be Ecosseman! )

Thank you, we cannot (of course) take credit for rising markets, but we are very happy with how we have positioned our portfolios to take advantage of this without unnecessary risk taking.

It is impossible to give performance figure for the target dated portfolios as everyone is going to be in a different stage of their respective glide paths. Having said that, in the longer term growth phase they are effectively in IM Optimum Global Growth and are then blended down through the different risk/reward models until they hit their end objective (which would be either IM Optimum Income or IM Optimum Defensive.

It also isn't a jump from one portfolio to another, but a controlled blend to move through the portfolios.

In a nutshell though, the figures would be virtually identical to the IM Optimum figure depending where you were in your chosen glide path.

We don't put anyone into these as a default. You either select your portfolio(s) or cash pending investment at the outset.

The charge for PH Equity is 0.67% on the first £500k, 0.62% on the next £500k and 0.57% on anything else.

It has had a great first week of the year (1.8% up for the week) and was up 30% for 2019 in dollars, but the strengthening of the pound against the dollar brought the GBP pricing of the portfolio down a bit over the year.

I was actually chatting to Nik about this yesterday until he pointed out to me that "If you are moaning about it only being 24% up rather than 30% over the year, don't you think you are in a pretty good place"!

Anyway, a very happy New Year to you and let me know if the lads fancy another lunch (I promise not to drink a bottle of wine next time! ).

Cheers

Thanks mate. Yeah, I'm starting to get peckish........

Thought I'd ask some questions on the open forum so that everyone can benefit from the answers

[JulianPH]

Jockman said:

Thanks mate. Yeah, I'm starting to get peckish........

Thought I'd ask some questions on the open forum so that everyone can benefit from the answers

Cheers mate, I appreciate that. The more that can be shared the better.

[davey68]

Hi Julian. Hadn't heard of Vanguard. I have a few fixed term cash ISAs currently but was thinking of investing £20k in April into a stocks and shares ISA. Are Vanguard recommended? Decent returns performance historically? I lack knowledge in the investments field and am nervous of IFA's integrity. Thanks.

[JulianPH]

davey68 said:

Hi Julian. Hadn't heard of Vanguard. I have a few fixed term cash ISAs currently but was thinking of investing £20k in April into a stocks and shares ISA. Are Vanguard recommended? Decent returns performance historically? I lack knowledge in the investments field and am nervous of IFA's integrity. Thanks.

Hi Davey

Vanguard are a global giant in the index tracking world. So whilst IM measures its assets in billions, Vanguard measures its assets in trillions.

So where we cannot compete on price (though we come pretty close with IM Index vs Vanguard LifeStrategy) we instead compete on service (we give you a named Private Client Manager who will work with you on anything financial at no additional cost - so you don't need to use/pay/trust a financial adviser for any of this).

Would I recommend Vanguard though? Absolutely.

They are brilliant at what they do and if that is what you are looking for then I would not hesitate to recommend them.

If you want a more old school/personal level of service then we offer that, but if you just want to track the markets Vanguard is pretty hard to beat.

Just ask if you have any other question or if I can clarity further.

Cheers

Julian

[davey68]

Thanks Julian. Apologies I wasn't aware IM was your business so having read more posts on this thread I would actually prefer a more direct relationship with the company looking after my investments. Having access to a named advisor is important and I certainly appreciate expert advice. Is there someone I can speak to in the first instance to discuss my situation and plans? Retirement is in the not too distant future I hope so investing towards that would be my main consideration. Thanks in advance.

[JulianPH]

davey68 said:

Thanks Julian. Apologies I wasn't aware IM was your business so having read more posts on this thread I would actually prefer a more direct relationship with the company looking after my investments. Having access to a named advisor is important and I certainly appreciate expert advice. Is there someone I can speak to in the first instance to discuss my situation and plans? Retirement is in the not too distant future I hope so investing towards that would be my main consideration. Thanks in advance.

Hi Davey

No problem whatsoever!

We don't have financial advisers (people who get paid for selling you something), we simply provide you with unlimited access to an advanced qualified - and very experienced - Private Client Manager (someone with qualifications over and above those required to be a financial adviser) who can assist you with every financial matter, but who doesn't try to (or earn from) selling you something.

As a PHer you would have Nik, who is our Private Client MD.

I still recommend Vanguard for what they do and Nik will tell you openly and honestly if he thinks they are a better fit for you. You can get him at [e-mail] or you can PM me directly here.

Whichever route you decide to take we can help in explaining your options. The decision remains your choice and, of course, you can alter this at any point.

Cheers

Julian

[davey68]

Thanks Julian, much appreciated! I'll drop and email to Nik in the next few days.

[JulianPH]

davey68 said:

Thanks Julian, much appreciated! I'll drop and email to Nik in the next few days.

No problem! He will be more than happy to help with everything.

[Greshamst]

I have a previous pension set up by my old employer about 7 years ago with standard life, I went self employed and carried on paying into it from my limited company.
It’s in one of their MyFolio Lifestyle managed profiles. Looks like the fees are about 1.43%.

I’m about to chuck a lump sum in from my ltd company, and wondering whether this is the right choice, or if I could get lower fees for a similar product with IM?

[JulianPH]

Greshamst said:

I have a previous pension set up by my old employer about 7 years ago with standard life, I went self employed and carried on paying into it from my limited company.
It’s in one of their MyFolio Lifestyle managed profiles. Looks like the fees are about 1.43%.

I’m about to chuck a lump sum in from my ltd company, and wondering whether this is the right choice, or if I could get lower fees for a similar product with IM?

Hi Greshamst

You can certainly get lower fees for similar products with IM and from a cursory glance it looks at though we would have delivered considerable out performance at the same time.

You also get the added benefit of your own named Private Client Manager who is on hand to assist you with all financial matters. This is complimentary (or included in our lower fees, to be more accurate).

I would have a chat with Nik (who would be your PCM) at [e-mail] and he can go over everything with you to ensure you make the right decision.

Cheers

Julian

[superlightr]

A question about IM - In my IM Op Defensive it shows part as a holding in "cash"

Curious as to how does that work as I would have thought cash earns very little? Im sure there is a particular rational behind it.
thx

[JulianPH]

superlightr said:

A question about IM - In my IM Op Defensive it shows part as a holding in "cash"

How does that work as I would have thought cash earns very little? Im sure there is a particular rational behind it.
thx

All of these portfolios hold a small amount in cash (as does nearly every other investment fund you are likely to come across).

It does indeed earn very little, but as a distinct asset class in its own right its absolute stability plays an important part in portfolio management and enables us to balance risk taken elsewhere in the portfolio. In the case of IM Op Defensive this is to balance out a similar small exposure to overseas equities.

IM Op Cautious has a greater exposure to cash (and in its case gold, too), in line with its greater exposure to overseas equities.

It is all about a delicate balance of different asset classes that enable us to meet the objectives of each portfolio and generate strong investment returns without taking unnecessary risk.

I hope that makes sense, just shout if not or if it raises anything further.

Cheers

Julian

[B9]

Hi Julian

I've just signed up for one of your ISAs, split across a handful of options (a great idea to be able to split funding across defensive and optimum growth etc)

Thanks