Posts tagged as costs

26 May 2007

Charges: wake up and smell the coffee

In the weekend FT Money Josephine Cumbo tells of a reader looking for an income drawdown manager ‘who was stunned to find that charges ranging from £74,000 to £115,000 would be deducted from his wife’s pension pot depending on whether annual returns of 5, 7 or 9% were achieved’. The pot was £154,000. The provider was St James’s Place Capital. Its quoted charge of 2.7% pa would absorb 38% of the mid-range return. It is also near enough 100% of the ‘risk premium’ relative to a risk-free investment strategy. Challenged to defend its charges, SJP claimed they were justified by access to top fund managers.

read more Commentary by Stuart Fowler
06 May 2007

What you need to find out about charges when selecting an IFA

In “Advisers face questions over who pulls the strings” (FT Money, 5th May), Elaine Moore reports that it is now very difficult for consumers to select an IFA based on how they charge. Correct. ‘Fee-only’ superficially holds out the best hope of avoiding bias, but it wastes an adviser’s ability to game the commission system for the benefit if their client. It is also often a sign that the firm is predominantly a financial planner and cannot or should not be managing investment portfolios.

read more Commentary by Stuart Fowler
01 Apr 2007

Changing the wealth management model

Published in Professional Investor, May 2007 (Article by Stuart Fowler)

read more News by Stuart Fowler
25 Mar 2007

Competing with the national pensions saving scheme

The Association of British Insurers want the cap on annual contributions to the new ‘Personal Accounts’ to be lowered from the £5,000 limit proposed by the Government to £3,000, to prevent competition in the mainstream market for pensions – where their members operate. This was in a new paper (19th March). They want the scheme to plug the gaps in pension provision but not to poach existing provision.

read more Commentary by Stuart Fowler
25 Nov 2006

The national pensions savings scheme: retail brands lose out – thank goodness

The Pensions Secretary has come out in favour of the Turner Commission’s recommendation to exclude competition between existing insurance company and bank brands for consumers’ semi-compulsory pension contributions when the new ‘national’ pensions scheme is introduced. If you do not believe governments are better organisers than private firms or better allocators of resources than public [...]

read more Commentary by Stuart Fowler
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