My wife is a teacher and their recommended financial advisers are Wesleyan. She’s thinking of retiring this year so a rep from Wesleyan is coming in for a chat today.

I’ve just had a look at their charges and they seem astronomically expensive. They charge 5% for any initial investment and then an annual charge of 1.7%. So if we stick £20k in two stocks and shares isa’s next year they’ll charge £2k!

I don’t mind paying for a service but is that not ridiculous?

Hargreaves lansdown for example are nowhere near that.

Those are insanely high charges. Have a read of this, he mentions an average maximum charge of 3% and 1%, and that’s in a sector that isn’t shy about grabbing your money.

I use Fidelity, they seem to be good.

Those are insanely high charges

Yeh that’s what I thought. Maybe they do a heavily reduced price for teachers, I’ll find out later today,

I have a mate who works for them, I’ll be questioning him next time we meet.

Is that for investment advice or just providing a platform for the ISA’s?

I use III they charge a fixed amount for my ISA and my SIPP. I find them very good.

For us it will be both, first £40k can go into ISA’s but we’ll need some advice on investing the rest for 5 year growth, no income required.

I judge them by their fees.

If they are good they should charge low fees as they can profit from their own advice.

Those are insanely high charges

They’re not insanely high, they’re high-ish, but within the bounds of normal.

If they are good they should charge low fees as they can profit from their own advice.

If they are good they can charge high fees, as you will profit from their advice. Anyone can charge low fees for rubbish advice.

They’re not insanely high, they’re high-ish, but within the bounds of normal.

Really? £2k charge on a £40k investment.

Yeah, really. As I said, it’s high-ish for the industry, but not exceptional.

Whether you think what you’re getting is worth £2k is another question. If you don’t, shop around, or do it yourself via somewhere like Hargreaves Lansdown for much less.

If you don’t, shop around, or do it yourself via somewhere like Hargreaves Lansdown for much less.

That’s the plan.

40k uses your first years allowance then you can invest 40k each year after. You can buy a range of funds and shares with that ISA pot.

My advice would be don’t let the charlatan in the front door!

I’ll back them up. My wife is also a teacher and through her union gets Wesleyan financial advice for free and over the years its been invaluable.

Their advice is top notch and the advisor we had became a friend really. We’ve got money invested in their ISAs which give a LOAD better return than any ISA available on the high street as well.

LOAD better return than any ISA available on the high street as well.

An ISA is just a “wrapper” lots of people get excellent returns YOY by managing their own.

Maybe he means cash ISAs?!

I use II having switched from HL but HL are cheaper for smaller portfolios.

Just manage it yourself, 5% fee is what my weighted avg yield is pa so i wouldnt surrender 1 years divi as a fee. Ftses at record high so you ll be paying 5% if they lose your money.

Theres been as good advice on here as anywhere.

Yeah, really. As I said, it’s high-ish for the industry, but not exceptional.

For percentage charging, the FCA found average charges for initial advice are 1 per cent minimum and 3 per cent maximum. For ongoing charges, the average rates are 0.5 per cent minimum and 1 per cent maximum.

I’d call 66% higher than the average maximum for the initial investment and 70% higher than the average yearly charge insanely high, and I’d certainly hope it would be exceptional. I accept your threshold for insanity may be higher than mine.

That ongoing charge compounded will absolutely cripple your investment growth.

Ouch!

Use monevator to compare brokers http://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/

I’ve got an iWeb Stocks and Shares ISA account and am in passive investing mode, buying Vanguard trackers with low annual charges i.e. 0.25% or lower.

Watch the Lars “Investing demystified” videos and then buy Vanguard VWRL EFT 🙂

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_chiIIxMGl0[/video]

I’ll back them up. My wife is also a teacher and through her union gets Wesleyan financial advice for free and over the years its been invaluable.

Their advice is top notch and the advisor we had became a friend really. We’ve got money invested in their ISAs which give a LOAD better return than any ISA available on the high street as well.

I think you might want to check that…

As above, use one of the online platforms (HL are very good but it bit more pricey than some) iWeb have just improved their site and make a £25 a/c opening charge, and then only £5 per trade.
Read the weekend money pages, and you’ll soon get a grasp of the lingo. Read the FT. It doesn’t talk the bollox you usually read regarding investing. John Authers and Merryn Somerset Webb are particularly worth listening to.
Work out what your risk tolerance is by making some small initial investments. Getting started is the worst bit. Having 10% wiped off you portfolio (AS will surely happen at some point) before you’ve made any significant gains will really test your nerve. When you’re already well ahead it’s tiresome rather than catastrophic.
Resist the urge to meddle. Buy and hold!

Read Monevator and then read Monevator some more and take it from their if you don’t want to do anything to adventurous

Chap was very helpful, said he would come to the house when my wife gets her lump sum, no obligation, etc, told my wife his advice is free, etc. investment fees were not discussed. It’s worth listening what he has top say.

We’ve got money invested in their ISAs which give a LOAD better return than any ISA available on the high street as well.

When you say ‘a LOAD better return’ can you quantify that in percentage terms, what % return are you getting and how much better is it than the average return?

I am leaning towards £40k this year in S&S isa, sticking the rest in the bank, then another £40 next year in S&S isa.

ISA limit this tax year is around £16k

Edit: £15,240

Aren’t Wesleyan ‘the company’ in Alien?

There are other ways of playing with your money. I am a complete novice but i work in the oil and gas sector and i recognised that Shell shares were at a near ten year low about 18 months ago and that along with having some cash spare i invested in a bunch of their shares. Luckily i was bang on as they rose substantially this year but that wasn;t the main reason for buying them. It was their quarterly dividends that were then reinvested.

I have now sold most and moved them to something else for the time being but for long term investing then have a look at which companies give a good dividend return. Money makes money, i was very slow in either caring or figuring this out.

I also have a stocks and shares ISA with Hargreaves and Lansdown which in the last year has gone bonkers. 15% rise i think BUT as we all know that amount of growth wont last too much longer but the ISA is a very long term thing for me.

…told my wife his advice is free, etc. investment fees were not discussed.

Wakey wakey… you’re getting sucked in, these parasites don’t work for free. Run and hide, don’t make the mistake that DBW has, full-on Stockholm syndrome visible there!

Parasites? Get over yourself.

Weyland 🙂

I also have a stocks and shares ISA with Hargreaves and Lansdown which in the last year has gone bonkers. 15% rise i think BUT as we all know that amount of growth wont last too much longer but the ISA is a very long term thing for me.

My returns last year were even better than that, there is no reason why they cant continue as long as you choose the correct stocks/funds at the right time. That is pretty impossible to do but there is almost always a stock that is rising quickly. Like you my investments are medium/long term and split between my SIPP and my ISA to hopefully give me a good tax free return when I retire in around 8-10 years.
Internet trading takes quite a lot of risk out of investing (unless things go catastrophic over a few days) and with a reasonable stop loss strategy ou have the option to cash out within a short space of time. As someone said above dividends (combined with compound returns) and not trading regularly are the key. I take Terry Smith’s advice. Invest in companies that have already won!

ISA limit this tax year is around £16k

Edit: £15,240

When I say this year I’m talking 2017/18 tax year.

There are other ways of playing with your money.

I know, but I don’t want to play with it and I’m happy to pay an expert for what they’re good at, just not happy to pay as much as wesleyan charge 🙂

Wakey wakey… you’re getting sucked in,

I’m wide awake and not getting sucked into anything. Advice is free, investing with them isn’t.

15% rise i think BUT as we all know that amount of growth wont last too much longer

FTSE 100 up 20% in last 12 months – mostly due to fall in sterling. One of my US funds is up 48%!

FTSE 100 up 20% in last 12 months – mostly due to fall in sterling. One of my US funds is up 48%!

I saw a rise of around 42% which is fantastic. My long term plan is 10%pa so this certainly helps 🙂

Parasites? Get over yourself.

IFA, by any chance?

My long term plan is 10%pa so this certainly helps

Ambitious, I’m basing future income on 4% growth, but in reality likely to be around 7% long term.

Nope, I’m not an IFA, but I’m comfortable with the concept of someone charging a fee to do something for you that you don’t have the knowledge, skills and/or desire to do for yourself. It’s called ‘business’.

Parasites? Get over yourself Acid for blood.

FTFY

Weyland

I know. The similarity tickled me. 😉

Ambitious, I’m basing future income on 4% growth, but in reality likely to be around 7% long term

Maybe but my average over the last 5 years has been 15%+ Of course I dont have huge amounts invested but 10% for the next 8-10 years looks realistic based on the last 5. Compound interest 🙂

Yeh you gotta love Compound interest 🙂

I’m wide awake and not getting sucked into anything. Advice is free, investing with them isn’t.

I’m sure you’re going in with your eyes open but providing financial advice incurs liability so usually has a cost. If they’re really offering “advice” within the FS definition of the term I expect it’ll be limited to which of their own company’s products is least worst for you.

It might be worth investing in a couple of hours of a whole-of-market Financial Adviser’s time.

It might be worth investing in a couple of hours of a whole-of-market Financial Adviser’s time.

I’ll go out for a pint with my mate, who works for wesleyan 🙂