St. James's Place Share Discussion Threads

[dexdringle] 08/9/2019 15:55

"Sunday Times in St.James's Place criticism shocker...."

Bloody hell, they are like a broken record. Don't tell me, the piece was written by Ali Hussain ?

[papillon] 08/9/2019 13:51

"The Sunday Times has a major expose on St James Place (SJP) based on testimony of an ex employee."

[dexdringle] 13/8/2019 14:33

Double bottom. Next stop £10....?

[quepassa] 13/8/2019 08:29

Personally, I think this is headed for 800p or lower in the near-term.

Shorts significantly increasing again. Now at 2.61%. (31/7 @ 1.98%).

ALL IMO. DYOR.
QP

[quepassa] 02/8/2019 11:54

The high fee model is busted.

[dexdringle] 02/8/2019 11:12

Yes, its amazing.

Same with eating out. A meal at a Michelin starred restaurant costs more than if you do a barbecue at home - and yet they are identical.

Someone needs to think of the children (and the kittens)......

[quepassa] 31/7/2019 09:11

Shorts have rapidly increased again from 2.6% to c 3.1%

[quepassa] 31/7/2019 08:02

Going south fast.

Poor results with massive drop in profits

[quepassa] 29/7/2019 08:45

Disclosed short positions on St. James Place are now rocketing.

Now at 2.61% short compared to zero at the beginning of the year.


share price already showing weakness and in my view this distinct weakness will continue.

ALL IMO. DYOR.
QP

[its the oxman] 15/5/2019 22:59

Should be over 1200p really.

[pj fozzie] 24/1/2019 10:01

Nice to see the shares responding to today's update. Hopefully a return to an upward trajectory.

Cheers,
PJ

[fenners66] 01/11/2018 09:45

Interesting discussion guys.

One thing that stands out from that for me - is the 3% fee paid to an advisor for the transfer of funds from the final salary.

So on your £400k we are talking £12k and for what ?
Arranging to meet , discussing for a few hours and doing some paperwork.

How much different is that to say a bribe ? Just buying business.

If there was a fixed fee - across the board for all advisers and all funds would we have a more open playing field.

I know it will not change - like football agents fees it is outrageous....

[pj fozzie] 31/10/2018 15:19

Thanks, Dexdringle, for taking the time to respond.

I think we both agree in the value of SJP as share holders, but I'm afraid I still would not go the SJP route myself as an investor.

The ongoing charge of 1.75% to 2% might feel good value to you - but for me, it's way too high. I will retire at 55. My only source of income will be my investments. There's a lot of discussion on various blogs/discussion boards/etc as to what a Safe Withdrawal Rate is, for someone who relies on their investments for income. Take too much and you run out of money before you die.

The general consensus is around 4% - therefore if I want an annual income of £25000, then I need to save about £625000.

Paying 1.75% to 2% of my stash each year to SJP means that I'd need over a million saved for the same income.

And, in addition to the SJP fees, you'll still be paying the underlying fund fees to the providers of those underlying funds. I'd be interested to know what funds your SJP adviser has actually used for your pension.

Alternatively, you could have put the entire £400K into a Vanguard World Cap Index Tracker (Which will provide a better return than the majority of managed funds) - much cheaper with an OCF of 0.24%

I hope your SJP advisers are working hard for their slice of your pie :-)

Cheers,
PJ

[pj fozzie] 26/10/2018 00:25

Thanks dexdringle - I look forward to your summary.

Cheers,
PJ

[pj fozzie] 25/10/2018 16:29

OK - I'll go along with this, as your scenario is not too dissimilar to my own situation. (Although my company pension is not final salary - it's set up by default to give me the option of either:
a) use it to buy an annuity
b) take 25% tax free and then buy an annuity
or anything more complex than above, I need to request a transfer of the whole value to an alternative pension provider.

I am over 50 but not yet 55. I will retire as soon as I am 55.

I already have a SIPP with funds consolidated from previous pensions funds (previous employment and other contributions I've made over the years)

So - let me go through your 5 questions of my expected payments.

1. An initial fee. OK - I've not taken any paid advice at all - but I accept that many people would not be comfortable in this situation. I've decided that what will be best for me is to transfer the whole value of my company pension into my existing SIPP, then take 25% tax free and move into a flexible draw down model. However - I feel that it would be reasonable to consult an advisor to reach a similar kind of conclusion, if I did not have the confidence to make that decision myself. I would expect some kind of fixed fee for that advice, reflecting the time that would be taken by the advisor in understanding my personal situation, my requirements and then proposing a possible solution. Maybe half a day's work for the FA? A two hour consultation followed by a write up of the recommendation?

2. An ongoing fee for platform. So I use Interactive Investor and I think their fees are reasonable. I use their Trading platform for an ISA account, a plain trading account and a SIPP. Cost, less than £200 a year. Trading fees are paid almost entirely out of the trading credit from the quarterly fee payments. I buy each month using the regular investment feature - thus £1 a trade. Since I don't do 22 trades a quarter - my trading credit is currently in surplus. I very rarely sell a holding.

3. Underlying investment funds - hmm - tricky - what are we including here? Just Unit Trusts? ETFs? Investment Trusts? VCTs? I own stuff in all four of those categories and the % fee varies from really low (Vanguard index tracker) to not so low (VCTs - but the TAX advantage is forgiving). But basically - which ever fund I'm buying units in - the underlying fund fee is the same regardless of who advised me to buy it or through whatever platform - maybe. I realise I may be on shaky ground here as I get some fees refunded to me from Interactive Investor - so perhaps not all platforms are the same. I'm happy to learn something new?

4. Not too sure I fully understand what you're asking here?

5. As an ongoing Advisor fee. Again, let's say I wanted an annual financial health check, like a car MOT - or maybe a six monthly check up - a bit like a dentist, then I certainly feel it's reasonable to pay people for their time. I guess a dentist is a good example - my last six monthly check up was about £50 I think. Maybe a financial adviser needs a bit more time - so let's be generous and say £200? Maybe if I'm happy with how things are I can skip an appointment or two - or even make one earlier than initially envisioned because I have a tooth ache. I'd expect that I'd have a similar relationship with my Financial Advisor (and I think my regular meetings with the FA would cover point 4 as well.)

That's a quick brain dump of my thoughts on reasonable fees.

What's your take?

Cheers,
PJ

[pj fozzie] 25/10/2018 14:01

dexdringle: please do educate me then. I've only ever heard negative stuff and never a rebuttal - I'm genuinely interested to know a counter to the claims against STJ re fees. I have no vested interest other than a holding of STJ shares for the divi income.

Cheers,
PJ

[dexdringle] 25/10/2018 13:04

Ahhhh ok then

[pj fozzie] 25/10/2018 12:39

Because of the fees they charge! They provide a service for people with wealth who know no better, who happily wash their own hands of the responsibility of investing and leave it to the "experts". So %fees are charged on the customers funds under management by STJ as well as the underlying funds fees in which the cust money ends up in. Generally STJ's fees are larger than the underlying fund OCFs. Typically the customer hasn't a clue about how much of his stash is going in fees each year, because it wont be all broken out.

There was a report published recently on STJ's fee structure - lomax posted in earlier in this board (post 160), it's quite an eye opener.

Cheers,
PJ

[dexdringle] 24/10/2018 08:39

pj fozzie 23 Oct '18 - 12:21 - 165 of 165

"I love the STJ business model as an investor - but I'd never touch them with a bargepole as a customer :-)"

Why not ?