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After my father passed away (2014), I put my inheritance in the hands of an independant financial advisor in 2015.

I have requested I have everything back, with it being paid into my bank account. Yesterday the advisor informs me that it would go against their advice for me to take everything. Should I insist on doing this, they would terminate our client agreement and I would have to contact the various companies that have my money.

Their Terms of Business say nothing about the client having to get the money back. I have paid my fees and even agreed to an additional charge for them to check if I would have to pay tax and to get it all sorted for me.

I kept repeating to the advisor that it is my money and therefore I want it back and they are contracted to handle my money.

Where do I stand with this?

Grateful for any help.

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It may be against their advice but many financial plans are set up looking at five years or so. I'm surprised they won't help because I imagine they earned commission from this, but I don't think they can stop you.

 

How do you feel about dealing with the institutions direct? Also, depending on what investments you have, you may need to do calculations on how much tax is due on selling, if any.

 

Is there a reason you want to cash in everything in one go?

 

HB

Illegitimi non carborundum

 

 

 

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honeybee13,  Thanks for your reply. 

When I first invested there were two portfolios that were fixed for 5 years, but when they matured I told them I didn't want that happening again.  I have cash ISAs and Stocks & Shares ISAs, as well as general stocks and shares.  There are also some bonds, but the advisor said they weren't locked in.

I have been looking in to various accounts at banks and building societies that I would put some of the money in, which give good interest rates and certainly better than what I have gained from it with the advisors.  I've never had enough to pay tax.

 

There are various reasons for wanting to leave, among them health reasons and the fact it has never done that well.

The firm I am with is in the next town, but the advisors are all over the country.  Some local but mine was a long way away.  He then retired (which they didn't tell me) and now I have a different advisor everytime |I speak to them.  The last one was supposed to be sorting out what I might pay tax on and which portfolios should be sorted first, etc.,  they take a yearly fee, which is around £3,000.00 and I had to agree to a one off £250.00 for this special advisor to get everything sortedf so I could have it all.

My previous advisor had said he thought it wouldn't be worth them having my money and me paying the fees by the time I retired, which is in 7 years.  If I leave it with them for 7 more years the charges add up to £21,000.00, but it is most unlikely with all that is happening in the world I would actually gain more than that.  I do have a monthly amount back as income anyway.

My bugbear is I pay them fees, agreed to this extra one off amount and then they say if I don't take their advice, they may drop me as a client and then it would be down to me to approach the various companies for the money.  Why should I have to do that?  If it turns out not to be straightforward I really don't want a lot of hassle, especially as some of my health problems can be made worse by stress.

The advisor tried all sorts to persuade me not to leave.  Against their advice being the one he kept saying, they think I should keep some for care home funds in case they are needed, even tried to say I wasn't really a client, as they took over the original financial advisors, but they got me to sign on with them as a new customer and I had to pay the one off new customer fee.  Really feel they just don't want people taking money out, which whilst I can understand that, the money is mine and I should be able to get it, via the financial advisors that I pay.  They had my money and they sent it off to the other places to be invested.

 

 

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Yes, I got it.

 

I can't say I've heard of the firm but as you say they're country wide and expanding. There are some quite disgruntled clients online although one particular website has glowing reviews, which is always a bit odd.

 

When you spoke to the adviser, did you receive any confirmation from him of what was said? I think in the first instance it's worth getting an audit trail started. If you have an email address for them, you could email and ask for clarification of what was said. Otherwise, snail mail.

 

Depending on what comes back, you could consider moving towards a complaint to their compliance department. One thing at a time though, see if he's willing to commit this to writing.

 

HB

 

 

Illegitimi non carborundum

 

 

 

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honeybee13,  That is interesting that there are some disgruntled clients online, but also a website with glowing reviews.

 

No, all our discussions have been over the phone.  

 

I don't have a direct email address for the advisor, but they have a portal where I can message him.  As the advisor said he would speak to someone on Monday, supposedly arguing my case and would ring me, should I wait till then?  Must admit I am hoping he may well come back saying it will all go through.  I am sure some clients would have been persuaded/intimidated to back down from wanting to leave with the way he was talking, but it did not work on me🙂



 

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Oh right, let's wait for that then. I expect you know to note the adviser's name and the time and date of the call, plus what is said.

 

I would ask for written confirmation by email or whatever and see what happens. Does their portal keep the messages or are you able to keep a screenshot of them?

 

HB

Illegitimi non carborundum

 

 

 

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honeybee13,  I have the dates, names and the gist of what was said.

Their portal keeps the messages and I can do a screenshot.

I will see what the advisor says when he rings.  I just wanted to get some peace of mind knowing what I may, or may not actually be entitled to and whether they could indeed just dump me.

I'll let you know how it goes.

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honeybee13,  I sent a message via their portal Monday morning, that I wanted the advice he had given me in writing.  He then phoned me.  He said he would put it in writing and he was still trying to sort everything out with regards me possibly (I underlined this) taking everything. 

 

During the call he mentioned that the income I have each month, came from the Offshore Bonds.  I cannot see that they make enough to pay me that without them going down over time, although it does depend on how well they are doing.  So I said maybe once I get your written advice, we can discuss leaving just the bonds.

I mentioned again about the fees of just over £3,000 and he said most of that were handling fees from the companies that had the money and that the financial advisor company took a percentage, which I knew.  I said well that is irrelevant, I am still paying that amount out.

This morning I get the email below from him.  I have changed the text colour (to blue) of the email and of the bit I particularly think is relevant (to green).
 

Hello 

 

Hope you are well.

 

At present I have not given you any financial advice. As  financial advisers, we are here to give you advice based on your financial circumstances as a whole, taking your financial objectives and the assets you have into consideration.

 

From the conversations we have had I understand your objective is to surrender all of your investments and have the surrender values paid into your current account because you have decided to  instead invest in deposit accounts suggested by Martin Lewis and from research you have carried out yourself. Ascot Lloyd will not make a recommendation to fully encash all four of your investments  based on the information and reasons you have provided me with. My role as your adviser is to consider all of your assets and determine which is the most tax efficient and best way to achieve your objectives.

 

If you are instructing us to encash particular investments then this is not advice, you are giving us your express instruction and we will execute this on your behalf. We will not charge you for this service as we have not provided you with any advice and we cannot comment on any potential tax implications.  

 

Alternatively you can contact your product providers directly to encash your investments and deal with them directly.

 

Please let me know how you want to proceed and if you are giving me express instructions that you wish Ascot Lloyd  to carry out in relation to these investments then please detail these instructions by responding to this email.

 

I hope this explains everything  clearly but if you have any questions please do not hesitate to come back to me.

 

I look forward to hearing back from you soon.

 

Kind regards

[name removed - HB]    
Connect Independent Financial Adviser

 

 

I was thinking I would leave the bonds in, but frankly with the way this has gone, I'd rather take it all.  I will have to contact HMRC to find out what if any tax I have to pay, as even though I had asked for this (paying the £250 one off charge), which I assume from the email they are not going to charge me, they have not done.  They seem to have basically said they'll send everything back, but won't do anything more than that.

I look forward to your take on this email.

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Hi. Firstly I should say that nobody here is authorised to give financial advice, we can only offer opinions or relate our personal experiences.

 

So the IFA [independent financial adviser] seems to be saying that he doesn't think cashing up is a good idea, which could be because your investments have gone down in value recently, in line with the market. But if you instruct him to sell, he will do it.

 

There's nothing to stop you contacting the providers yourself to ask if they can advise on the tax side. Also, I don't know about this but I wonder if it's possible for you to take over the investments yourself and keep them running, if you would feel happier without the adviser.

 

One question is why your bonds are offshore ones. Were you given a reason for this? Assuming you're a UK resident, do you know why you're not in onshore funds?

 

HB

Illegitimi non carborundum

 

 

 

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honeybee13,  I realise that you cannot give financial advice, but greatly value your opinions and personal experience.

I will be instructing him to cash in everything, as after this experience I definitely do not want anything with them.  

I will contact the providers and see if they can tell me what tax I may have to pay.  The advisor had said I would only pay tax on gains.
 

I have no idea why the bonds are offshore.  

I will put my request in writing, via their portal, to cash in everything and pay it into my bank account.  I will then put various amounts into various banks, building societies, etc.  I do use the Martin Lews website a lot for various things and trust his advise, so will be checking that out for the newest and best places.

I hope this will all get sorted now, without any hassle.  I will let you kinow, but would like to thank you very much for your input, which has been a great help.

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You're welcome. :)

 

Just a couple of thoughts for you. If your funds have gone down a lot, then you're crystallising the loss as it's called and won't stay in the market with the chance to make it up. Nobody knows when the market might improve of course.

 

I don't know what the tax position is with overseas bonds that are cashed in but it's bound to be more complicated than UK ones.

 

Please keep us posted on how you get on.

 

HB

Illegitimi non carborundum

 

 

 

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