It is often the case when we speak to people that they have had a negative experience with a financial advisor; whether that be the devaluation of their pension pot, an investment not reaching the heights of the performance that was promised or a savings plan that has not taken into consideration the affordability and more importantly the sustainability of the individual.
Financial planning is a focal point of peoples everyday lives. This being said it is important that you are aware of who, what, and how your portfolio is being managed, otherwise you can forget the longevity in the build of your personal and financial empire.
What we like to see is clients working with their financial advisor, almost becoming a joint decision as opposed to us working on behalf of our clients. We take this approach mainly to make sure that our clients understand the re-structuring they go through.
Below is an example of a client who has dealt with a consultancy, but has not always been fully aware of the designing of the portfolio.
WhiteKnight Wealth were approached by David Cooper just before Christmas 2018. He asked for a second opinion on the current investment of his pension which he transferred to a SIPP in 2016. David is a builder, he has been for the majority of his career and was very upfront in admitting he had no idea where his pension was invested, nor did he understand the strategy behind it.
Some concerns arose when he viewed annual statement and noticed a significant drop to the value of his pension. After a fall from £544,539 in August 2016 down to £484,996 in less than a 2 year time frame alarm bells started ringing. David tried to get in touch with the advisor who assisted him in transferring but was informed that he no longer worked for the company and the pension was being managed by someone who had not even introduced himself to David. He spoke with him at length about the valuation decreasing significantly and was reassured it was merely movements in the market and not to be concerned.
David decided to reach out to us and was very frantic on the initial call "This is my pension, my retirement, I worked hard for this, I was 48 when I moved this and I was told I would see a good return and the valuation of my pension would double by the time I am 65. All I can see is it doubling the wrong way." David sent over an up to date annual statement and one of our Senior Pension Specialists went to work at seeing where the problem was.
We asked David the following questions:
Do you know how this money is invested? - "No"
Do you know where the money is? - "No"
Have you ever had a review with your advisor since you transferred - "No"
Are you relying on this pot to help you with retirement and to achieve other goals - "Yes"
Following a few more questions it had become apparent that the right advice had been given in the first instance as David is a family man and he wanted to ensure that money could be left to his kids and he also liked the flexibility of drawing down what he wanted. He wanted to take control of his pension - and he did. Unfortunately for David, where he had no control was where it was invested. He trusted an advisor to look after the money and grow the pot. It is clear an investment strategy was used that wasn't fully understood and nor were the risks involved.
Changes were made, the investment strategy was simplified and Davids pension started increasing in value. Whats more is that he now gets regular reviews and is always informed that he can contact the advisor whenever he wishes.
At WhiteKnight Wealth we have a designated team who's sole purpose to assist those individuals that have been poorly advised or mis-sold.
Our team help people globally with getting their pension pots back into the green as well as those whose financial structure has gone a bit off course. We will help you bring all of this back on course and ensure you achieve your personal goals.
Global: +44 20 3872 2866 BH: +973 1663 5438
WhiteKnight Wealth
Global: +44 1223 931550 US: +1 (646) 980 4722
The financial advisers offering advice under WhiteKnight are members of:
Trafalgar International GmbH (Authorised and Regulated in Germany: License according to § 34d Abs. 1 GewO (Insurance) Supervisory Authority: Chamber of Commerce Frankfurt, Insurance Intermediaries Register, Registration no. D-FE9C BELBQ-24)
Financial Services Network Ltd licenced as an Investment Adviser (unrestricted) and as an Insurance Broker by the Mauritius Financial Services Commission (licence number C116016070).
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