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Original poster

St James’s Place.

250 replies

ZealAndArdour · 19/06/2022 12:42

Hi,

Just wondering about this company. I understand they’re quite legit and well known.

My dad (not vulnerable, self employed, works still, only vulnerability is my siblings death a few years ago and he lives alone) is very shrewd and has always looked after his assets, saved very hard and tried to make sure we’d all be okay in the future. He’s been using them for several years for various things; consolidating pensions, setting up an asset preservation trust, etc.

But he seems to be in quite regular contact with his advisor (I’ve met the guy to sign paperwork and have some things explained to me, he seems nice enough) and has also received a lot of referred business from my dad making recommendations to friends, etc. The advisor is now taking my dad and some of his pals on quite fancy days out to thank them for the referred custom and just seems to still be very much involved in everything, I thought the things he’d been engaged for were sort of contact-Intense to begin with while they were set up and then might just be yearly reviews of everything. But my dad will still get calls from this guy quite frequently, and he’ll say “oh I’m not answering that, it’s Charles, he probably wants me to invest some more money, he can wait”.

I’m just wondering if this is a normal level of continuous involvement with the financial advisor, I know my dad has good pensions and a respectable portfolio of assets, but unless I’m totally in the dark I don’t think we’re talking millionaire status.

Could there be anything shady going on? Is the financial advisor meant to be in contact this much and taking them out?

My dad would also like me to meet with him to discuss my pensions and assets and tbh I just find the smarming all a bit much, and this level of contact too intense to maintain.

Thanks.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
15
ListenLinda · 17/10/2023 18:57

That’s a heck of a drop in a day.
this came up in a meeting I was in today.

Isn’t it linked to the Consumer Duty that’s been implemented lately?

sep135 · 17/10/2023 19:13

I believe so.

Magenta82 · 18/10/2023 09:44

Basically the Consumer duty rules mean that firms have to make sure their recommendations are good value for their clients.

SJP clearly did not offer good value and so has had to change it's model.

Not sure I'd want to invest with a firm that would only consider offering it's clients value for money after being forced to by legislation.

The changes appear to only apply to new customers and there seems to be no word on the exit fees etc being charged to existing ones.

Ingrainedagainstthegrain · 18/10/2023 17:56

Magenta82 · 18/10/2023 09:44

Basically the Consumer duty rules mean that firms have to make sure their recommendations are good value for their clients.

SJP clearly did not offer good value and so has had to change it's model.

Not sure I'd want to invest with a firm that would only consider offering it's clients value for money after being forced to by legislation.

The changes appear to only apply to new customers and there seems to be no word on the exit fees etc being charged to existing ones.

Absolutely everyone is being forced to deliver better value and prove their worth - don't think anyone is leaping up and down about having to do this as there are endless hoops to jump through. A lot has to be spelt out and the client's attention is drawn to the costs incurred by having a financial advisor at all. It's a good thing though. But for SJP who are known for making a hard sell and sweeping the client along with charisma and a complicated fee structure, it hits them where they're weakest. That, combined with the poor fund performances, makes this a particularly embarrassing time. But at the end of the day, most people have an FA to feel safe and if they feel confident with someone at SJP, they're likely to believe whatever story they're fed, similar to patients in a medical context.

Ingrainedagainstthegrain · 18/10/2023 18:01

Beenalongwinter · 14/10/2023 07:33

The regulators are finally addressing SJP fee structure.

Where is our friend the broker?

Are the market and regulators also intellectually challenged...

Muddle2000 · 19/10/2023 08:52

This makes me think that the govt should more to encourage people to do investing Obviously you cannot get rid of the risk totally but it is either paltry savings accounts or fees with IFAs etc People are living longer these days so savings need to go further

sep135 · 23/10/2023 20:10

Every time this topic comes up at work, I think of BrokerG. I fear he may be nearer BrokenG.

Although, somewhere deep inside my ice-cold imbecilic heart, I harbour a fleeting hope that he may yet rise like a phoenix to abuse chide us once again.

Everanewbie · 25/10/2023 09:19

LongTimeListener1 · 23/10/2023 20:04

https://on.ft.com/3FuosUh

Thoughts and prayers with our BrokerG friend at this difficult time.

To be fair, M&G have also suspended trading in their Property fund. Commercial Property illiquidity is not an issue unique to SJP.

It is a shame that they need to be dragged kicking and screaming into the post RDR world nearly 12 years later, and even then they are weaseling with existing clients and delaying the shift with new clients, and claiming to need transition periods. Newsflash! The rest of the industry went through that pain while somehow they remained immune. How they've got away with this smoke and mirror show for so long I don't know.

YankeeDad · 25/10/2023 13:36

For property, my opinion is that the whole concept of an open-ended property fund is fundamentally flawed, whether it is SJP or someone else running it, and this critique of SJP is the first undeserved one I have seen on this thread.

Here is why: an open ended fund is designed so that an investor can withdraw their capital from the fund at any time. That works well if the fund holds listed assets like listed stocks and liquid bonds for which there is (almost) always tradability and a "market" price. If there is a falling market and lots of people want to take their money out at the same time, there will be significant losses and securities may be somewhat undervalued, but investors will at least be able to exit quickly and at a more or less "fair" price.

Property, on the other hand, is inherently lumpy and illiquid: it normally takes months or even years to sell a property, and anyone in a rush to sell is likely to get a lower price. That means that if larger numbers of investors try to exit an open-ended property fund at the same time, the fund may be forced to sell properties at a discount to their fair value, which will also drive comparable properties down in value. Importantly, that will hurt every investor in the fund, including the ones who prefer to keep their investments. Knowing about this problem, any sensible investor will want to sell out of an open-ended property fund as soon as they see the property market start show signs of a decline, before these forced sales at low prices start to occur. It is almost like a run on a bank in some ways: only the first depositors can get their money out, which leads everyone want to be among the first, which then causes the bank to fail. An unlevered property fund will not go completely to zero, but a levered property fund actually could do.

I, personally, think that the only sensible solution for collective ownership of property is a closed-end fund of some sort, with investors accepting that if they want their money back, they must either wait or sell their interest to someone else, but they cannot force the fund to sell its properties. REITS are better than open-ended property funds in this respect, although I do not know REITS very well so cannot knowledgably discuss their disadvantages.

SJP may be guilty of pandering to investor demand for an investment structure that is in fact highly unsuitable for the nature of the underlying investment, but they are neither more, nor less guilty than the many other firms who have done the same thing, not only in the UK but around the world.

Finfinfin · 25/10/2023 20:22

🎵
I'm BrokerG from SJP
Come and join our family
Our fees are bad, but some don't leave
As long as they're a bit naive.
We may be crap, but some are crapper
And all our staff are nice and dapper.
There's not much choice where to invest
(and none of them are quite the best)
Unless you have a massive wad
And if you don't, then off you sod.
I'm BrokerG from SJP
Oh, please won't you believe in me?
🎵

(just thought it might be more convenient for him to have an official advertising jingle)

sep135 · 25/10/2023 20:24

That is priceless.

Bonus points for getting something to rhyme with discretionary and Rowan Dartington for verse 2...

Finfinfin · 01/11/2023 14:01

Oh my God, that's hilarious!

Same worthless arguments and even the same username.

At this point I'm beginning to worry that he actually believes what he's saying...

sep135 · 01/11/2023 14:08

The penny drops! I thought you meant he was the CEO quoted in the article.

That's hilarious, great spot. It reminds me of that iconic scene in ET when they realise he's alive...

Everanewbie · 28/02/2024 13:55

They’re not even providing an ongoing service for their inflated ongoing fees 🙈

HauntedPencil · 28/02/2024 15:54

Looking forward to seeing BrokerG polish this turd.

Everanewbie · 28/02/2024 16:05

I have a feeling that there will be a bit of a rebrand soon with SJP, not just a reversion to the initials from the full title, but a whole new name, logo etc. The bad name that the company has is starting to transcend the industry into the public consciousness.

march2 · 28/02/2024 21:12

I work in investing and pretty much everyone in the office today was saying about bloody time SJP were properly pulled up over their rip-off fees.

march2 · 28/02/2024 21:13

(I did think of BrokerG...)

Applesaarenttheonlyfruit · 28/02/2024 21:32

Me to @BrokerG prayers for your AUM

Everanewbie · 28/02/2024 22:29

#pray4brokerG

march2 · 29/02/2024 07:10

Applesaarenttheonlyfruit · 28/02/2024 21:32

Me to @BrokerG prayers for your AUM

And indeed his share price given it's fallen by 60% over the last year. Perhaps we should trawl the Telegraph money column where he was last seen defending SJP against heavy fire.

HauntedPencil · 29/05/2024 15:36

That's St James Place out of the FTSE 100 then