Terrible performance - fund manager

[offtothegymagain]

I’m really mad and upset. So I have saved all my ISA allowances for 23 years (my dad gave me some when I was younger and I’ve saved the maximum over all that time) I had it in trackers - it turned out to be around 50/30/20 US/UK/Europe equity trackers with a small bit of emerging markers/corporate bonds/property - probably 5%. I had £780K in it at the beginning of 2025.

My husband uses a fund manager who has done well and for some stupid reason (I’m financially literate but not hugely interested, very busy) I agreed to move it under the ISA wrapper. I hadn’t realised that they pretty much sold the lot in April - bought other trackers Us/Asia which have done well but then invested the rest (around half!) in 4 single companies and 9% UK gilts etc. so basically overall I have 0,9% return over the year. Compared to what the trackers would have done - around 15%.I feel like an idiot. I was tracking the performance but hadn’t realised they’d flogged the lot. I signed a mandate but hadn’t realised that they would sell everything! Massive ball has been dropped there and I feel a complete idiot. And upset as this is my future savings that I’ve been squirrelling away and being careful. I’m not a big earner.

Oh damn! Please ignore the pic on the left. It includes a deposit- stocks didn’t rise that suddenly.

Yes i know what you mean.

I use a investment company to manage funds for this reason but i ve still got a couple of ISA Tracker funds, very cheap charges, they've out performed the FM funds over time but also been quite volatile, think GFC and Covid.

BUT i ve made money and you can't take it with you.... i m not quite up to 740k but at 60, what i have got will last me 30 to 40 years.... unless i take up drugs and slot machines...

Even madder now that I’ve realised I’ve incurred £12k in fees for all the sell offs. Just for them to reinvest half in two different trackers (one American (I already had an American tracker) one Asian (new). The individual stocks have all tanked and that explains the flat performance. I think they’re actually inept. Do I have any recourse?

Oh my word, please do not use AI for investment advice. AI cannot predict fluctuations or foresee what may happen, it can only base on historical actions.

Having read your posts you are quite clearly intelligent yet maybe got a bit blaze with the positive performances.

Many here have mentioned about passive Vs active management which is fine in isolation but as advisors we do more than that, we work around your long term needs, tax planning, inter-generational wealth planning, cash flow forecasting, restructuring when a partner dies to ensure life remains the same, financially at least, there is so much more to it than just tracking an index, hence why our fees are higher than an indexed tracker fund because you are paying for all of that experience and expertise but please avoid any AI or these fly by the night people on social media because you have zero options should something go wrong, they are not authorised and regulated they are just after followers and likes.

You have done very well and will be entering a world of complications, including inheritance tax with the levels you are looking to attain.

Good luck though, I hope you find every success.

You need to speak to them directly and ask them to justify their £12k fee vs the loss you've just incurred.

However, bear in mind that if you invested in a US tracker, you'd have seen huge growth over previous years until March/April 2025 with Trump's tariffs - world markets tanked by about 25% then - (I have everything in trackers, 40% in US, rest in UK and EU like you, and that's the value I lost).

UK and Europe trackers have returned to pre-tariff levels and gone beyond with strong growth. US took longer to return to the pre-tariff level and have stagnated since.

You do need to take the long term view with a high risk attitude, but I think with a the £12k fee you need some guarantees.

It's not St James Place you've used is it?

1.62% to sell/buy... thats outrageous... what sort of deal have you signed up to?

It should just be a yearly fund fee and whatever their platforms charge...

the only guarantee you get in the world of investing is there is no guarantee.

@DanNW2025 thanks. Yes I do know what you’re saying. We have all that in hand. I think we have questions on these investment decisions and also feel it’s poor client management to just flog £750k without even a phone call - not the way to build a relationship, my isa is only one part of what we have with them. I think we’re going to move. I know expertise isn’t free but it’s galling to be charged to have my portfolio trashed. Some of those decisions are questionable - the timing, the selling of trackers to buy a similar one, the gilts in my isa?!

We will be asking all of this.it feels like they’re playing fast and loose with my money, fuming.

Thanks, yes will definitely be speaking to them. My husband has spent all day looking at the numbers (he has money with them too). No NOT StJP -wouldn’t touch them with a bargepole !

TBF to StJP, they have had some fantastic performing funds and have now got over their fee's drama.

I'm not invested with them, but a friend is, via an IFA and has had amazing returns over the years.

Nope, sorry!! There’s an ethos there that’s questionable imo. They are only paying out because they got caught.

And I wonder what she paid in fees over the years? 🤔

Out of interest, what were the four direct investments in? Would be interesting to see the investment theses for these.

Is the fund manager fund smith? They had a shocking year

No it’s a fairly big one though.A well respected award winning “wealth manager” (their words not mine 🤮) I’m not going to name them or the specific stocks (another poster asked).

Oh no.

anyway…

Did the fund manager discuss with you the risk profile you wanted to adopt?
This all doesn't sound right to me. A third party, managing client money, has significant responsibilities, nobody can guarantee performance but they must discuss a brief with you regarding your goals. It sounds like by moving to gilts, they have reduced your exposure to market risks, which is good for downside risk, not good for reward.
You need to raise a formal complaint. It's the only way to get it investigated thoroughly, do that with the company with whom you have the portfolio.

We spoke at length about this, as i was going to invest in StJP, not all funds attracted excessive fees and so long as the growth is substantially more, does it matter?
Her fee's were reasonable & they've never done what you've experienced, which does appear to be mal practice..
I went for different company and mine have not performed as well though lower fees but i agree they only changed because they were caught.

Hmmm. You need to take a bit more responsibility for your own money, I think!

Yes, as I have agreed up thread ⬆️ . If you read my posts.

It was the opaqueness of the fee structure that was the issue. 2 or 3 % per annum compounded is not insignificant! Not to mention they were charging for investment reviews that they weren’t doing. Criminal really.

I will be formally complaining. The sell/buy fees are 1.8% of my portfolio 6 months of my salary. Selling an American tracker to buy a different American tracker makes no sense, I am angry. I almost can’t look at it! And that’s not even going into the stock pics!.

Not all StJP funds attracted these fees, her's did not.

But i 100% agree they acted very badly, as your FM has.

One has to look at every aspect of investment companies when dealing with large amounts of money, at the end of the day, an IFA or Wealth Planner are just salesmen and women.

Agree with what you are saying. It should have been discussed at your level of investment by your advisor, unfortunately the actual fund manager wouldn’t specifically soeak with you out of the billions of pounds they look after but your advisor absolutely should’ve done that.

My main focus was on the AI stuff and other people mentioning it. Just please don’t rely on that. Go with your instinct and with an advisor you feel comfortable with. Good luck 🤞🏻

Appalling lack of communication from your FM. I have an FM for similar sums and he tells me about every trade before it happens. I stick to long term trackers so there aren’t many trades, but there is still clear written communication about every decision.