Marc and Stephen Barrett and mr Sheehy etc and others from ask about money are some that I would personally trust to talk to even if some are less and less ‘independent’.
I'm humbled that the respect is such that I deserve a mr and not Gerard.
However I’d personally like more clear and safe options to deal directly with all the people selling products into Irish market, in fact I think it should be a requirement to sell here to have a simple retail channel that is easy to find. Not ‘contact’ you broker.
I have a challenge for you.
Start a new thread with a title like 'What a better distribution model for pensions and life assurance savings and investment would look like' and include some figures as to what you might think the initial and ongoing overheads would be, average size of contribution/investment, number of potential clients, breakeven point, profitabilty year (after all initial and ongoing costs are recovered). Then specify what level of knowledge and qualification that you would expect the staff that man that model should have. Are we talking 'just passed my QFA' or something else completely. Who would you expect to be responsible for the Regulated transaction if it's wrong? I mean, execution only clients can and do make mistakes on all these products and the various rules that govern them. The default, when this happens is, it's someone elses fault 'you should have flagged it/advised me etc' that I was making a mistake. 'I expect you to pay for rectifying my mistake'. At what stage does the product provider say 'Hey, this service isn't suitable for you at all. You're just looking for an advisory serrvice at execution only prices'.? Cue the hurt and indignation from the potential customer.
There are enough accountants and actuaries on AAM to assist with the exercise. Who knows, maybe the few eat-the-steak, complain and whine drinkers that frequent these pages will have something meaningful to contribute, for once.
If you feel it's clearer and safer to deal direct with a provider then, as I said above, you can do that. But, if what you really mean is that you want to buy a product directly from them on an execution only basis, then they can provide that service too. If they say they can't/won't do that, ask them why?
Unfortunate that you had a bad experience with the mortgage but it shouldn't damage the integrity of the entire market. In every profession, be they chartered accountants, FAs, estate agents (insert any one that you might need a 'qualification' for) etc., there are about 6% that really shouldn't be there at all. But that's the reality.
I'm wearing the anti-broker, anti-charges tag as a badge of honour because what the fool broker was really saying is that I'm pro-consumer.
But, back to the article.
In summary, the cost of advice is going up. That's the trend, and AMCs (and trail) are on the rise. But, will the pricing gap for execution only model broaden or follow.
