Has anyone used Mercer financial advisors for pensions?

I worked in Mercer for a short period a long time ago. The fundamental challenge you run into as an individual seeking investment advice is the knowledgeable people you’d want to speak to are generally too expensive for one to one sessions (for most people)

Back when I was there the partner billing rate was north of €1,000 an hour. I suspect it’s close to €2,000 now. A mid level investment consultant could be €700+ per hour. These would all be bright people. Actuaries mostly. We worked predominantly on corporate schemes where fees could be set against a very large asset base.

If you throw in a couple of hours prep, an hour meeting and then a follow up. You could be looking at €10k for one of the better people in Mercer/Willis/Aon etc. Most individuals would baulk at paying even a fraction of that.

I think there are likely to better avenues for individual advice through smaller independent financial advisers…just need to find the right one!
 
Zion2022 said:
We worked predominantly on corporate schemes where fees could be set against a very large asset base.
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Yeah, I'm a member of a corporate scheme administered by Mercer. They didn't send us anyone knowledgeable when they met with members about to go through a TUPE situation. Guys barely knew anything about things like continuous service.....

But yes, the bills were large.
 
Fortune said:
met with members about to go through a TUPE situation. Guys barely knew anything about things like continuous service.....
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That’s disappointing. I guess like any walk of life you’ll get some people who are good and others who are not. Often sitting beside each other in the same company.

My experience (which is very out of date!) is that the best people were typically rolled out for trustees of the scheme rather than individual members. Individual members don’t hire and fire the advisers!
 
The knowledgeable guys are more likely to be the ones who meet the trustees, not the members.

I worked in this sector in Ireland (though not recently). I never worked for Mercer, but I did work with them, quite a bit. They were very, very good.

But that's at the level of actuaries, etc, advising trustees on investment strategy for funds of many millions, or advising employers on pension scheme design. Providing individual advice to members on their personal situation is at the other end of the business and I wouldn't expect Mercer (or any of the other large providers) to be oustandingly good at that. The reason is that if you're oustandingly bright and highly competent, working for a large consultancy you will find yourself advising the largest clients, where the most money is to be made.

That's not to say that the advice given to individual scheme members will be dreadful. Fortune's experience was bad and, I would hope, not typical. From a consultancy like Mercer you should expect at least basic competence. Plus, they should be good at devising and delivering solutions that, for the typical and common case, will work well.

If you want advice tailored to your personal circumstances, and certainly if your personal circumstances are at all unusual, as Zion2022 says you're most likely to find that at some of the smaller, independent firms. The problem is that you're not necessarily going to find it at all of them, and it can be hard to find the right one.
 
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I've found them hit and miss but I could say the same about a lot of large firms like this. I've had staff leave under TUPE and I knew more then the Mercer's person did but also had staff retired and who said the got great advice.
 
Homefarm said:
Was surprised to see the negative experiences above. Overall my experiences of them have been very good. They’d be a well respected company in comparison to a lot of the brokers in the market. Would be seen as experts for pension advice but not sure if they do other advice.
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I was suspicious of this post. It turns out to be from a senior Mercer's employee.

I contacted Mercer's a week ago to complain but got no reply or acknowledgement of my email.

Brendan
 
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I also found then useless.
Every time I contacted them, I spoke with a different person. They provided incorrect information and sent me wrong forms to complete.
Overall it took me nearly 6 months to sort out a pension.
 
In my experience, the individual staff are pleasant and try to help.

It seems to be more process failures than anything else; right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing.

I wouldn't voluntarily choose them.
 
Many years ago my Employer closed it's DB Plan and Mercer sent out a document 'Your Pension: Personal Illustration'. It clearly stated 'any AVCS will also cease' but my AVCS did not cease until I was made redundant last year. I had asked about AVCS to a representative that they had sent to a staff meeting and the guy said - 'that's a good question but I don't know'. I then rang a help line and was promised a call back and never happened and then I phoned them back and yes they said AVCS will continue. I just got 'Statement of Pension Benefits on Leaving Service' today in the post and on the form if I wanted to Transfer my Value to new employer etc. they have my date of birth wrong (correct on main letter). Yes over the years I have not been impressed with them.
 
Fortune said:
Last year's statement showed a global equity index fund with an AMC of 0.15%. This year's statement shows that same fund as having an AMC of 1.05%
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Definitely hope that's a typo from them, and not legit.

I also have a global equity DC with them, but my AMC is 0.21% so presumably each employer negotiates a fee prior to joining.
 
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