Lump Sum High Return Investment | Case Study

A British client based in Europe was approached by a local financial adviser, he told him he would be better off if he transferred out of his 3 UK pensions and put them into a QROPS scheme based in Europe.

He was recommended to put all of his pensions that amounted to £270,000 into an investment bond of a well-known insurance company based in the Isle of Man.

He was told the plan would provide a better pension when he retired and he would be able to take 30% tax-free cash when he reached pensionable age.

The adviser selected a custodian to take out an investment bond that had an 8-year charging structure coupled with QROPS trustee fee of 3%, split 1% to the trustee and 2% to the adviser. 3 years into the plan, the client wanted to retire, he took his 30% tax-free cash and thereafter took a modest income of £1,000 per month.

HIGH FEE CHARGES

6 years after he took out the bond he discovered his investment was now worth £110,000 and aged only 68 he was very concerned he was going to run out of money during his retirement. We confirmed this to him because the investment bond was still charging fees as though he had £270,000 invested. Tailormade calculated (like so many times before) that the client had to obtain a return of 16% per annum to achieve a fund that would not decrease.

Tailormade would have possibly used a QROPS for the 30% tax-free cash. We would not have used an investment bond. We would invest directly into funds with charges linked to values with no access or surrender charges. Tailormade would have reduced initial charges by 50%.