Adviser begins online pension monitoring

Neil Robinson, based in Grimsby, set up My Investment Performance (MiP) after realising that most people were not reviewing their investments regularly, if at all.

He said: “There is well over £500bn invested in the UK and a large amount of that is languishing in under-performing funds. It’s apparent that people aren’t getting the information they should be getting.”

MiP is a remote service. Investors pay a fixed fee and provide the company names and the fund names of their investments.

MiP analyses the historical performance of each fund and sends back a report within seven days.

The service does not provide advice but Mr Robinson said it presents the information in a clear and precise way to enable investors to review their funds themselves.

He said: “What is critical when looking at any investment is considering whether the funds are performing as they should be. People have a choice of what fund their money goes in and there are thousands of funds out there. On the day of investment, the fund might be the top performing fund but if you don’t review it, you might find it has dropped to the bottom.”

He added: “What I will do is provide a report detailing the historical performance figures on each fund they have.

“Most people don’t realise they’ve got a problem. They receive statements from their providers but most stick them in a drawer and don’t consider whether the fund they had invested in is doing its job.

“Someone could be thousands of pounds better off by looking at their investments and doing something about them.”

Mr Robinson recommends that people review their investments at least once a year, but preferably twice.

Although there are other investment monitoring websites available, Mr Robinson says MiP is different because it does not sell additional add-on services to its customers, it only provides the report.

“I can put people in touch with financial advisors in their area for further advice if that’s what they want but that is not the aim of the service,” he said. “As far as I know, there isn’t another company out there that does what I do.”

The way financial advice is given is expected to radically change from January 2013 under the Government’s Retail Distribution Review (RDR).

At the moment, anyone looking for a financial adviser has to pick their way through independent financial advisers, whole-of-market advisers, multi-tied advisers and sales representatives of product providers such as banks and building societies.

Some advisers are paid commission for their advice, others receive fees instead, while some receive both forms of payment.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is proposing from the end of next year to have just two main types of adviser – an independent adviser who offers products from the entire market, and a sales adviser, whose primary purpose is to sell a product from one or more providers.

All retail advisers are required to obtain the minimum standard of an OfQual approved Level 4 qualification.

They will no longer be able to be paid commission by product providers.

A survey of over 700 advisors by New Model Business Academy found that the majority of IFAs intend to remain independent.

The survey also found 42 per cent of the advisers who responded had already reached the required minimum qualification with another 51 per cent well on the way to being qualified before the review comes into effect.

But a recent report from Aviva warned that around three million people will struggle to get decent advice once the new rules come into force, because IFAs will target higher-net-worth individuals after the RDR.

Mr Robinson said: “By the end of 2012 the IFA sector will be massively depleted with a lot of advisors leaving the industry so, from an investor’s point of view, there will be fewer advisors out there looking after them.

“There will be a much greater need for a service like this next year.”

COMING INTO FORCE

A number of factors led to the introduction of the Retail Distribution Review.

These included worries about the selling of commission-based products and people’s lack of understanding about financial services and financial decision making.

The Financial Services Authority has come up with new rules the industry must abide by and put in place by the end of 2012:

Advisory firms to explicitly disclose and separately charge clients for their services;

Firms to clearly describe their services as either independent or restricted; and individual advisers to adhere to consistent professional standards, including a code of ethics.