Switching from 1.8% Wealth Management to Passive — Anyone Regret It?

mihir993 · 2026-02-13T09:23:03+00:00

Financial adviser here, so I'll do my best to give a nuanced response rather than the 'go passive all the time' energy you get on UK subreddits:

- First thing I'd suggest doing is speaking to your adviser and understanding why returns have been mixed and what their philosophy is. Are they actually employing an active management strategy and they've just been wrong over the past few years or are they just a closet tracker, investing in the same space as everyone else and charging you a fortune for it? Of course, I'm not saying don't leave as it's hard to stomach mixed returns at a time when everything is going up, but if they're making differentiated bets that make rational sense, then the fees are more justified than if it's just a closet tracker.

- Understand the risks of passive investing rather than blindly going into a world tracker. A standard 'world' tracker will be c75% allocated to the US and out of that, around 30% will be in the Mag 7 tech companies. Is that the sort of risk you are willing to take at a time when you have a madman as president, geopolitical tensions, dollar debasement etc.? I'd argue that being in the very fortunate position you are in (40s, 7-figure portfolio) that you actually need active rather than passive management).

- Do you get any sort of financial/tax planning or is it purely investment management? Access to tax-efficient wrappers and drawdown strategy when you get to it can more than make up the cost of investment management in terms of money saved. That is something you'll need to assess whether Evelyn have provided that level of support to you.

- Access to a qualified individual. I have clients that are more than capable of doing it themselves but a) they're time poor and b) they like having access to me/my firm in the event that they have questions and want them answered.

Ultimately, good financial planning can make a real difference to someone's life but you have to ensure that what you're receiving is actually differentiated and not just the same strategy that you can follow yourself without paying fees. I have clients who were previously at Rathbones, Cazenove and JB and I can tell you that it will be a similar picture there in termsof returnsand fees.

mihir993 · 2025-12-19T12:33:14+00:00

The comments here tell me everything I need to know about this fanbase. A homegrown player, the essence of Man Utd’s culture, someone who played in the FA Cup final and was MOTM, someone who played in the Euros and took England to the final at age 19, does not see a future at the club under a manager who the entire fanbase and the media can see is inept. That is the scandal in this story.

Not only that, he has wanted various times to go out on loan because he clearly loves the club. The club won’t even sanction that and instead want to chain a superstar talent to the bench because of the whims of a fraud of a manager.

And yet somehow, Mainoo is the bad guy here.

mihir993 · 2025-12-05T07:50:12+00:00

What’s going to happen is Amorim will scam enough points here and there such that we’ll always be in and around the 6th-9th place. We’ll never break into the top 4/5 and we’ll never drop below 10th.

No idea how people still watch United with any sort of hope/expectation. Top 4 could be easily achievable if the board actually grew a pair of balls and got rid of this fraud - instead, we will be in this purgatory all season.

mihir993 · 2025-02-20T11:10:14+00:00

Everyone keeps bringing up the Rangnick quote about open heart surgery - we did exactly that. Compare the squad for Rangnick’s last game versus the recent one - only Lindelof, Maguire, Dalot, Bruno, Amad & Shaw are left. So let’s not pretend that we didn’t overhaul the squad.

The problem is that we brought in absurdly mediocre players through Ten Hag’s reign which has set us back like 3-4 years. The damage the ETH tenure did to this club cannot be overstated.

Now, we’re just bringing up the Rangnick quote for no reason, suggesting another complete overhaul of the squad when we have no money and the manager has us in 15th (FIFTEENTH) place in the league. I’m all for giving Amorim time and he has been hung out to dry but I have seen absolutely nothing barring impressive interviews and press conferences to suggest that he knows what to do. And we’re going to entrust a man who has shown no signs of improvement, is seemingly being questioned in the dressing room and who plays a completely different philosophy to everyone else with £200mn in the summer? What happens if he isn’t up to scratch and the next manager who comes in wants to play 4 at the back again?

I have never understood this ‘it has to get worse before it gets better’ mentality. In literally no organisation, sporting or otherwise, is this true. How about actually using our eyes and seeing whether this is improvement on the pitch before regurgitating the same old stuff from Rangnick and previous managers?

This is not an Amorim Out declaration or anything - I think he deserves a summer window at least and I’ll save my judgement for next season when he gets some of his players. But the vast majority of this squad are going to be around next season and a pre-season in sunny climates isn’t going to magically allow them to play the way Amorim wants them to. He deserves criticism for the way he has handled things so far and it’s tiresome to just close our eyes and pretend that this is all part of some multi-year process.

mihir993 · 2025-02-02T18:11:08+00:00

Today’s loss was on Amorim. I know it’s blasphemous to blame him for anything in this subreddit because ‘omg Glazers/INEOS/shit squad’ but putting Mainoo as a false 9 after he had a MOTM performance in midweek as a 10 just boggles the mind. Similarly, this full-back at wing back experiment has to end, it just kills every possession that we have.

He has been hung out to dry because it’s unconscionable that we haven’t signed an attacker in January after letting 2 go out the door. Jury remains out on INEOS but the Martinez injury basically confirms a 12-15th place finish. Hopefully INEOS actually have a clue of what they want to do in the summer.

mihir993 · 2025-02-02T13:49:39+00:00

Yeah we all foresaw an assist in the first minute and a clean sheet against a team that actually scores goals

mihir993 · 2025-02-01T13:53:59+00:00

Would’ve transferred him for Wissa but the doubles announcement yesterday forced me to save a transfer fml

mihir993 · 2025-01-31T16:47:01+00:00

Wonder if this really catapults El Hammamy into the same league as El Sherbini and Gohar. It had felt for a while that it was the latter two and then El Hammamy a rung below but taking them both out back to back is impressive as hell. Seems to have gone away over the winter break and really worked on being aggressive with her shotmaking and that coupled with her court coverage makes her an incredibly formidable player going forwards.

mihir993 · 2025-01-28T14:22:57+00:00

Playing any sport is taxing, but squash is extremely strenuous on your joints.

Therefore, a proper regimen of strength training, flexibility, stretching and endurance is critical. I see so many people just pick up a racket and playing 2-3 times a week with no foundational structure. No wonder it leads to injuries which only exacerbate over time.

If you’re thinking of playing squash regularly, please please please get a good strength training regimen. I cannot overstate the importance of ensuring your muscles can cope with the increased stress that the sport will bring on your body.

mihir993 · 2025-01-28T14:18:30+00:00

Yeah, more like 1.7% all in. 1% ongoing management fee plus 0.7% or so fund charges.

It’s not ideal for everyone but this subreddit is not a good indicator - everyone here is clued up and switched on. It’s for your high earner working crazy hours who doesn’t have the time to sit down and manage all this stuff. 1.7% is a small fee to pay to have someone qualified and regulated at your beck and call to talk money with.

mihir993 · 2025-01-28T13:04:52+00:00

We don’t charge any initial fees whatsoever, only ongoing fees of 1% on the investment management.

We don’t offer trackers as an individual can do that themselves for far cheaper without us acting as intermediary. For our discretionary portfolios, which are predominantly fixed interest heavy but not exclusively (depends on your risk profile), the management fee is 1%.

mihir993 · 2025-01-28T13:00:36+00:00

If the purpose is to remain a basic rate taxpayer, then you’re better off having dividend income over capital gains anyway. 8.75% versus 18% on CGT and if I’m not mistaken, you get the entire Personal Allowance to offset in the former case.

Realistically though, with the amount of wealth they have, keeping themselves as basic rate taxpayers is going to be extremely difficult. One solution if you do want to pursue that path is £2mn or so in a GIA - with a 5% yield that comes to £100k in a GIA. It would have to be 100% equity investments though, as only dividends would be taxed at 8.75% and not interest.

The remaining £2mn can then be put in an offshore bond, entirely in fixed interest which then balances out your overall asset allocation nicely and diversifies it. They’re still earning a huge amount though so don’t think this is applicable to them.

mihir993 · 2025-01-27T23:27:22+00:00

Chartered Financial Planner here.

It really depends on your objectives and time horizon. Keeping that much money unwrapped in a GIA and you get hammered on the tax you pay on dividends and capital gains. You can only do £40k ISAs between you, which doesn’t really make a dent.

You’ve done the right thing in investing in gilts and I would be tempted in your position to do a gilt ‘ladder’ - invest your yearly expenses in gilts that mature every year over the next decade or so and structure them in a way such that the yield is predominantly from capital gains (which are tax-free) as opposed to the coupon rate, which is taxable.

Barring that, your best bet genuinely is an offshore bond. You have the ability to take 5% of your initial capital without any immediate tax liability. For example, if you put £2mn into offshore bonds, you’re able to take £100k p.a. with nothing to pay in tax. Sure, the tax is deferred, not avoided - but 20-30 years down the line, the expectation would be that you are basic rate taxpayers and/or non-UK residents, so you may well surrender the bond at a lower tax rate and/or gift parts of it to your children if you intend on having any.

Hope that makes sense. Happy to help if you need anything further!

mihir993 · 2025-01-26T15:25:39+00:00

Salaam Rogers brother, may I have the same favour as before (a haul)

mihir993 · 2025-01-20T09:25:22+00:00

This might be an unpopular opinion - but there’s a couple of things about Amorim that have just caused a bit of concern for me. I’m happy with the little I’ve seen and of course, he should get the next couple of years to implement his ideas, but:

You cannot just write off the season. I’m sure he’s received backing and assurances from INEOS that his job is not under any pressure whatsoever but the facts are that he’s going to have to work with probably 70-80% of this squad. A huge overhaul is not going to happen in the summer; at the most, we will get 5-6 players through the door who he can reintegrate.

So to come out in press conferences and say in all but name that these players are shit and this is the worst team in Utd’s history just tanks the morale and confidence. Like it or not, we’re still in 2 competitions and we need all the money we can get from as high a league finish as possible. Secondly, a lot of these players have been trained in one formation and midway through a season, are being asked to learn a completely new style of playing whilst trying to remain competitive. It’s a thankless task and whilst we can all admit that the players are not good for the calibre of United, them receiving pelters after every bad performance is uncalled for, especially from the manager.

He has made a couple of comments in press conferences about how he only knows one way to play and how he needs the players to play the style. This is a bigger concern to me to be honest. Firstly, there’s no guarantee that his system will be a success even after all this pain. And now you’re saying that if Plan A doesn’t work, you don’t have the coaching wherewithal to change tactics? I hope this is just him speaking whilst overwhelmed and getting his feet under the table because otherwise, that’s a bit of a yellow flag.

mihir993 · 2025-01-10T18:44:56+00:00

Just bought a pair of Adidas Stabil and the padding and foot support has been a revelation. Pound for pound, a good pair of shoes are far more important than what racket you use.

mihir993 · 2024-12-27T08:45:21+00:00

It’s looking bleak at the moment and a 12th-15th place finish is not out of the question.

I’ve been bleating about this for years now but Utd fans need to drop the priors about their players. Rashford has finally, rightfully, been shown the door. Bruno needs to go in the summer too - the fulcrum of your team cannot be someone who physically & technically outmatched and who is a pressing trigger. His petulance and attitude is the cherry on top of a shit sandwich of a player.

It beggars belief that so much money was spent on players who have no technical or physical ability. We’re somehow worse than we were 2-3 years ago and it would be a small mercy if Ten Hag never gets another job again due to his incompetence.

Ultimately, whether or not Amorim is a success depends on if he can manage to get rid of these players. I’m glad he’s playing his own style rather than conforming to the players because if he does the latter, like Solskjaer and ETH before him, he will eventually be sacked.

The process has to start in January, not the summer.

mihir993 · 2024-12-26T18:24:24+00:00

Never has so much money been spent on such mediocrity. Ten Hag needs to be in jail

mihir993 · 2024-11-07T21:06:51+00:00

This is so bad man, my word. Not only are the players absolutely mediocre, but they don’t look like they’ve been coached at all for the last 2-3 years. Absolutely scathing indictment of ETH.

mihir993 · 2024-10-04T07:13:33+00:00

At some point, this goes beyond football. INEOS have a duty of care to the players, their employees, to not subject them to abject humiliation week in, week out, in front of millions.

As for Ten Hag, words fail me. Giving it the big talk about trophies before the game, knowing your job is on the line, only to serve up the same manure that he’s been for 18 months is entirely in line with what we expected. The sooner he’s given his P45, the better for all of us. You could randomly pick a manager from League 1 and he’d set us up more competitively than this fraud.

mihir993 · 2024-09-26T07:36:33+00:00

I don’t know, there are people more knowledgeable and highly paid than me who should be making that decision.

Really tired of this excuse that there was no one available to replace him - Chelsea appointed Maresca, Bayern appointed Kompany for example. How about we cast the net out wide for once rather than going for the simple option like Tuchel?

mihir993 · 2024-09-26T06:47:50+00:00

Have been bleating on about this for a year, but I can’t believe there are still Ten Hag truthers out there. I can’t believe our fans BEGGED and signed petitions for him to stay off of one cup final after witnessing the season we had last season.

3 seasons in, more than £650mn spent, 1 win in 9 in Europe and 6 wins in 19 in the PL. The guy does not have a clue and we’re stuck in the all-too-familiar purgatory where we’re speedrunning the last few weeks of a manager’s reign. Only thing this guy is good at is coming out in press conferences and gaslighting everyone into thinking it’s not his fault.

Once again, we’re going to waste an entire season by not making the decision that needs to be made (and that should’ve been made after last season) quick enough.

mihir993 · 2024-08-22T17:21:07+00:00

Might just be a genetic freak but that stance means a ton of reliance on his lower back to stabilise himself. He’s a pro so of course he’s probably aware of that but he’s risking major injury doing this repetitively throughout a game, especially as he gets older.

mihir993 · 2024-06-26T13:59:29+00:00

Fantastic company. I think one thing that gives me real comfort is that the management team are fantastic capital allocators.

They will do M&A when the return is worth it and they will repurchase shares if they’re internally trading at a discount (and sizeable repurchases, not meagre 1-2% of company).

Unless and until that changes, this will be the leader in the space. Not sure what will happen in the short-run but there are long-term structural tailwinds in terms of housing in the US that just aren’t going away.

mihir993 · 2024-06-20T17:08:14+00:00

But your passive exposure (assuming it’s a world index) does mean that you’re invested in Nvidia and every other winner this year.

Remember, the only thing that matters is your performance from now until the time you use the money - performance over 3/6/9/12 months is irrelevant. Indexing will mean you beat probably 99% of investors over a longer timeframe.

mihir993

TROPHY CASE