Has anybody ever used Investors Group and what were your thoughts?
Thanks
Printable View
Has anybody ever used Investors Group and what were your thoughts?
Thanks
I actually work for Investors Group. It's a good company thats been around for 80 years or so. The biggest thing with IG is that they do full planning. We don't just grab your money, throw it in a fund and then disappear. If thats what you want, deal with a bank or credit union.... or a stock broker.
As a Consultant with IG, i do tax planning and estate planning. I also do risk management with insurance from 4 different companies, so i can compare prices and benefits and give the best option. I also do retirement planning and investment planning. I can sell proprietary funds as well as third party funds and we have a securities division as well for stock portfolios. On top of that we can do debt consolidations and offer bank loans, locs and home equity locs too. And we offer mortgages. Right now we have 2.89 FIXED rate 4 year mortgages.
So yeah. If you want planning IG is a great option for you.
WOW sounds awesome Rescuer, except how do you get paid? Front end load, back end load, DSC's
Good advice does not come free, so it is obvious that it is in your best interest to sell all you can to your clients. Not that this is evil, it is just that so many people get taken advantage of when dealing with investments. Some advisers take advantage of the ignorance of their clients, lock them into investments without giving their clients full understanding on what they are investing in and the costs of those investments (MER's, commissions, penalties for withdrawals etc)
If you provide awesome service, explain clearly what your clients are investing in and explain clearly how you get paid, then good on you, keep it up.
I would be careful of any business that only sells there own version of mutual funds. Now that it is february, there are magazine articles out with those funds that perform the best historically. I would also be aware of MER's (management expense ratios) if the fund you own is making 5% a year and 2.5% is being eaten up by fees ... YIKES! Vanguard has crossed the U.S. border and is known for low fees which will hopefully wake up these Canadian companies who have been soaking consumers for decades.
I deal with them, my first advisor was wonderful and full of great info. He passed away and our new guy I have to ask lots of questions and follow up on things as he forgets to follow through. I would suggest reading Never too Late by Gail Vaz Oxlade, she has some great points in what questions or ask and how to choose a financial planner.
Wow how did I know that you would have something to say about this subject hahahaha.
I deal with Investors Group. My consultant explains very clearly about DSC fees and no load fees (They do not have front end loads btw). If you worked in the industry you would know that there is a large thing called COMPLIANCE. And it is one reason why it is preferable to deal with a large company who's reputation is constantly on the line, than a little guy who just sets up an office and starts selling funds. The compliance department at IG is extremely diligent and extremely efficient. I know this because they make random calls to clients and ask them questions about purchases they have just made, to ensure that clients know about NL and DSC funds. (I have some of both actually... the DSC ones are for my retirement and the NL ones are for short term)
As far as fees go to transfer out, EVERY financial institution, including banks and credit unions, charge to transfer funds or in kind to another institution.
By the way, even though I deal with IG, I also own other funds, bought and paid for with my IG consultant. I have one Trimark fund that I quite like. I also own some bank stocks... also purchased through IG. My consultant does not get paid a ommission on any of those things.
I'd also like to point out that financial advisors are paid trailer fees on funds they sell. If the price of the fund goes up (or does well in other words) he wil get paid more. If the price of the fund drops (as EVERY fund did in 2008) he gets paid less, since he is paid on a percentage basis. So why on earth would he recommend a fund that he does not think will perform well for his client?
As far as fee for service advisors go, the client ends up paying twice. Once for the financial "advice" and once to the fund company when they purchase the funds. So how exactly does this save a client any money?
Rescuer, can you help me figure out why my advisers from IG keep leaving??? I originally had a IG adviser who was fine, then I received a letter saying she had left the company (approx 1 year from are original meeting) next I have a different person for 6 months, then same letter, he is no longer with the company. So I get transferred to the latest one, she was wonderful, 1 year goes by and guess what! Another letter, this time I am frustrated, this woman was great, I felt really comfortable with her. Plus I have had to resign paper work 3 times now to transfer everything over to the new adviser.
Am I just unlucky? Or is there some kind of quota that my rep's have not been meeting, the undertone of the letter suggests they were let go. This makes me uncomfortable, what company looses 3 good people in a row?
Trailer Fees - As described by Investopedia
Definition of 'Trailer Fee'
A fee that a mutual fund manager pays to a salesperson who sells the fund to investors. The trailer fee pays the salesperson for providing the investor with ongoing investment advice and services.
Also known as a "trailer commission".
Investopedia explains 'Trailer Fee'
It is important to know whether your mutual fund salesperson is receiving a trailer fee because it may cause him or her to try to sell you a particular fund not because it is a good investment but because selling it to you will make him or her money. This fee is paid annually for as long as the investor holds shares in the fund.
Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/...#ixzz1lHGRfAZd
WOW! It seems that fee only advisers win again Carlotta hahahaha
Advisor's transition for several reasons... ... ranging from
Retirement - can be due to any reason (retiring from active work or from business).
Just Give up (due to work stress/ can't handle it anymore)
Unable to meet the required quota (targets) assigned by the dealers/ banks/ whatever..
Move to anther dealer - etc.. etc..
&
Mostly its due to certain claus in their contract, they cannot take their existing clients with them (or sometimes, they don't want to take with them).
You have to live with this reality........... & figure out, whom you are more comfortable with... The Institution or The Planner/Advisor
This is a very common problem in the entire financial services industry.
WOW! You can google!
As Carlotta mentioned, trailer fees are paid as a percentage of the fund's value. As mentioned, what advisor would recommend a fund that they think is going to be a loser?? It would only affect their own bottom line. As mentioned in your above post, trailer fees are on every fund. So it doesn't really matter who you deal with, or what company, trailer fees will still be a component of a mututal fund. So what is your argument? How would a fee only advisor help with that? They would still have trailer fees on their funds. There will still be MERS on their funds. Only now they would have to pay up front for advice as well! So it would only cost people more money. Plus they would have to continue to pay each and every time they met with their advisor, unless you are suggesting that they only meet once? In which case, there would be an even bigger problem with that.
Yes I get paid when someone invests with me. But for that commission, I meet with them several times a year. I do a full financial plan. I help with their taxes and their tax returns. I go over their wills and ensure they have them set up in a tax efficient manner and keep a copy of it in their file. I help them complete POA documents, go over beneficiary documents, help them set up RESPS for their kids, help them with debt consolidations, help finance their funerals and their retirements. All because they invested some money with me 10 years ago. I make sure they have the right type of insurance for their needs, rebalance their portfolios, help them when their kids wreck their car and they need money QUICK, help them save for a vacation and hold their hand when one of them passes away and they don't know where to turn next. Now tell me that I am overpaid and ripping off my clients? My clients are now my friends. I am invited to their kid's weddings, graduation parties etc. They trust me and I do not take that trust lightly. Yes I get paid. Do you get paid to do YOUR job?
You have not mentioned who it is that you work for? By your posts, I would suspect you are a self investor who reads and googles a lot and thereby thinks you are an expert. I hope you don't give advice on people's medical problems as well because I'm sure you're an expert in that field as well.
As for the question directed specifically at me, I sympathize with you. I know that it is difficult when you end up having a change of consultants. All I can tell you is that ashedfc is correct. It IS a tough business to be in and, like any business, people move around, switch companies, switch professions etc. If you dealt at a bank you would no doubt have had even more different advisors by now. My suggestion would be to call your IG office and request a more senior consultant who has been with the company for 5 plus years. If they have been, they probably have built a good book of business with a great client base. As for being told that someone was let go, the only instances where I know that people have been "terminated" is when they have done something illegal or unethical, or if they were not compliant with the rules set out by IG and the MFDA. My guess though would be that they had difficulty building up a client base and either changed careers or went to work in a bank where you are just assigned clients. Hope that helps?
Thank you ashedfc and Rescuer, I presumed that my adviser would not have been able to take me whereever she now works, but it is good to hear it from someone else. I cannot believe how upsetting it was for her to leave the company. I feel like we had a really good relationship and her help was extremely valuable. Ha-ha I guess that shows how important a good adviser really is.
Hello Rescuer,
I don't understand why you are taking the posting personally, but it is obvious that what I have written bothers you, if it didn't you wouldn't have bothered to post on here.
I have worked in the financial industry for a while, I got out of it because the companies that I worked for were very underhanded in the way they provided information to their clients. I am very lucky that I have a lot of friends that confide in me and show me their financial statements, I take this information very seriously and I am humbled that they trust in my opinion. Just like in any industry there are fantastic advisers and I am sure you know some that are not so great, when people ask for my opinion, that is what I provide, an opinion and I try to back up that information with web links.
Some of my friends have dealt with IG, Sunlife and Edward Jones, so far their experience with them has not been very good. Why would these advisers suggest seg funds to my friends? Why are they paying 2.5% to 3% fees to have these funds? Why is it that they were not shown other investment types that could also meet their needs? When I discovered DRIPS/SPP's and Index Funds, I was blown away at the crap that advisers provide. I realized that with some homework by regular people, they can invest their money in funds that only charge 0.25% MER's, no trailer fees, no commissions, no DSC's nothing other than the very low MER's.
Every post I have made I have backed up with some sort of link or book reference, both you and Carlotta have not, you insist that if a fund charges high fees, that it is a good way to invest. I mean it must be good because it costs so much to have, plus the person offering it gets a commission based off of that advise. If an adviser suggests a fund that pays him a trailer fee, and that fund does not do well, what do you think that person would do? Exactly switch that fund to a different investment that pays them a trailer fee.
I wonder how many times you have suggested index funds to your customers? Most likely never, why would you, you wouldn't be making any money if you did.
You will never hear a bank offering index funds to their clients either, why would they, the personal banker wouldn't hit their monthly targets. I have had many people at the company that I work with go to their various banks and ask for index funds, the look on the persons face of confusion is priceless, and also very troublesome.
When I give an opinion, I back up that information with as much information as I can, links, books, articles anything that my friends and colleagues can read for themselves and make a decision on.
If you and Carlotta provide awesome service, clearly explain how your clients investments work and explain how you get paid, good for you and continue doing so. My issue is not with the both of you, it is with the financial industry that likes to bend the rules slightly and not provide their clients real information.
The reason I take your post personally is because YOU are making it personal when you practically accuse everyone in the financial industry of being crooked and misleading to their clients.
I have never said that a high MER guarantees that it is a good fund, so don't put words in my mouth.
Do I sell ETFS? No. I am not licenced in securities. In case you were unaware, you cannot sell etfs without a securities licence. Have I made arrangements for clients TO buy ETFS. Yes. But remember, ETF's have fees as well.
"Since ETFs trade like stocks on an exchange they may be subject to brokerage commissions. These commissions can be significant, especially for smaller trades. For example, buying $3,000 of an ETF through a discount broker could cost $30 in commissions or 1% of the value. Furthermore, a similar commission may be charged when selling the ETF.
Management Expense Ratio (MER): The percentage of a fund’s average net assets paid out of the fund each year to cover the day-to-day and fixed costs of managing the fund. The figure is reported in the Fund’s annual management report of fund performance. MER includes all management fees and GST/HST paid by the fund for the period, including fees paid indirectly as a result of holding other ETFs.
Management Fee: The annual fee payable by the fund to the manager of the fund (e.g. RBC Global Asset Management) for acting as trustee and manager of the fund. This fee forms the largest portion of the MER. Included in the Management Fee are the costs associated with paying the custodian and valuation agents, registrar and transfer agents, and any other service providers retained by the manager.
Operating Expenses: Other operating costs such as fees associated with complying with national regulations and the fees payable to members of the board of governors of the ETFs. "
http://funds.rbcgam.com/etfs/learnin...ing-costs.html
Seg Funds : I have a few clients who have Seg Funds. Personally, I'm not a huge fan but they have their place, especially for clients who do not want GIC's for obvious reasons, but DO want an absolute guarantee that they will not lose their capital, and they are looking a long-term investments. They are VERY suitable for some clients, so don't just dismiss them as useless. Maybe they are not suitable for you.... but maybe they are to someone else. Which is why some of my clients have them even though I am not a fan of them. Unlike your opinion of advisors, I listen to my clients, assess each one individually and then make recommendations on their needs and circumstances. I don't just tell them to buy this fund because it will make me tons of money. And I don't close my mind to options, as you seem to be doing as you keep recommending etfs and drips as the best things since sliced bread! They are great for SOME people, but definitely NOT for others.
And that is the whole point here. You are telling people that mutual funds/financial advisors/insurance agents are all out to scam poor unsuspecting people. They are NOT. I'm sorry you had a bad experience but I have been to bad doctors/lawyers/car salesmen. It does not mean I would advise people never to seek medical advice, legal advice or buy a car. You are advising people to disregard any type of advisor who is not pushing etfs, drips etc. That is YOUR opinion and is certainly far from suitable advice for everyone. Each and every person has a unique set of circumstances.
I just started coming on this website a very short time ago. The only reason I even posted on here was because I did not like the fact that someone unlicenced to do so, was giving out their opinion as valued advice. I think I will just sign out now and leave you to it because I don't need to have my blood pressure raised.
I apologize to everyone on here. I just do not like having a whole industry maligned because of one person's opinion. I take my career and my clients very seriously and would never recommend anything to them that I did not believe was in their very best interest.
Every dealer has its strength & limitations.
It all depends upon what you are looking for.
One dealer may be good for one person & may not be good for another. So it's an individual's personal preference... Do not generalize the entire industry.
Even in a dealer (like Investors Group), it's also depends on who is your advisor, & what is his/her skills & understanding of the current & ongoing developments in the financial/economic world.
Keep in mind: the recommendation you receive doesn't comes from an institution, rather it comes from an individual. So selecting the individual is lot more important than selecting the institution.
google investors group scam to learn true
Google investors+group+scam - shocking !!!
I had a bad experience with investors group. I think it was a bad apple though...but with so many consultants they must be out there. So this girl posted a group a while ago on meet up about becoming financially knowledgeable. I had no idea she was a consultant but I showed up to the meeting which was in an investors group office on Decarie in the evening. She went through a presentation then scheduled one on one appointments. She came to me which was nice and brought pizza also nice. She went through some information..made me fill out surveys on my investor style. The thing was she was anglophone...from Ontario originally and she pronounced a lot of words improperly. It put me off a little bit. She also didn't seem to know more about investing than me. Lastly she asked me to write a check out to her at the end. I told her I felt uncomfortable with that and wanted to make it out to a bank or investors group. In the end I said no. She did not harass me. I never heard from her again. Well years later someone in finance told me thats completely illegal. I would have never been asked to make out a check to her name. So probably she was working under them but frauding people unbeknownst to the company. The trouble with that in my opinion is that they didn't know it. I feel like anyone off the street could become an investment consultant with them. Are there good accountants and investors there...most likely a lot of them. I think they don't care about credentials as long as they bring in money. Which is why I wouldn't recommend them. If you use them please do so with your eyes wide open and ask to see the brokers accreditation. Best of Luck!
never, ever use
[QUOTE=dagney;4382383]I would be careful of any business that only sells there own version of mutual funds. Now that it is february, there are magazine articles out with those funds that perform the best historically. I would also be aware of MER's (management expense ratios) if the fund you own is making 5% a year and 2.5% is being eaten up by fees ... YIKES! Vanguard has crossed the U.S. border and is known for low fees which will hopefully wake up these Canadian companies who have been soaking consumers for decades.[/QUO
Regulators require that seg fund returns be reported Net of MER's, so if you are making 5 percent on your seg fund that really is what you are making.
stay away!!!
At every Region Office (That's what they call each of the branches), the Region Director has a responsibility and duty to meet certain sales targets. When the Investors Group Consultants do not bring an average of $ 25,000/week in investments, they are considered to be non-productive. Non-productive Consultants will either quit, or be terminated. It is very expensive to be a Consultant at Investors Group. It costs about $ 7500/year to be licensed with them, including proprietary software and leasing an over priced laptop.
I have a tonne of information that I can and will share if requested.
Hi Carlotta,
I am a new advisor with Investors Group. I am glad you have had a great experience with IG! I just wanted to clarify one thing in your last statement about the client paying twice. This is inaccurate. The client only pays the advisor a about .3-.6% of their portfolio, which is imbedded in the total MER. The mutual fund company pays for the initial upfront commission! This allows advisors to stay afloat until they build a client base.
Remember all Mutual funds carry MER's. Investors Group is now around the middle of the pack and there are certain conditions where the MER can be reduced significantly (with higher asset account). With a good advisor, at least your getting full financial planning services for this fee. Unlike what you get at the bank.
I am a new consultant with investors group. They have new incentive structure with pays their consultants 6000$/quarter. This can be achieved by hitting some very realistic targets. The targets are based primarily on activity and a little on sales. The minimum assets needed to hold under management is 20000$ to get paid for the 1st 6 months. This should help with advisor retention. Its one small sale. Previously 3 out of 4 advisors would quit in their 1st year. Hope this is informative!
I am with investors. That's a horrible experience and im sorry to hear it. All checks should be made directly to investorsgroup!
Actually my experience with Investors Group was that you did just grab my money throw it in a fund then disappeared. We also switched my mother in law's money to IG in a deferred fee fund and when she unfortunately died before the fee was waived (about 3 years after the investment vs the 5 years when the fee would have disappeared) we tried to get some of it waived but IG would not budge. Seemed really unfair.
When I tried to get my own money out of the fund it was a real pain and took a long time - weeks. I was worried that markets would decline during this period. Luckily (and it was only luckily) they didn't. And there was way too much paperwork involved
I've worked with a couple of investment managers at the big banks and even though they are supposed to be bureaucratic, I find them much more responsive (I do NOT have any affiliation with any bank). Also they do all that financial planning stuff if you want it.
I started out putting some money with IG and some with the bank to see who would give me the best service - hands down the bank.
As with any financial sales job it comes down to volume. IG brokers are paid by how much money they can get people to invest with them. My friend worked for them before and there are certain quotas they must meet each quarter. For example: you must get 20k invested per quarter (not the exact number but just to get an idea) . A lot of these brokers work independently so there is huge pressure to get more clients and money invested. Any financial institution or salesperson does not truly have your best interest at heart. They are there to make a pay check and get commission off your money.
Now every store you go to there is a push to get you to sign up for their master card. On average companies like PC, WM, Canadian Tire get $150 incentive for each Mastercard application they get. Also they save on merchant fees, build brand loyalty- so there is a lot at stake when it comes to getting the applications. Plus at TD and other banks the tellers all have to meet certain targets when it comes to new accounts, cards etc. A lot of your yearly performance review is based on how much you can push their financial products. It doesn't matter how nice of a teller you are, if you can't sell the products then you are of little value to them. They look at your client profile and see that you only have one account with them they may ask you to sign up for a savings account. Because the more money the bank has invested in it the higher return on investment it can get. Also tellers have to suggest signing up for Line of Credits, Visas etc because that is where the banks make their money. They get around $150 for each application, + merchant fees, interest .
I worked at RBC before as a client service representative (teller) and I quit because the pressure to get clients to sign up for additional financial products was too much. They made us set weekly goals and if we didn't meet our targets we got in trouble. If you think the banks or any other financial institution has your best interest at heart you are mistaken. It is an industry focused on greed, profits and never ending pressure. Notice in any recession or economic downturn how the banks still manage to pull out record profits?
I would say to anyone looking to invest take a financial advisors advice with a grain of salt. Because they are told which funds to push, which ones will give the bank the highest return. It all comes down to they want to keep their job- and in order to do that they need to do what is in the best interest of the company and themselves- not the clients. The focus is building trust and lasting relationships with the client for the benefit of the bank. Profits are the main goal, at least in my experiences. So just do your own research first and don't be pressured into signing up for or investing in anything you don't feel comfortable.
You must have drank a "big gulp" of the IG koolaide! The new structure is not easy to attain, and according to IG, one out of ten new hires will last three or more years. In fact, most are terminated owing money to IG and they will chase you down for the money. With the change in 2014 to the internal credit system "business credits" IG has now decided to penalize consultants for bring no load funds in. You used to get the same business credits if you sold a DSC or a no load, now you only get 20% credit for a no load. So just as the industry is getting ready to move away from DSC to no load IG basically forces their consultants to sell their proprietary funds. As for "financial planning" many other companies offer the same advice, tax planning, retrirement planning, estate planning and insurance needs with out additional fees, so quit trying to paint your services as unique. Bottom line, According to independent reviews IG has on average one of the highest MER fee structures and on average poor returns.
I have been an Investors Group for years dealing with the downtown Brampton office. Things you should know are:
1) IG rates are the highest in the industry
2) quarterly statements are confusing
3) They don't care about their customers. I sent some emails asking questions but got no reply. I was left with the feeling that I was too small for IG to care about me as I only had about $350,000 of investments with them. So I divested from IG. Their fees were in excess of $10,000 to divest. They were happy as they got their money from this naive sucker. It's a real shame because I am approaching retirement age and this was a big blow for me.