Plenty of people with a financial adviser quietly suspect they’re being ripped off. The returns look ordinary, the fee comes out every year regardless, and the annual review never quite answers the question you actually turned up with. And still they stay — not out of loyalty, but because leaving seems to mean doing it all alone. Where else would you go?
I know the feeling. At the end of 2023 I was with St James’s Place, paying around 2% a year all in. That year my pension and ISA returned about 8.5%. The US market did about 18%. And the fee came out in full, of course — it always does. That was the year the penny dropped: the fee was certain, the returns were not.
Only one of us was guaranteed to make money that year, and it wasn’t me.
So I left. Both of the beliefs that had kept me there turned out to be wrong. There is somewhere else to go, and it’s almost embarrassingly boring — a low-cost platform and an index fund, more on that below. And the leaving itself is pure admin. You open an account with the new platform, request the transfer, and the platform does everything else. Your adviser is informed, not consulted — no exit interview, nothing of theirs to sign, no meeting where you justify yourself. I’ve written before about why most people don’t need an adviser at all — this is the practical half: how you actually go.
Three checks before you start
First, exit fees. Most platforms and advisers can’t charge you for leaving any more, but some older products still carry exit or early-withdrawal charges. Ask the provider — not the adviser — for a closing statement showing any charges to transfer out. If there is one, it’s usually still worth paying: a one-off charge against a 2% drag every year for the rest of your life is rarely a close contest. But know the number before you move.
Second, valuable guarantees. A small number of older pensions come with things worth keeping — guaranteed annuity rates, protected tax-free cash. And if you have a defined benefit (final salary) pension, that’s a different question entirely: the law requires you to take regulated advice before transferring one worth more than £30,000, and keeping it is usually the right answer. This article is about ordinary invested money — ISAs, personal pensions, general investment accounts.
Third, the “where else would I go?” question. This is the one that actually keeps people stuck, and the answer is duller than you’d hope: a mainstream low-cost platform, and something sensible to hold on it. If you haven’t decided what that is, one low-cost index fund is where I’d start reading. Don’t let this stage take three months. Picking the platform matters far less than leaving the 2%.
The steps
Open the matching empty accounts on your new platform. An ISA to receive an ISA, a SIPP to receive a pension. Takes about 20 minutes with your National Insurance number.
Request the transfer from the new platform. There’s a form — usually online — where you give the old provider’s name and your account numbers, which are on your annual statement. That’s the last admin you do. The new platform contacts the old firm and runs the process.
Choose cash or in-specie. In-specie means your investments move as they are. A cash transfer means they’re sold and the money moves, and you buy your new funds when it arrives. If your adviser had you in their own-brand funds — SJP being the obvious example — the new platform usually can’t hold them, so it’ll be cash. That means a spell out of the market, typically a few weeks. Uncomfortable, but it cuts both ways, and it’s a one-off cost of fixing a permanent problem.
Wait, and chase the new platform if it drags. ISAs and cash transfers tend to take days to a few weeks. Pensions can take longer. The chasing, if any, is done by the side that wants your money — which is now the new platform.
Buy your funds and switch on the direct debit. The adviser’s ongoing fee dies with the old account. Nothing to cancel.
What your adviser will say
Somewhere in the process, expect a call. There’s usually an offer to review the fees, a warning that this is a bad time to be out of the market, and a mention of valuable benefits you’d be giving up.
Ask them to put the benefits in writing. If there are real ones — guarantees, protections — you want that letter anyway, because it’s the one thing that should genuinely slow you down. If the letter never comes, you have your answer.
And notice what the fee-review offer tells you: the price you’ve been paying for years was, apparently, negotiable all along.
What leaving actually saves
On a £200,000 pension, 2% a year all in is £4,000 a year. The index fund I hold charges 0.07% — £140 a year on the same money, plus a platform fee of a few hundred pounds at most. And remember what the £4,000 doesn’t buy: the market risk stays yours either way.
The gap compounds. Run £200,000 forward 20 years at 7% a year and you get about £774,000. Knock two percentage points off for fees and it’s about £531,000. The difference is £243,000 — the quiet damage fees do, on one pension, in one working life.
Two forms and a few weeks. Against a quarter of a million pounds, I’d call that the best-paid admin you’ll ever do.
This is what I write about every week — managing your own money without paying someone 1–2% a year to do it worse. The letter is free.
I am not a financial adviser. Nothing here is personal financial advice. This is my own experience and opinion, shared for information and education. Whether transferring makes sense depends on your circumstances — especially if your products carry guarantees. Investing involves risk and you can lose money. Please do your own research before acting.