Friends Provident International Avis 261

Another duped expat investor! I signed up to this through an 'advisor' whilst living in Argentina. Whilst initially the product seemed to make good returns it soon stalled and I'm now barely in profit after 10 years. I worked out I'm paying c. 5% fees so its very hard to make anything. I ditched my advisor (who was also getting fees from me) and switched to low cost funds. I hope for the best but its not looking good. Whilst I'm making gains with funds held with other providers, my FP International funds are going down. Don't make the same mistake as me!

I am overall happy with FPI. Markets have been extremely volatile for the past few months but managed to make good returns. The credit also goes to the adviser as he manages it actively. I am also able to consolidate my company shares and cash together on one platform. The best part is the withdrawal flexibility without any penalty which helps me book my holidays every now and then by booking profits. I will highly recommend FPI.

FPI monthly investment GWA has been doing very well even when the markets were down. Honestly, it depends a lot on how the adviser manages the portfolio. FPI is just the product but the adviser is the one who takes action on it. Overall I am happy with the product as it has free withdrawal and a lesser lockins.

I have two plans with them and have held them for over a decade now.
I have appointed a good private CFA (not appointed by FPI) who advises on and actions everything.
I find FPI plans are a bit limited and the indexes are bog standard fare...however, if you have a good advisor you can make it work and grow fairly well.

The recent covid downturn and the war have impacted my portfolio negatively of course, but overall I am significantly up from when I started, so I am satisfied. I plan to use this money in retirement, so in another decade or so.

I think you need to look at investing upwards of $20000 to make it work though, and you need to be in it for the long run. This will not work for short-term investors.

I also invest with Interactive Brokers which is much more dynamic and better for those who want more control over where their investments are made.

Worst ever customer service, unfriendly and unprofessional……….
For years I was with them on my investments they lost with my insurance they were very hard to co tact and rude at the best of times
STAY AWAY happy I changed providers

Stay well away. You will make no return and the majority of any return made is lost to fees. As expats living overseas many of us are regularly "cold called" by charming financial advisers offering us pension savings products. I was one such victim feeling that I needed one. The FPI fees are outrageous - something like 7% for the initial upfront units. Any or majority of the returns will be eaten up by fees. All you need to do is to open up a simple trading account and buy a few globally diversified ETFs with fees around the 0.2%. I wish I had known this beforehand. There are no advantageous to having a plan with FPI - they will try and tell you are. What they are selling is downright criminal and they are exploiting naïve consumers who don't fully understand about the importance of fees and their impact on your compound interest.

Trustworthy and very accommodating! Happy with the service! Keep up the good work!

By far one of the best and safest Financial Institution out there.

As others have stated, since its impossible to give this company a zero rating, I will add the one star. This is a complete scam. They are unresponsive, the original sales people do not explain the product correctly, you have no support from the company whatsoever and there is no tax savings for expats as they claim. This is a full scam and your portfolio will only go down in value due to the excessively high fees, even when the market is doing well. Do not even consider this vendor.

I'm a 78-year old widow living as an expat in Thailand - now for 16 years. When I first arrived in 2006, I was persuaded by a British IFA to invest in an FPI insurance deal - promised the earth and getting almost nothing whilst the IFA left the country in a hurry due to his pushing of the disastrous LMIM scam.

The investment I was given was a failure, but I managed with considerable difficulty to get most of my life savings out - that was then ! Now, I'm attempting totally without success to get what's left as I need it for medical and dental bills.

For over a month now I've been refused my cash - even with the help of another IFA who's doing his best to force them to comply. Unreasonable requests, lack of reply to emails, failed attempts to contact by phone and more are the norm - I'm now terrified to open emails from this firm of scammers as it's worsening my already severe attacks of myalgic encephalonmylitis - chronic fatigue syndrome.

I have all the details of the initial so-called investment - had forgotten I'd already tried once years ago and given up as my husband was in his last illness - trying again and getting nowhere now. It's not a huge sum for these crooks - just under 7 thousand sterling, but I'm getting nowhere and don't know where to turn.

I honestly don’t know how these people get away with it!
Do not invest with this company - your money will make nothing due to exorbitant fees. As the other reviewers have stated, you will also be tied in for years. I was sold my product by a financial ‘advisor’ in the Middle East. He failed to advise me adequately, meaning my money (unbeknownst to me) was then tied in for even longer. This same ‘advisor’ was then being sought for a multi-million dollar fraud involving another investment house. When I explained all this to FP (in order to try to get my money out) they weren’t interested.
Look for other ways of investing by doing it yourself - if you live in the UK look up Vanguard - recommended by ‘Which?’ for 3 consecutive years. I would also highly recommend reading any of Andrew Hallam’s books or articles to help you understand how to do it, whilst avoiding sharks like FP and the like.
Customer service - please don’t ask me to contact you to explain the situation - I have already done that. If you are willing to change your position and release all the money I hold with you, without penalty, then I would love to hear from you.

Just. Don’t. Do. It. Was sold it as a young naive expat in Singapore as a tax efficient pension option when I go home. But when I explore returning home, I am advised to liquidate. So what did I pay all those fees for??? Definitely not the returns. The broker / advisor put me into two funds that defaulted (M&G property and Woodford). Fees ate my returns until I restructured the portfolio myself into Low cost options. Total rip-off. And frankly mis-sold. Avoid this at all cost. Don’t make the mistake I did.
Update re FPI feedback: I did contact my advisor, no reply.

I am very disappointed at your customer service and attitude. I don’t feel sincere and fair…

Thank You to Jackie Tinnion in the Isle of Man who has restored my faith in Friends Provident Intl by sorting my query efficiently and so professional

Friends Provident / DeVere are the ultimate scammers. Their fees are hidden and all details of your asset allocations are convoluted. I had about 9 different advisors in 9 years. Do yourself a favour: Read Andrew Hallam’s Expat Millionaire, surrender your plan, get a membership with Plan Vision (they don’t work off commission) and invest with Interactive Brokers. Your money will grow much more than it could ever with Friends Provident / DeVere.

Unfortunately there was no way of giving zero stars, so I had to give one, which is one too many. I was mis-sold a Friends Provident International Premier Policy around 10 years ago. Most certainly the worst financial decision of my life. All 'growth' gets eaten up in excessive fees to the extent that while all indices / stock exchanges / markets have solid growth, my policy just keeps receding in value. I have complained to FPI about the mis-selling and extortionate fees (equivalent to a low grade credit card company), to which they directed me to their solicitor. So much for customer service..! The ombudsman is quite toothless, and it appears that the salesman neglecting to fully explain the fee structure is my fault and my fault alone. In summary, do not, under any circumstances purchase, or contract with FPI for any investment product. They are simply in the business of profiteering for themselves with no regard for their customers.

I was sold an FPI Wealth Builder product in 2010 and invested USD57870. I just cashed it in and received USD57047. That is a $823 loss over 11 years mostly due to exorbitant fees. Most of my other investments in the UK, US and Canada have more than doubled in that time. I admit that I should have done due diligence and not trusted the salesman but FPI is a total con. DON'T DO IT!

Just don’t invest with Friends Provident, I believe they are now part of Aviva.

You will regret it. If you decide to invest with them it means you didn’t do your homework.

And don’t bother to contact them, it will be a waste of time. Just don’t invest with them.

The answer below from the Company is just to pretend that they care, I contacted them and they didn't help.

I "invested" in a 10-year "savings plan" with FP. In the middle of the period I watched the fund decreasing in value by more than I was paying in. FP did not, or could not, explain this to me.
At the end of the 10 years, the amount I was able to withdraw was $10,000 LESS than I have paid these crooks.
Avoid them.