bdhSterling

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Reviews

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  Rita McGale

  Thanks to Paul Lawson-Tyers for his sound advice and for making a complicated process easy to navigate.

  28-01-2023
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  Alison & Steve Burgess

  My wife and I have dual UK/Australian citizenship. We live in the UK and our superannuation funds are in Australia. We are coming up to retirement and needed advice as we haven't yet decided where we will eventually live. Paul Davies was our adviser, ably supported by the excellent Louise Duncan, a paraplanner. We had some long conversations about various scenarios and the pros and cons of different strategies. The process was very informative, and we both felt that we were being listened to and our situation was being carefully analysed. The outcome was a detailed plan that included 2 main scenarios, one UK-based, the other Australia-based. The plan showed us that we could live comfortably in either country, which means our decision on that is not going to be forced by a financial consideration. So now we are looking forward to our retirement with confidence and peace of mind, knowing we have the wherewithal to make choices based on lifestyle and family considerations. I would highly recommend BDH Sterling to anyone looking for confidence and peace of mind in their future (and aren't we all?). Thank you so much, Paul and Louise.

  28-09-2022
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  Sabahattin Topdemir

  Paul Lawson-Tyers was my financial advisor providing advice on pension transfer abroad. I am very pleased with the way he handled the case.

  28-06-2022
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  Paul Cully

  Excellent advice. I spoke to adviser Paul Lawson-Tyers about moving a defined benefits pension scheme from the UK to New Zealand, and he was thorough, straight-up and very knowledgeable. He scheduled a video call at a time that suited us both, and explained the more complex issues to consider in layman's terms. He followed that up with a comprehensive report in a timely fashion, and I would recommend him to anyone.

  28-05-2022
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  Sarah Holden

  Thank you to Paul Lawson-Tyers for taking the time to make sure I was fully aware of what transferring my pension overseas would mean, which was followed up with a comprehensive report. Excellent service all round.

  28-05-2022
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  Bridget Conor

  Paul-Lawson-Tyers is highly recommended, excellent advice.

  28-05-2022
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  Chris Jones

  Bdh Sterling transfered my private pension from the UK to an Australian SMSF, they looked after every step of the way. I would not have liked to do it myself, they have the expertise in both countries. All i had to do was sign the forms and they took care of the rest. They are now managing my Smsf and its the same professional.service.

  28-05-2022
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  Nicholas Alchin

  I found the services to be extremely helpful clear and comprehensive. bdhSterling helped me with projecting retirement planning out a few decades subject to the assumptions I gave them. It was extremely useful and provides me with some steps that I need to take to ensure security. I found it very helpful.

  28-05-2022
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  Graham Titterington

  I have used bdhSterling for pensions advice through the early stages of my retirement. It was recommended to me by my previous pensions advisor when he ceased providing this service. It has given me several useful tips as well as managing my pension funds up to the point when I started to draw a regular pension from them. I would recommend bdhSterling for helpful friendly advice.

  28-05-2022
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  Peter Illsley

  Way back in 2012, bdhSterling advised me to invest my pension into a scam, and I lost the lot. After ten years, and only after co-opting the much-appreciated assistance of the Financial Ombudsman, I have managed to get some money back from them. In 2012 – then trading under the name Global QROPS Ltd –bdhSterling advised me to invest a pension I had saved into a scheme run by Global Forest Investments (GFI). The second the money transferred was the last I saw of it. GFI’s two directors were arrested in 2019 following a lengthy investigation by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) and are scheduled for trial in February 2022 on various charges including three counts of conspiracy to defraud. bdhSterling was paid handsomely for that advice. While supplying information requested by the SFO, my adviser confirmed that he had received a commission amounting to just under 5% of my investment, as had a third party who introduced the scheme to him, so nearly 10% of my pension was taken up in fees at the outset. The promised returns from GFI failed to materialise, along with the guaranteed option to withdraw my cash, and it became apparent that the whole scheme was fraudulent. I turned to bdhSterling for help, and spent the next few years patiently co-operating with them while they assured me they were doing all they possibly could to return my money. I am not sure what they actually did, but it failed. I did not receive a penny back. Never once did they acknowledge they had made a mistake, or offer to compensate me. Finally, and by now exasperated, I took my complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. bdhSterling’s response was not to address the content, but instead have it dismissed on a technicality: that it was invalid having been submitted outside the Ombudsman’s time limit. I found that especially galling given how patient I had been with them. The Ombudsman rejected their argument, pointing out that I had initially complained directly to bdhSterling in two emails in 2015, long before the time limit was up. The investigator’s provisional findings concluded that bdhSterling had not “acted fairly”, and set out what they should do to resolve matters, but bdhSterling rejected that too, demanding a full Ombudsman determination. The Ombudsman published its final decision in October 2021, upholding my complaint, ordering bdhSterling to calculate the loss I had incurred, and pay that to me. Should the amount calculated as fair compensation exceed the maximum award enforceable by the Ombudsman - which it did - the Ombudsman recommended that bdhSterling should also pay the balance. bdhSterling has now paid me, but only the amount enforceable by the Ombudsman, choosing to ignore the discretionary recommendation to pay the balance. It was a great relief to finally receive this compensation although it fell short of what was calculated as fair. I have taken great care to set out the bare facts here, yet submit this review with some trepidation, having already received a warning letter from their solicitor. With respect to the subjective side of my overall experience, I think that you can guess that for yourselves. The advice they gave me ten years ago was shockingly wrong, but I feel more strongly about the way bdhSterling has treated me since then, a customer they let down, then turned their back on.

  28-05-2022