Evelyn Partners Reviews 200

Really professional. They ask smart questions, listen & understand what I want to achieve.

Our annual review with Steve Cattle and Georgina Barlow of Evelyn Partners' Newcastle Office was really excellent and expertly handled, as expected based on several years of experience. This was just what we needed at this crucial time for us, two years into our retirement and facing important decisions in these turbulent financial times. Thanks for your valuable advice and for the help you're going to give us to put the key actions into practice.

Evelyn Partners are based in an easily accessible part of Newcastle with access to good parking facilities.
We have dealt with Evelyn Partners since they merged with our previous Financial Services Company. Specifically we have dealt with Steve Cattle. Steve is very approachable and explains different services without jargon and is happy to go over details so you understand. He has helped us with our Savings which has ultimately lead to early retirement.
We have no hesitation in recommending Evelyn Partners and specifically Steve.
Thank you

Anthony Field, Director of Financial Planning at Evelyn Partners, Newcastle upon Tyne has been our financial advisor for many years.
We have always had excellent service from him. His financial knowledge is immense. He provides us with regular updates and advice about our current financial position and how to move forward in the future. Anthony always answers our questions promptly and capably - in terms we understand.
We have total trust and confidence in how he manages our affairs. We have certainly presented Anthony with some challenges over the years. He always resolves the issues - nothing is ever too much trouble for him. In addition he is patient and kind and a pleasure to meet with.
We are extremely grateful for all the help Anthony has given us and hope he will always be there for us in the future.
Joy McCulloch

Local friendly efficient professionalism. Steve Cattle in the Newcastle office gives advice clearly and effectively

Thorough face to face meetings with advisor Steve Cattle (Newcastle upon Tyne office) who is familiar with our portfolio. Follow up documentation sent in a timely manner.

What a fantastic service i recieved from the newcastle based evelyn partners..From start to finish they went through everything with a fine toothcomb..Steve cattle the advisor came to my home on 2 occasions and talked me through everything i needed to no this guy knows he's job 100%..Steve kept me informed on everything what was going on from emails to telephone calls i camt recommend this company highly enough and especially steve cattle thank you all so so much

Personal service tailored to my requirements. See same advisor each time who is very helpful and amiable. Provides good advice and answers queries promptly. Have seen this advisor for a number of years and more than happy with the service and advice he provides. Steve Cattle. Newcastle office.

For the past eight years I have been lucky to have Stephen Parker in Glasgow as my Financial Advisor, first with Tilley and now as Evelyn. He has navigated me through every complexity of my financial dealings during the most difficult of times as a complete rookie and has answered every one of my stupid questions with clarity, patience and kindness. I have nothing but positive comments to make about the relationship with EVELYN as a whole.Alongside Stephen there is a superb team who also contribute to the management of my portfolio and I have met them all and know that they are always up to speed with any changes on my situation. When I first met with Stephen he assured me that with his guidance I would come to understand a portfolio that I had previously had no involvement in. He encouraged me to ask questions and run anything by him and the team and as a result I am confident and reassured that my finances are being well managed. More importantly, there is a really human aspect to my relationship with Stephen because my situation and financial needs have evolved continuously over the past few years. I have often had to go to Stephen to discuss changes that impact on the portfolio and every decision that has been made as a consequence only ever follows an open, balance discussion.
There is excellent communication between Stephen and myself at all time. Any emails or calls or requests are dealt immediately. I feel I am in very safe, assured and empathetic hands.

Exceptional customer care each and every time I engage with the team at Evelyn. Nothing is too much bother. A quick message or question to my account handlers and I have a response to arrange a call asap. Frequent and regular updates on performance coupled with real time portfolio moves via the website/app keeps me well informed. My thanks to Stephen Parker and Stephen Lawler, alongside the wider team, for the professional support at all times but with a service that always feels a partnership, is authentic and consistently genuine. Keep up the good work!

All of our family have been clients of Evelyn for over 20 years. Couldn't recommend highly enough.

We have been looked after by Evelyn for a number of years and have received consistent and effective advice throughout that time. David Smith is knowledgable, positive and pragmatic. Clearly technically astute he presents a subject that can be confusing in a straightforward digestible way. We enjoy our reviews and would very much recommend David and Tilney without reservation. Five stars.

I have dealt with Evelyn partners now for many years and specifically David Smith and Matt, both have been exceptionally helpful and their knowledge of their business exemplary.
David particularly has assisted in navigating me through some complex issues which has tested both his skill, patience and determination at times but resulted in a positive outcome.
I have absolutely no qualms in recommending David, Matt and the team at Newcastle. They are an asset to their company and their clients.

I first met Daren almost 30 years ago under Milbourne. They were the first financial advisers appointed to our growing company. Both Rod Milne and Daren O'Toole stood out as individuals with fantastic knowledge, integrity, and loyalty. Daren is still my adviser today. I personally couldn't promote a more professional guy in Daren.

This review covers issues relating to the administration in 2020 and 2021 of the estate of a customer who had held nearly all their savings with Evelyn/Tilney, including insurance bonds, a loan trust and an Evelyn/Tilney unit trust.

Confirmation of investments
We sought information (and not advice) from Evelyn/Tilney regarding the investments and their characteristics during estate administration. This was dealt with satisfactorily but we were charged a 4 figure sum. Considering the levels of commission that had been paid over the years that was disappointing.

Strategy and Suitability Report (for investments and IHT)
We found that such a report had been prepared by Evelyn/Tilney for the customer in 2017. There would of course have been a charge for this. The report was based on the assertion that most of the late spouse’s Nil Rate Band would be inherited. We discovered however (by simply looking at the late spouse’s will) that this was not the case; the spouse’s NRB had already been utilised. Again, this was disappointing.

Very high unit trust charges
The unit trust sold to the customer was the Evelyn/Tilney Cautious Portfolio. It was a fund of funds with about 50% of its assets in stocks. It was confirmed by Evelyn/Tilney that the following charges had been applied: a 1.53% ongoing charge, a 0.75% annual management charge and charges made by the various funds held, typically 0.8%: a total therefore of about 3% pa. Ouch! If the assets of this fund remain static in value over 10 years the fund will loose more than 26% of its value!
The Vanguard Life Strategy 40% Equity fund holds broadly similar assets but has a much smaller ongoing annual charge: 0.22%. At certain brokers, eg IWeb, there would be minimal further charges.

On-boarding costs
We considered splitting and transferring the unit trust directly to the 8 beneficiaries without encashment. Evelyn/Tilney informed us however that this would involve on-boarding the beneficiaries as new clients with associated costs starting at £2k per beneficiary. We didn’t proceed.

Failure to respond to a simple request
We requested encashment by letter of the Evelyn/Tilney unit trust in early July 2021 and specifically asked for a sale contract. Evelyn/Tilney took 19 days to encash the unit trust. Despite our request no sale contract was sent – we were told to await the October quarterly report! So we didn’t know how many units had been encashed and the price per unit achieved until about 3 months later. This contrasts to transactions at (much cheaper) platforms such as Fidelity where a unit trust sale will be initiated within 24 hours of a request, with both the cash and a contract note available within a further 24 hours.

IHT
Unfortunately we had to borrow money, and therefore pay interest, to pay IHT on the estate. It came to our attention however, in the late stages of estate administration, that the loan trust could have been liquidated anytime following the date of death. A good wealth management company would be proactive and ensure that this significant benefit is made abundantly clear to an estate administrator.

Loan Trust
The loan trust was a complicated beast. To be fair Evelyn/Tilney did offer an explanation of how it worked but were unwilling to offer assistance with its cancellation. I wonder whether this reluctance to be involved at encashment is made known at the time of purchase when initial commission is there for the taking. We were told to get professional help external to Evelyn/Tilney. The trust document, written in 2007, was complete legalese gobbledegook and neither we nor the financial adviser we engaged could understand the wording of an important part of it. The Plain English campaign was founded in 1979.

2023 surprise
Most of the estate, including the unit trust, was liquidated and distributed to beneficiaries in 2021. We received a letter on 1 February 2023 from Evelyn relating to the required correction of a tax certificate for 20/21 issued to the estate for the unit trust. This tax year had ended almost 2 years previously. The corrected certificate showed liability to reduced estate income tax.

We were told that a “third-party fund manager, unconnected to Evelyn Partners” was responsible for the mistake, with the clear implication by Evelyn that they were not in any way accountable for poor fund administration. Sub-contracting fund management can thus be seen as an attractive option for Evelyn.

The amended 20/21 tax certificate was dated 18 November 2022. It was sent to us almost 11 weeks later to arrive on 1 February 2023 which, according to accompanying guidance notes provided by Evelyn, was one day after the HMRC deadline for amending a 2020/21 tax return!

My husband and I have recently had our annual review with Daren O'Toole and, once again, we are very pleased with Daren's professionalism and knowledge. We contacted Daren nearly 10 years ago when he was with HFS Milbourne and have been very pleased with the way in which our accounts have been handled. Also, Daren is very approachable and it is more like have a chat with a friend. Would have no hesitation in recommending Daren.

Great support throughout the process of setting up our new entity!
We are very pleased with the support of Evelyn through what has been a long process with many obstacles when settling down here in the UK with our new subsidiary.
Any issues we faced though, we always felt Evelyn was available with help and offered solutions and introduced new ideas to us which made running our new business a lot smoother. We are hoping to stay with them for many years to come and can recommend them to any company looking for support regarding any financial questions.

Preparing for retirement I asked my Accountants to recommend a good IFA, and they suggested Daren O’Toole of HFS Milborne, now Evelyn Partners. So about 6 years ago now, I made contact with Daren
about managing my pension pot. Following a detailed review of my circumstances we agreed a plan which was then actioned. Daren handled the whole process professionally, with detailed understanding of my needs, and showed clear knowledge and experience. Dealing with him and his team throughout these years has always been a delight, with regular contact, together with a great personable and friendly approach. I thoroughly recommend Daren as a real expert in personal financial management in what can be a most complex area of life.

I had the good fortune to be introduced to Daren O`Toole, formerly of HFS Milbourne, more than 20 years ago. My previous Financial Advisor was not particularly interested in my quite small investment. Thanks to Daren`s keen interest, enthusiasm and very sound financial advice, my holding has grown substantially. There have been many successful years, with very few years of modest growth. Daren has always offered sound advice, ensuring that I did not exceed my "Risk Factor" even when I was tempted to so do!!!
Daren always responds promptly to my questions and I hope that he will be equally successful with Evelyn as he was with Milbourne. Long may our relationship continue!!!

We just wanted to single out Daren O’Tool from Evelyn for his fantastic service to us over the last 16 years. We approached Daren pre Evelyn with some small portfolios, pensions and general pre retirement planning advice. We were too busy to manage these ourselves and the value we have received from his services have far surpassed our expectations. He has always been reliable, diligent and very often gone above and beyond. In the transition from his former company acquisition by Evelyn which provided some reporting challenges he spent hours ahead of our review sessions manually creating the charts so we could compare with familiarity. We have and continue to recommend Daren to family and friends.