Introduction
When it comes to managing a £1M Defined Benefit (DB) pension, there’s no room for guesswork. In this case study, we would like to share with you the story of our client, Paul, and his £1M pension transfer decision. Paul was faced with one of the biggest financial decisions of his life, and our CEO, Dominic James Murray, and our senior adviser, Jonathan Laws, were there to guide Paul throughout his journey.
Background
Paul was facing a major life decision—he had an opportunity to obtain transfer advice on his £1M DB pension. This decision could potentially open the door to more investment opportunities and control, but it also came with risks.
With such a large sum at stake, Paul knew this wasn’t a decision to take lightly, and the question wasn’t just about money—it was about his future, his family, and the security he had worked hard to build over decades.
After years of hard work, Paul found himself at a crossroads between two options:
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Trust the personal recommendation of a friend,
who had successfully transferred his DB pension with another financial adviser and seemed happy with their choice of adviser.
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Complete a transfer with Cameron James,
who had guided him for nearly a year, helping him understand every aspect of his pension.
Paul was hesitating. He struggled with the fear of “what if”? What if his friend’s financial adviser was better? What if the year of trust he’d built with Cameron James wasn’t enough? His friend’s recommendation carried weight, but so did the transparency and trust that Cameron James had built. At first, Paul decided to go ahead with the company his friend suggested. He emailed us:
“My wife and I have now met with the IFA, which my former work colleague used to advise him on his DB Pension transfer, firstly on line and more recently in person. After talking things through we have decided to use them going forward.
This is no reflection on you or the service you have given to date, it is just that we prefer a face to face approach and to use a company that we have had a personal recommendation for, from someone who has been through the process.”
– Paul, Client of Cameron James
However, as time went by, Paul began to question his choice…
Paul’s Challenge
Paul needed more than just good advice—he needed to see the exact numbers and understand how they applied to his own financial situation. He wanted to understand how much risk he was comfortable taking, what kind of returns he could realistically expect, and how fees would affect his pension over time if he obtained DB transfer advice and ultimately completed a DB pension transfer.
What Set Cameron James Apart?
What set Cameron James apart in Paul’s mind wasn’t just our expertise – but the way we approached the entire process. We didn’t sell Paul on promises and kept industry jargon to a minimum. We gave him the facts, the comparisons, and the information he needed to make an informed decision on where he wished to obtain his DB transfer advice.
Rather than pushing him for a quick decision, Dominic Murray, CEO of Cameron James, and Senior Adviser Jonathan Laws focused on answering Paul’s questions in detail to make him feel fully confident about his decision.
Clear Comparison of Performance and Risk
Paul had heard impressive return figures from the adviser recommended by his friend, as 10% annual returns, for instance, sounded fantastic. But Dominic and Jonathan helped Paul understand that these numbers meant nothing without knowing the level of risk involved.
“You need to know what level of risk your friend took to achieve that return and if it was a fair reward for the risk taken, and thus if the portfolio allocation was smart and efficient or poor and inefficient.”
– Dominic James Murray, CEO and Founder of Cameron James
Dominic showed Paul two examples:
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Good Performance?
A client could say to him, "Dominic, I have had a 10% return per annum with my IFA for the last 5 years, and I am chuffed." Which sounds good on the face of it, as 10% per annum is great. But if the client took a 130 FE Risk score with their money to achieve that 10% level of return per annum, then they have been poorly rewarded for the level of risk they have taken. In a financial crisis, that level of risk could have caused serious losses.
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Bad Performance?
Similarly, a client could say, "Dominic, I had a 4% return per annum with my IFA for the last 5 years, and I am chuffed." Which some clients might think sounds not very exciting. But if the client took, say, a 40 FE risk score to achieve that 4% level of return per annum, then the portfolio was actually rather efficient.
Dominic showed Paul two examples:
That’s why we suggested to Paul to ask for the underlying portfolio allocation of his friend (i.e. the names of the funds in their valuation statement and their % allocation to each).
“Whilst you can't technically tell someone what their portfolio will be before they are provided with formal DB advice, you should 100% ask the other adviser for an example of the type of portfolio they typically recommend and the historical returns it has generated, as I would be surprised if they are as good as our portfolios, as in our experience advised portfolios, as well as self-invest portfolios for that matter, typically drastically underperform our approach.”
– Jonathan Laws, senior adviser of Cameron James
Then, without his friend disclosing any personal information or even the value of their pension or growth rate, by passing this data to Cameron James and utilising FE Analytics, Paul would be able to clearly understand the IFA companies' abilities in managing capital from the 5-year track record of his friends' portfolio.
We were then able to show Paul a straight comparison of our Balanced portfolio's historical performance against that of the competitor recommended by his friend. Across a 7-year period from the end of July 2017 to the end of July 2024.
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Cameron James’ balanced portfolio
delivered an 80.33% gross return over seven years, which is 8.79% annually.
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The competitor’s portfolio
delivered a 32.41% gross return over the same period, which is 4.09% annually.
For Paul, this meant that £1M invested in the competitor’s portfolio (these figures do not include ongoing advice or platform fees) on July 31, 2017, would now be worth approximately £1.32m, while £1M invested in Cameron James's portfolio would be worth £1.8033m.
A difference of £479,200 over just a 7-year period, which is a staggering amount of money for Paul and his beneficiaries, purely based on which Adviser would have been chosen 7-years ago.
Transparent Fee Structure
Paul was concerned about the impact of fees on his pension, especially given the stories he’d heard about hidden charges eating into returns. At Cameron James we always emphasise that transparency with the client is key to success. We walk all our clients through every fee upfront, so there’s no confusion or guesswork. We do this because we want all our clients to know in advance the cost of working with us and the exact amounts of our initial and ongoing costs.
We highlighted to Paul that the total ongoing fees with Cameron James would be 1.26%, compared to an industry average of 1.90% (XPS Group). Knowing the real cost of managing his pension gave Paul confidence that there wouldn’t be any surprises down the road.
“Many advisers operate a ‘charge what they can' model, which we think is bad practice and not the correct way to build a long-term business or relationship with our clients.”
You can find our transparent fees here.
Long-Term Partnership
Paul also wasn’t just looking for a one-time solution—he needed an adviser who would be there for the long haul. We explained to Paul that transferring his pension is only the beginning of a long-term financial strategy, and we are here not just to execute the transfer but to support him in managing his investments for the next 10–20 years and ensure that his pension would continue to work for him throughout retirement.
At Cameron James, our advice model is primarily online. However, we recognised that for Paul to feel fully supported, he needed to meet his IFA in-person. Since Jonathan and Paul live close to each other, Jonathan offered to meet Paul in real life to answer all his questions and concerns.
“As in my personal experience of seeing thousands of cases, when clients work with an IFA online, they do far more homework and due diligence on you, which is better for everyone involved. In comparison to F2F meetings where, in my experience of 15 years, there is the risk that clients slightly let their guard down as everything feels warmer and safer.”
Avoiding Delays That Could Cost Thousands
Cameron James has successfully handled hundreds of DB pension transfers, and beyond receiving guidance through a two-adviser model from a highly knowledgeable IFA, clients benefit from the support of our Transfer Team.
The team consists of six full-time staff dedicated to overseeing the entire physical process of transferring a DB pension. They make sure that each transfer proceeds as smoothly and efficiently as possible. This team is on the phone to DB schemes daily, from 8am to 5pm, chasing up paperwork, confirming details, and ensuring no step is missed.
Why is this necessary? Unfortunately, even FCA-regulated trustees often miss their own deadlines and promises, which is why we manage the transfer process from start to finish. For example, in Paul’s case, an additional three-month delay in transferring his pension could cost him around £25,000 in missed market growth.
*past performance is no guide to future performance, but this potential loss is based on the average long-term return of equity markets, which typically grow at 10% per annum.
So, for Paul, the calculation looked like this:
£1M * 10% / 12 months * 3 months = £25,000
While there’s always a chance the markets could go down during a delay, on average, markets tend to rise. So, any time Paul’s pension was left sitting in a CETV meant missed opportunities for growth.
We always do our best to avoid unnecessary delays that could erode the potential returns on a client's hard-earned pension. If our clients have any questions regarding their pension transfer, they can always contact our Servicing and Support Team, which totals another 13 full-time admin staff.
Knowing that Cameron James has a dedicated Transfer Team, a robust support system, and extensive experience in handling pension transfers gave Paul confidence that every detail was being carefully managed, and his financial future was in safe hands.
The Outcome
After careful consideration, Paul made the decision to proceed with his £1M pension transfer advice with Cameron James as part of our two-adviser model. The combination of risk-managed returns, portfolio performance, transparent fees, and the promise of ongoing support made him feel secure in his choice.
*Paul is currently going through the transfer process with Cameron James. Once he is officially onboarded as a client, we will invite him to share his experience and feedback with us. If he’s interested, we’d also like to invite him to our YouTube podcast.
All of this, you would be able to find shortly here below. Keep an eye out for updates coming soon!
Conclusion
Paul’s story is a reminder that the right decision comes from understanding your options, not from rushing into anything. We didn’t just offer financial advice—we offered understanding, transparency, and trust.
If you’re facing a similar choice with your pension, you can schedule a complimentary consultation with one of our financial advisers at your convenience by clicking here. During this meeting, we’ll explore your financial situation, talk about your goals, and walk you through your advice options.
Would You Like To Learn More About Cameron James And Our Team?
You can visit our Website and check our YouTube Channel, where our CEO, Dominic James Murray, films weekly videos for over 3,400 subscribers to help people better understand the complicated world of pensions. We always put our client's needs first, and that's reflected in more than 190 five-star Google Reviews.
Tips From Cameron James
1: The three big things you must know about any portfolio you invest in:
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5-Year Total Performance
I.e. How much the money has grown by
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FE Risk Score
How much risk was taken with the money
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Portfolio Cost (TER)
The total cost of the portfolio
Must-ask questions for your IFA:
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Personal Recommendation & Performance
- What will be the total ongoing cost (TER) of my entire investment with you including advice and all platforms/funds/annual charges?
- What portfolio allocation and funds would you recommend to me?
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Experience
- How many DB transfers have they personally completed in the past 4 years?
- Ask how many transfers the entire company has done in the past 4 years?
- How many full-time admin staff do they have working at the company?
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Negative Report
- What would happen if the DB report outcome is negative with them, and what would be the total initial fee with them if you were unable to transfer?
- Do they have permissions/ability for you to proceed on an insistent client basis and utilise your statutory right to proceed?
*All DB pension transfer enquiries with safeguarded benefits are completed by a trusted independent 3rd party FCA-regulated Pension Transfer Specialist firm.