'Expert' IFA invested half of 97yo's cash in Keydata

Laura Miller
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An IFA who writes a weekly money advice column for a regional newspaper is contesting a complaint that he wrongfully invested more than half of a 97-year-old woman's assets in Keydata.

The woman's daughters hired Christopher Marsham of Exeter-based RK Shipman Financial Planning to invest the proceeds from a maturing NS&I bond to pay for their mother's care home, after reading his column in the Western Morning News. He advised the 70-year-olds to use their power of attorney to invest £230,000 in a single life settlement-backed product, the five year Keydata Defined Income Plan 8. This was around 56% of their mother's total assets. Just 52 days after the daughters acted on the advice, on 8 June 2009, the FSA put Keydata into administration, suspending all interest pay...

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