‘I am smarter than Nick, why aren’t I doing this?’

The semi-retired father of four adult children – ranging in age from 33 to 21 – adds: “I hope to see you guys doing it because I am doing it, and I am smiling.”

The problem, as Nick sees it, is that 10X is not as well-known as the more traditional retirement fund providers. “A lot of people that I have spoken to, they’ve never heard of it, and everybody is very sceptical about anything new.”

However, from his point of view, the ‘newness’ is a bonus. “It is refreshing dealing with a company that is more innovative than dealing with the traditional guys.”

Nick was invested with one of those “traditional guys”, an older asset manager, but had started looking for an alternative because his retirement fund had hardly grown for 10 years. In fact, he says, the only growth he could see was the increases in his contributions. 

Nick, who sold his business when he was in his mid-fifties and describes himself as partially retired, came across 10X Investments, and liked what he saw. After “some investigations” and talking to a consultant at 10X, Nick decided to tell his broker that he was thinking of moving his fund.

“I mentioned it to my broker (who maybe would have been a bit upset because he would end up losing the fund) but, being a good broker, he thought it was a good idea,” says Nick.

The broker helped Nick to transfer his savings to 10X, a move he describes as having “worked beautifully”. According to Nick, the fund (which had been ‘paid up’ for some time, meaning he was not adding to it or drawing from it) grew more in the first six months than it had in five years at his previous provider.

Not only does his broker have no hard feelings, but he is thinking of moving some of his other clients to 10X, according to Nick, who hopes his own friends will soon be following suit.

He has a couple of friends of a similar age to him who he knows have got money to invest. “I hope they see the sort of returns I am getting and think, ‘I am smarter than Nick, why aren’t I doing this?’.” 

In addition to much better returns, Nick gets to keep a higher proportion of them because he is paying significantly less in fees. With 10X, he pays a total of 0.86% of his fund value, compared with “close to 3%” with his previous provider.

Something else Nick is very excited about at 10X is how easy it is to access information about his investments. “Before, if I wanted to check on something I had to ask my broker, ‘Send me a printout, send me this information’. Now I go online and get all the information at any given stage.”

He also likes the fact that he can revisit his retirement plan on 10X’s client portal at any time and, as he describes it, “play around with numbers on the calculators”. He hopes his friends will soon be doing the same.

The views expressed in this interview are Nick’s opinion, based on his personal experience, and should not be construed as financial or tax advice. Nick Watt-Pringle was not paid for this interview although 10X compensated him for time spent and expenses incurred on the day.