Transact

Janetew

My IFA recommended using the Transact platform when I moved my investments to him a couple of years ago. In the past two years I have seen my investments drop as everyone has which has prompted me to look at the fees and commission I'm paying.

Does anyone use the Transact platform? I'm a little unsure as to what I'm actually paying for. My IFA says there are economies of scale.

dunstonh

Transact is priced on a value basis. Its more expensive with smaller values and cheaper with larger values.

Personally, I dont like transact. It creates an extra layer which some individuals may like but in my opinion most wont use. So, paying for that layer seems pointless when you have the other fund supermarkets coming in cheaper (unless your value is large enough to get it cheaper).

Transact also dont have a set level of charges. They have different ways which you agree with your adviser. So, you will need to ask them what you are paying.

Janetew

Thank you for replying dunstonh.

What is considered a large value? I'm really stuck on where to go for objective advice.

I pay .5% annually to my advisor, .6% to Transact. I also pay an annual fee to my advisor and £80 admin charge to Transact. I feel as though they just have a tap on my investments at the moment.

jem16

Janetew wrote: »

What is considered a large value? I'm really stuck on where to go for objective advice.

Discounts are on annual commission and don't start until your portfolio is at least £60k and at that point only 15%. You need to have a portfolio of around £600k to qualify for 35% discount.

I pay .5% annually to my advisor, .6% to Transact. I also pay an annual fee to my advisor and £80 admin charge to Transact. I feel as though they just have a tap on my investments at the moment.

It is a lot to pay annually - normal trail commission to an IFA would be 0.5% on its own.

Janetew

It's the amount I'm paying Transact that I'm having difficulty justifying. I have a reasonably large portfolio and do get the discounts but I'm just not sure why I'm using them. It is useful to be able to log in and see my investments but many sites - Citywire and Capita themselves - offer this for free.

jem16

Janetew wrote: »

It's the amount I'm paying Transact that I'm having difficulty justifying. I have a reasonably large portfolio and do get the discounts but I'm just not sure why I'm using them.

I thought you said you paid 0.6% annually which I then assumed you get a discount depending on portfolio size?

It is useful to be able to log in and see my investments but many sites - Citywire and Capita themselves - offer this for free.

Fidelity and Cofunds are the two funds supermarkets generally used by IFAs - both have online access.