Investing via discount brokers

paps

I am currently researching various funds / bonds before I open a ISA with a discount stock broker. And I do have some questions:-

1. Could anyone please advise the definition of the "Distribution Yield" and provide a hypothetical worked example?

2. Could anyone please advise the definition of the "Underlying Yield" and provide a hypothetical worked example linked into the above example?

3. Could anyone please advise the definition of the "Total Expense Ratio" and provide a hypothetical worked example linked into the above two examples?

4. Why do some brokers not display the actual historical dividends paid per unit of the Funds / Bonds that may be held?

Aegis

1. Distribution yield will be the dividend paid as a percentage of the value of the fund at the time. As such a 5% distribution yield means that you will be paid £5 for every £100 of units/shares that you own.

2. Underlying yield is similar to the distribution yield, but the figures can be different if the fund receives a certain amount of dividend or interest income but retains it within the fund for various reasons. For example, an accumulation fund might receive 5% dividends on its holdings but would reinvest that dividend to achieve more growth, making the underlying yield 5% and the distribution yield 0%

3. Total expense ratio is simply how expensive the fund is. TER takes account of the annual management charges and any internal deals that take place. The TER isn't an explicit charge, but it effectively means that if the TER is 2%, 10% of absolute growth over the year will reduce down to about 8% instead.

4. All brokers should show the historic dividends where dividends have been paid. If no information is showing then you may be looking at accumulation stock.