Fund Portfolio

sunnyyorkshire

I want to transfer my cash ISA into a stocks & shares ISA, using funds for diversification, and also purchase some other funds - outside of the ISA wrapper (I don't want to deal in shares)).
Has anyone any experience of using the online brokers, such as TD Watrehouse, The Share Centre, Interactive Invester ect, and how these would compare against using the services of a Financial Advisor, Bank, ect.

Lokolo

Funds you should be using Hargreaves Lansdown, not stock brokers such as TD Waterhouse, iii etc.

sunnyyorkshire

Lokolo wrote: »

Funds you should be using Hargreaves Lansdown, not stock brokers such as TD Waterhouse, iii etc.

Why Hargreaves Lansdown? what would be the advantage?
I have just looked at TD Waterhouse and they offer between 0% and 2% set up fee on most funds, and no management fee. Are there hidden costs?

Lokolo

sunnyyorkshire wrote: »

Why Hargreaves Lansdown? what would be the advantage?
I have just looked at TD Waterhouse and they offer between 0% and 2% set up fee on most funds, and no management fee. Are there hidden costs?

Looking at it they certainly have got into the OEICs with discounted prices.

There are management fees for funds. These usually go around 1.25% mark.

Hargreaves Lansdown are a fund discoun broker. They charge 0% on the majority of their funds and do not charge for having an account.

I do believe TD Waterhouse charge for those less than £5,000 and haven't traded in 3 months.

I can't tell if TD Waterhouse charge commission for funds as well as trading shares though?

Do you know which funds you want to buy into?

sunnyyorkshire

I've just about completed my shopping list, and have used a good cross section of the sectors. Most of the funds are Morningstar highly rated and fall into my preferred risk catagory
I will have a look at Hargreaves Lansdown, as I hadn't considered them at all. I presume that you have had a good experience with them, and no major problems.

Lokolo

sunnyyorkshire wrote: »

I've just about completed my shopping list, and have used a good cross section of the sectors. Most of the funds are Morningstar highly rated and fall into my preferred risk catagory
I will have a look at Hargreaves Lansdown, as I hadn't considered them at all. I presume that you have had a good experience with them, and no major problems.

Most of the regulars here would recommend them for buying funds. The only downside is the amount of paper wastage they send to you. They send you envelopes and application forms every 3 months. You can opt out of this though.

ozzage

There are many people on here using Hargreaves Lansdown for funds, as they are basically the cheapest and reliable. You don't get advice (unless you pay for it) but you get discounted upfront frees and even a small "loyalty bonus" sometimes giving you an effective small discount on the TER.

sunnyyorkshire

I've had a quick look, and the Vantage platform seems to give you a lot of information which must help investers balance their portfolio. I will have more time tonight, so I'll read up on them later. Thanks for your help.

Aegis

I really can't rate H-L highly enough for their ISA and fund investment platforms. It's easy to use, low-cost and their customer services department are really good if you run in to any troubles.

Definitely gets a very strong recommendation from me, and I tend to find fault with every service provider I use!

The only thing to watch out for is their SIPP. I use it myself, but for anyone who's not looking to invest in a very wide variety of uncommon funds, it would be a very expensive way to set up a pension. Still not much of a criticism from me: I choose to keep using it because it does what I need it to and I believe that the added investment returns will more than offset the higher charges. However, if a similar platform was launched by a competitor with lower charges n their SIPP-held funds, I'd go there instead.

sunnyyorkshire

I see that you can open a joint account with Vantage.
Does that mean that you can hold Mr & Mrs's ISA in the same account?

Aegis

sunnyyorkshire wrote: »

I see that you can open a joint account with Vantage.
Does that mean that you can hold Mr & Mrs's ISA in the same account?

No, ISAs will always be in sole names. The joint account will be for the non-ISA holding account.