ETFs: "self select ISA" OR "funds supermarket ISA"

turbobob

adiatu wrote: »

I read on the forum that some ETF's are not available for Trading AT ALL. Have you experience any ETF's of this sort? or know how to identify them?

Have a got a link to where this is mentioned? If they were not available to trade then you wouldn't be able to buy them.

premierfella

adiatu wrote: »

How has your experience with iii been? are they value for money?

I am more of a buy and hold investor, so tend to buy via iii Portfolio Builder within my self select ISA. I am waiting to see if iii again extend their free Portfolio Builder purchases after the current offer ends this month.

I have had no significant issues since moving across my SelfTrade accounts after they started charing an annual fee. The iii share dealing service is actually run by Halifax. The service is more of a Tesco Value brand rather than a Waitrose. Fine for the basics, but sophisticated investors no doubt find things that the iii ISA does not provide or does not do particularly well.

As per many of the similar low-cost services, I seem to recall there were issues at the height of the global financial crisis in terms of accessing the service and dealing.

For ETFs, the dealing costs are favourable compared to the afore-mentioned H-L because iii do not charge an annual fee for the ISA.

adiatu

Thanks! for a detailed answer premierfella.
I am also hoping to short list my ETF's and start an account with iii before their current offer ends.
Wonder if I could just open the account now and buy the ETF's a bit later.

While we are at selecting ETFs, how would you go about selecting a ETF (After you've selected a sector)?
Is there a good ETF screener or a site to compare ETFs?

Tried the morningstar.com screener but it brings back ETF's from US. And the UK site doesn't seem to have a ETF screener
Found one at investorschronicle.co.uk but have yet to look into it in detail


turbobob,
This is the link where I read about not being able to trade some ETF's
forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=33863441#post33863441

JamesU

adiatu wrote: »

While we are at selecting ETFs, how would you go about selecting a ETF (After you've selected a sector)?
Is there a good ETF screener or a site to compare ETFs?

Tried the morningstar.com screener but it brings back ETF's from US. And the UK site doesn't seem to have a ETF screener
Found one at investorschronicle.co.uk but have yet to look into it in detail
turbobob,
This is the link where I read about not being able to trade some ETF's
forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=33863441#post33863441

Any inaccessibility to the range of etfs available on iii may be the compromise being made for the low dealing costs/ability to purchase small amounts cost-effectively, and with regular/monthly purchases at modest costs rather than a one-off purchase (typically £9.90/trade in my case but with full access to hundreds of etfs). IEMS etf for example which apparantly is not traded on iii is easily available. To see if the etf range on iii is suitable to your needs, ask others on this thread who are with them already or e.g. doing a quick assessment of the range of lyxor, db-x and ishare etfs that are available on iii relative to what etfs are actually available with the 3 providers, may give you a good starting comparision? Or do it with any other group of etfs of interest.

A good place to see full range of etfs is trustnet. But keep domicile screen as "any" (e.g. ishares Irish domicile not UK) and search by "manager" in the first instance...that way you can then search in batches such as db-x, lyxor etc....You will get a very reasonable amount of data on each etf this way and of course further filtering before or after "manager" by filtering by "fund focus" and "sector". Very often some of the trustnet tools cannot be used as the etfs are not subscribed to on trustnet, but you can get a massive amount of info on all the etfs here anyway. And then if your interest is in e.g. a specific lyxor etf, if the highest level of detail you need is not available, then go to the lyxor site itself for portfolio breakdowns etc, etc...

Previous links here also to various useful etf sites in the various posts there.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2481253

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/33863441#Comment_33863441


Finally, for thought on fund (presumably choosing HL) vs etf trackers (beginning of thread) a couple of links here, plenty more if you search on keywords:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2379949

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2463593


JamesU

adiatu

Thanks for all the info JamesU .
I will check out the links you've sent

premierfella

Just for completeness on the thread:

It has already been noted that iii (i.e. Halifax) does not offer access to the full range of ETFs, which of course is an important consideration for those using ETFs in their portfolios as a cost-effective way of diversifying their portfolios.

Mention has been made of SelfTrade, who also offer a regular investment scheme at a dealing cost of £1.50 per trade (although more restricted as there is only one dealing date a month). Are there also ETFs which SelfTrade do not offer at present or do they offer access to the full range of ETFs?

And does anyone know how the similar services from TD Waterhouse and The Share Centre compare in terms of access to the full range of ETFs?