Is H-L really the best choice for fund investing?

Sparky47

PatrickGrant wrote: »

I would not choose Hargreaves Lansdown again, ever.

Judging by your other posts you seem to have a major problem with HL !!!

I find them very good if you are happy to research and select your own funds, but if you want to pay for advice you are probably better off speaking to a local IFA.

masonic

PatrickGrant wrote: »

Although HL has a good reputation on this site, I do not believe it deserves it. HL was recently fined £300K by the FSA for misconduct. Do you really want to go with a company you may not be able to trust?

I consider all companies in the financial services sector as companies I may not be able to trust. Relying on any company to do what is best for you (without looking closely at what is being recommended to see if it really is best for you) tends to lead to the outcome you've experienced. At the end of the day, if you didn't pay a fee, then what you would have got from H-L was sales and marketing - something often slated on this site as being somewhat biased. Despite that, H-L has a good reputation because most here use it as an execution only service, they know what they want, and they ignore the marketing.

sunil1234

so Op, any chance of sharing this wonderful portfoilio that has earnt you 30% every year?

cashbackproblems

blinko wrote: »

the wealth 150 does have some good funds in there dont dismiss it but as always DYOR
and to be honest its obvious that the wealth 150 may not contain the best funds eg

jupiter india
first state india
fidelity india

the difference is a few % or a fund manager here or there, but probably only ond of them will be int he wealth 150

I personally think its obvious regarding the wealth 150 that it may not contrain the best funds
as before you need to do your own research this is in my mind the ONLY way to ensure you have madea decision you are happy with, and in your best interests and if it goes right or wrong its you that made it plus its fre and always fun and itneresting finding out about new data etc

you mean these are good high risk high reward funds?

Do you balance it out with any other safe funds?

Tbh im struggling to decide what to invest in, i have about 2k initially + monthly top ups and want to open 2 different funds but cant decide, iv found Neil Woodford's funds are highly regarded so probably going to go with him.

When you open a HL account which one do you select?

A vantage fund account or ISA account (i have my ISA S+S limit available for this year).

thanks

sunil1234

cashbackproblems wrote: »

you mean these are good high risk high reward funds?

Do you balance it out with any other safe funds?

Tbh im struggling to decide what to invest in, i have about 2k initially + monthly top ups and want to open 2 different funds but cant decide, iv found Neil Woodford's funds are highly regarded so probably going to go with him.

When you open a HL account which one do you select?

A vantage fund account or ISA account (i have my ISA S+S limit available for this year).

thanks

first bit depends on your risk attitude, i am over 50% in resources, commodities and emerging markets but my wifes allowances are relatively much more steady eddie funds like perp high income etc ;-)

I do hold about 20% in UK (smaller companies and special sits and straight blue chip based UTs) and some european big co's and US and property and bonds. So aim for a balance that suits your risk profile and timescales.

when you open the account, open the isa account first as you have your limit available. then you can open the fund and share account to act as a feeder if you have more than the £10.2k pa - then you can bed and isa it every year.

masonic

cashbackproblems wrote: »

you mean these are good high risk high reward funds?

Do you balance it out with any other safe funds?

I don't think a having single country emerging market fund as a major part of your portfolio would be considered a wise move by most. You'd probably want to balance that out with a fair number of other funds investing in different areas unless you wanted to take a real punt.

Tbh im struggling to decide what to invest in, i have about 2k initially + monthly top ups and want to open 2 different funds but cant decide, iv found Neil Woodford's funds are highly regarded so probably going to go with him.

When you open a HL account which one do you select?

A vantage fund account or ISA account (i have my ISA S+S limit available for this year).

thanks

There is no reason not to use the ISA wrapper (if you are planning not to make losses ) and it may come in handy as your portfolio grows and you start to need to consider capital gains tax. With HL, you don't need to limit yourself to two funds because once invested you can switch portions of your funds into new funds to spread the money between any number of funds you want. If you only have £2000 to invest initially, you may need to use their regular savings option because there is a minimum lump sum investment of £3000 for a new account. For regular investments, there is a minimum of £50 per month per fund and it can be stopped at any time.

Reaper

LongTermLurker wrote: »

incidentally, I've chosen a number of funds from Wealth150 and am quite happy with most of them - my return is far in excess of 1.11%

I'm in a dozen funds for my HL SIPP, two of which are not in their Wealth150. Likewise I am happy with the way it is going. I don't stick just to HL for research and I don't ask them for advice, so if the value falls I only have myself to blame, which is how I like it.

sunil1234 wrote: »

first bit depends on your risk attitude, i am over 50% in resources, commodities and emerging markets but my wifes allowances are relatively much more steady eddie funds like perp high income etc ;-)

Likewise my SIPP is heavily into Emerging Markets and other speculative investments whereas for my wife's investments I set her up much more evenly around the globe.

sabretoothtigger

Emerging equities are still not a consensus story despite the fact they currently account for 70% of global GDP growth

The average US pension fund allocation is 1%

http://www.barings.com/ucm/groups/public/documents/marketingmaterials/065283.pdf

Tears_of_Jenny

I've just crunched some figures for these 3 brokers and came up with the following results.

Investing monthly into 4 funds over a period of 5 years.
(Artemis Strategic Bond, Legal+General UK Property, Legal+General Pacific Index, First State Emerging Markets Leaders).
I've assumed certain growth rates and monthly investements.

The results

(Broker / Total Fund Value / Total commission rebated / Total value)

Hargreaves Lansdown - £19990 - £27 - £20017
Chartwell Direct - £19990 - £64 - £20054
Cavendish - £19875 - £211 - £20086

To be honest, I was expecting to find more difference. Cavendish fund value is hit because they don't rebate the full initial commission.
Add into this the initial £25 fee from Cavendish and they are comparable to Chartwell, despite the enormous commission rebate.

Hargreaves Lansdown seems to be the most expensive. Add to this their charge of £23.50 (per fund) for transfers and they begin to look expensive (who knows what's going to happen in the upcoming RDR, and if I have to transfer I don't want to have pay hundreds of pounds!)
The only advantage seems to be their portfolio management and consolidation software. Personally, I track my stuff on spreadsheets anyway, so this is of limited value to me.

So IMO, it seems that Chartwell and Cavendish are current winners.

Anyone care to discuss?

Reaper

Interesting to see your figures.

I think many may feel the small extra charge for HL is worthwhile. Their portfolio tools are good. We tried Cavendish/Co Funds for my wife but we found their telephone support weak when there were set up problems. They tried to help but it quickly became apparent they had little idea how it worked. I had to read out sections of their own web site to them on the phone to explain how it functioned. We did get it set up in the end and have had no problems since and expect to invest more now it is up and running, but I would hesitate to recommend it to a nervous or inexperienced investor.

Good point about the transfer fees.