Why do you use the platform you do?

Cautious_Investor_3

Hi

I've responded to a number of threads of late but this is the first one I have started.

I am interested to know two things from those of you who invest directly:

1. Which platform do you use? e.g. HL, Best Invest etc

2. Why do you use the platform that you do? i.e. what's the most important thing in making your decision, charges? range of investments available? Reporting facilities? etc etc

If you could take a couple of minutes to answer I would very much appreciate it.

The Cautious Investor

Lokolo

1) HL

2) Cost and amounts I play around with (I am student, I can only afford £50 a month!)

noh

1) Alliance Trust Savings

2) Charges, specifically rebate of trail commission on funds.

Sparky47

1. HL
2. Low charges, Ease of switching, Research data

LongTermLurker

1) HL

2) charging structure, wide range of funds, easy management & dealing, good reporting, fast & friendly customer service, flexibility...

As an example of flexible customer service, the website says that income will only be reinvested when each fund reaches £50 income, but as I hold several funds paying income, each with fairly small amounts invested, it could take years to reinvest it. Their suggestion, which I hadn't bothered to ask for because I assumed the answer would be "sorry, can't do that", was just to add the income to my next direct debit and if I'd wanted, I could have then invested my income in different proportions to my DD :cool:

LongTermLurker

CI, might be interesting to turn this into a poll and list the common providers, plus "IFA", "Bank", "Direct with Fund Manager" and "Other"

Loughton_Monkey

Like a lot of your respondants, I also use HL.

Reasons: Full rebate of up-front charges for majority of funds. Fund choice includes everything I'd ever want to invest in, and more. Easy to deal with. They answer the phone quickly, politely, and give you intelligent straight answers.

Recently, I've heard of Cavendish, reputed to be more generous in tail commision. However, this is 'small beer' and far from enough to throw HL into touch, unless, of course, they were to upset me in some way. However, I don't think they will based on 5 years' experience.

xrjtg

I started with HL because they were happy to take the small amounts I was looking to invest, and had competitive charges. Nowhere else has significantly lower charges, so I don't feel any compulsion to move.

Reaper

HL - currently. I like the fund analysis showing where you are invested. Seems to have the largest choice of investments. However look out for extra charges on some products plus no trail comission rebate on SIPPs.

Cavendish/CoFunds combo - about to try as it is a bit cheaper

Alliance Trust - often the cheapest but the list of funds seems to have gaps including ones I wanted to invest in, so I have not used them to date.

P.S. I do not necessarily get investment info from the same place I invest through as most brokers allow anybody to use the research parts of their sites.

Primrose

I'm also with H-L.
They make it easy to invest. There is lots of helpful fund information on their website and tools to analyse your investment. Their customer service is efficient - no call centres, and questions are answered quickly and courtesly. You can also check the value of your investments online at any time. and if you are fortunate enough to build up your holdings to a substantial sum via their Vantage Scheme, the loyalty bonus is worth having. They also send you email alerts if there are any significant changes, i.e. manager leaving, for funds in which you are invested. Been with them several years now.

blinko

HL
cheap, easy to use, good pgone service good selection