Stocks ISAs

whambamboo

I could not find any list of places where you can set one up, anywhere on this site.

Is there no article nor sticky post about it?

dunstonh

Martin doesnt sell ISAs so you wont find one to set up here. - sorry its late and im still working and Im knackered.

I dont think there is any such thing as a best buy on an investment ISA. Part of the problem is the investment area you want in the ISA. Do you want unit trusts/OEICS, ITs, REITS, SICAVS, single shares..... Do you want automatic rebalancing at no cost? Do you want fixed monthly withdrawals? Do you want no minimum holding per fund?

HL tend to get referred to more often than not as one of the cheapest for UT/OEIC funds if cost is only what you are looking at.

whambamboo

dunstonh wrote:

Martin doesnt sell ISAs so you wont find one to set up here. - sorry its late and im still working and Im knackered.

I dont think there is any such thing as a best buy on an investment ISA. Part of the problem is the investment area you want in the ISA. Do you want unit trusts/OEICS, ITs, REITS, SICAVS, single shares..... Do you want automatic rebalancing at no cost? Do you want fixed monthly withdrawals? Do you want no minimum holding per fund?

I would have thought that an article comparing these things would be a great addition to the site.

I had a quick look at two:

Hargreaves Lansdown
and Fidelity

For the OEIC I chose, Gartmore China Opportunities, Fidelity says:

2% initial charge

doesn't mention annual charge, but I assume it's the standard 1.5%

but Hargreaves Lansdown says:

0.25% initial charge, plus 1.25% annual charge

So using Hargreaves Lansdown rather than Fidelity is a big Money Saving opportunity.

But I can't find any unbiased, non-commission-driven comparison out there, about whether HL is good, or if I should use anyone else

Here's what I want:

I only want to buy Unit Trusts and OEICs.

Automatic rebalancing seems to be adjusting your portfolio according to sector? So if you say you want 50% UK and 50% Europe, and then the UK doubles in value, and Europe stays put, so you now have 66.67% UK, and 33.33% Europe, so it sells enough of the UK and uses it to buy Europe?

That's not of interest to me, as I'd probably just buy more as needed, and I'm not too fussy about getting an exact balance.

Don't need to make withdrawals, I'm looking for growth (which can of course come through income reinvestment, not just capital growth).

No minimum holding? I wouldn't have thought I'd want to invest less than £1k. I'm going to setup 2 * £7k ISAs for me + wife, so this shouldn't be a problem. I assume if you bought the minimum, you wouldn't need to topup if the price fell.


So I'm not too fussy, just looking for:

* lowest costs (i.e. rebating the initial and annual charge). Is there one definite winner?
* full range of funds as listed on citywire.co.uk - do they all have the full collection?
* reasonable online interface so I can logon and see how my investments are doing, and also buy/sell UTs/OEICs within the ISA if I need to.

I'll also probably want to invest some more once I've used up my £14k ISA allowance, so I'll want to use the same place for non-ISA investment.

whambamboo

Are there funds only available in INCOME form (or do all funds also have an ACC form)? If so, would the income be automatically reinvested if you used something like Hargreaves Lansdown?

nrsql

You should be given an option whether to invest the income or not.
Some funds have and income and accumulation form - but check - they might have similar names but be different.

I have h-l and fidelity and find them both fine. h-l should work out cheaper.
You can also buy outside an isa without problems.
You won't be able to buy all funds but these both have a large range so that shouldn't be a problem.
Some people think fidelity have a better site but I fine them both ok for what I need.

There will be a min investment per fund - usually £1000 (sometimes £500) for a lump sum purchase I think.

I wouldn't use these sites for shares but for funds they are both good.

MSE_Martin

Two things

1.

Martin doesnt sell ISAs

or anything else for that matter (barring m'book)
2. There is an article on the site on exactly this....

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1080463348,20132,

Martin

whambamboo

MSE_Martin wrote:

. There is an article on the site on exactly this....

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1080463348,20132,

Martin

thanks for that

You might want to note that there's no link to this on the Savings and Investments page http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings

And there's also no link to it from the ISA guide (nor anywhere else I could see)

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?newsid1045408312,40680,



So it is impossible to find.... But useful now I know it's there.

A couple of links in those pages (and as a sticky here, too) would help people, as these questions seem to be asked every few days here.

Btw, when's the update coming?

Important Update Note. The core comparison research for this article was last updated in 2004. It is scheduled to be reworked soon, however little changes in the discount brokers world and both the explanation and top providers are still likely to be very similar.

YorkshireBoy

whambamboo wrote:

You might want to note that there's no link to this on the Savings and Investments page http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings

Clicking...

"Funds and ISAs: the cheapest way to buy them"

...on the savings and investments page takes you directly to the article.

So it is impossible to find

BTW, have you taken a look at https://www.selftrade.co.uk ? I've just set up an account there with a dealing account and mini-equity ISA. Looking at your list of requirements, Selftrade would appear to tick most of your boxes.

MSE_Martin

I've had it added to the savings and investments page. That was a pure slip to be honest - it was linked to from a number of other articles, but seemed to have slipped off that page - we've got it now

MSE_Martin

As for the upcoming date.... sometime in the New Year to be honest. We did a style update of the article recently and while doing so, did a very quick check of the top providers and very little has changed - so while not in a position to do a full rewrite or willing to say "every dot is accurate", its still pretty live now

whambamboo

YorkshireBoy wrote:

Clicking...

"Funds and ISAs: the cheapest way to buy them"

...on the savings and investments page takes you directly to the article.

just added in by Martin between my post and yours. Too damn efficient

Here's the version from yesterday:

http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:h5MaBLQsxeUJ:www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings+If+you%27ve+got+expensive+debts,+it%E2%80%99s+worth+considering+paying+them+off+before+savings,&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=1&lr=lang_en