Low cost Stocks & Shares (Investment) ISAs: The Best Currently Available List!

longwalks1

Hi all

I'm after a basic no frills Self Select ISA for shares to open up. I want to buy approx £10k of shares into it and trade inside it fairly regularly.
Any recommendations? Preferably one with a low annual fee (or no annual fee if they exist) and low trading fee's.

And do all self select ISA's allow you to trade dual listed AIM's?

Special_Saver2

Britishboy, if you look at the first section of post 3, those providers seem to match your requirements. As for dual-listed AIM shares, this will vary from provider to provider. I would recommend that you contact each of the providers you are thinking of opening an account with to ask them that question before making a final decision.

I have completed the December update to this thread a little early.

I have added in the new platform fee for Hargreaves Lansdown (as currently being discussed in the H-L introduces a Tracker Platform Charge thread).

I have also updated the charges on several entries. Most of these changes are quite minor but I will mention that Alliance Trust are now only giving one free trade per year (previously two per year).

I will also mention that the iii ISA page no longer mentions gilts and corporate bonds (and I am pretty sure that it used to mention these). Their what can I invest in? page does still list gilts and corporate bonds. If you are thinking of opening an account with iii and this is important to you then I would suggest you e-mail them to ask about this first.

SS2

psychic_teabag

The comparison doesn't include BestInvest select service (which I think was launched after the thread was first created). Looks like a similar model to HL, with no fund dealing fees and no annual fee unless any non-commission-paying investments are held.

https://select.bestinvest.co.uk/index

Special_Saver2

Thanks, I have added BestInvest Select to post 2 now.

SS2

Special_Saver2

I have updated the second post of this thread to reflect special offers with Fidelity FundsNetwork via discount brokers.

Cavendish Online are waiving their £25 set-up fee when applying for a Fidelity FundsNetwork ISA or unwrapped OEIC. This offer is valid until 15th January 2012.

Clubfinance are offering no initial charges on Fidelity FundsNetwork transfers or re-registrations. If your balance is £50,000+ then you will receive £75 and if your balance is £20,000 to £39,999 then you will receive £37.50. This offer is valid until 27th January 2012.

SS2

smallfry27

Am I correct in thinking that BestInvest no longer offer the CoFunds platform to new customers? I can't find any mention of it on their main web site, though once I have logged into my account I have the option to buy additional funds.

Special_Saver2

smallfry27 wrote: »

Am I correct in thinking that BestInvest no longer offer the CoFunds platform to new customers? I can't find any mention of it on their main web site, though once I have logged into my account I have the option to buy additional funds.

I think you are right. You can understand why BestInvest do not want to promote Cofunds any more if they now have their own platform.

SS2

P.S. I have added rplan (discount broker using Cofunds) to post 2.

Special_Saver2

Just a quick note to say that Clubfinance now have a microsite for Cofunds that allows you to view Cofunds online valuations and buy and switch funds online. (I had been discussing Cofunds microsites in a thread earlier this year about Cavendish online and mentioned that Clubfinance did not have one. Well, Clubfinance now have one, bringing them into line with the other discount brokers mentioned on this thread who already had this online functionality.)

SS2

psychic_teabag

I'm currently evaluating platforms for an entirely tracker-fund-based portfolio. Here, trail commission rebate is unimportant, so annual charges and switching costs become more interesting.

I came across commfreefunds.com which charge an annual fee, but rebate all trail commission. It's not clear why one would choose these over Cavendish, for example, but you list some others which are similarly not as good as Cavendish, so I'm not sure if the omission was deliberate or not.

Your notes don't mention that for platforms using fidelity or cofunds, the 0.25% switching fee is a platform fee, and so is not covered by rebates by Cavendish, for example. So switches do carry a cost. (I think that for fidelity, and perhaps also cofunds, switching into a fund with 0% initial charge carries no switching fee.)

I think that with cofunds, depositing as cash initially then switching to a fund will always incur the 0.25% switching fee, whereas fidelity seems to somehow remember that you've not yet paid a fee, and the first fund you buy will incur the usual initial charge (which I assume would then be rebated by, eg, Cavendish). But fidelity's rules seem rather complicated and arbitrary. commfreefunds document this cofunds trick to avoid initial fees.

Given that, as you say in the first post, things may change again soon, exit fees are an important consideration. Eg Best charge £50 to close an ISA. Fidelity can currently transfer out for free.

Special_Saver2

Thanks psychic teabag. I was not aware of commfreefunds. They meet the criteria stated at the top of post 2, so I have now added them to that post along with a link to an MSE thread that discusses commfreefunds.

I would agree that it is difficult to see how they can compete with Cavendish. If somebody is looking to pay a fee in return for a 100% commission rebate then Cavendish is the winner.

I have added a sentence to the beginning of post 2 that mentions the platform fees and the lack of switching fee rebate that you have pointed out. I have also added a link to the commfreefunds "Cash First on Cofunds" guide for funds with an initial fee of more than 0.25%.

SS2