Trojan Fund fees

koru

Does anyone know the cheapest way of investing in the Troy Trojan Fund?

As far as I can tell, you can invest direct (they use Capita to administrate the dealing service) and pay 1% annual management fee. There is no initial charge, although there is a dilution levy of 0.5%. I can't see any mention of a dealing charge.

Or, you can invest via Alliance Trust Savings and again pay the 1% AMC and 0.5% dilution levy. However, they do charge £12.50 for each deal, so investing direct means that you save the dealing charge. There may be other discount brokers who offer the same deal as ATS, but I assume they are all going to have a dealing charge, so Trojan Fund seems to be one of those rare funds where you are better off buying direct from the fund manager. (Hargreaves Lansdown sell a different class of units which carry a 1.5% AMC, so they are definitely more expensive.)

Does anyone know if I have got any of that wrong?

pressuredrop_2

Yeah, that all sounds about right.

I assume you know the fund will shortly be closing to new investors.

I was doing the same merry-go-round for Troy Spectrum tother week. I drew the same conclusions.

koru

pressuredrop wrote: »

I assume you know the fund will shortly be closing to new investors.

Yes, but only for direct lump sum investments of less than £250,000. New investors can still invest direct on a monthly basis or invest smaller lump sums via platforms.

pressuredrop_2

koru wrote: »

New investors can still invest direct on a monthly basis or invest smaller lump sums via platforms.

Not much of a close if new investors can still invest.

pressuredrop_2

5% initial charge from 03/05/11.

I see.

pressuredrop_2

There's always Personal Assets Trust for a different route.

koru

pressuredrop wrote: »

5% initial charge from 03/05/11.

I see.

As I understand it, the initial charge is usually paid as upfront commission to the adviser, so discount brokers rebate all or virtually all the charge. I wonder if this will be the case for Trojan, or will Troy keep it? If so, then that would be a big dampener on demand. PAT would be a much cheaper option, in that case, although it is £311 per share, so you can only invest in increments of £311. (Unless you can buy fractions?)

jimjames

Also available via HL I believe like some other funds that are also only supposedly available for £500,00 min investment eg Lindsell Train UK Equity.

koru

jimjames wrote: »

Also available via HL I believe like some other funds that are also only supposedly available for £500,00 min investment eg Lindsell Train UK Equity.

Yes, but you pay 0.5% higher AMC than going direct or via ATS.

koru

Apparently, the 5% initial charge does not apply if you invest through Alliance Trust Savings:
http://www.investor42.co.uk/funds/2011/05/03/trojan-fund-still-available-on-alliance-i-nvest-platform