VIRGIN (ISA) FTSE Tracker

Gatser

We have some ISA money in these funds.
Nothing exciting.... perhaps I should move them elsewhere...?

ETF Tracker?
a tracker fund?

Any suggestions appreciated.... thanks.

Iancfp

With a tracker only 2 things to compare mostly cost a partly tracking error

Virgin tracker is super expensive - saw Richard Branson on Sunday in Monte Carlo drinking champagne thanks to these charges

ETFs are easily tradable but are more expensive that lower cost index funds HSBC, Fidelity etc

Note I am Chartered Financial Planner and award winning Independent Financial Adviser but I can only give advice to clients who have given me their financial details. Any comments given in open forum are my own thoughts and are designed merely to assist and do not constitute advice

dunstonh

Gatser, as its you I can be blunt.

Anyone who invests in the virgin funds hasnt put any research into it and really shouldnt be looking at more advanced options.

Virgin financial products are dire. They are playing on the brand name to make you pay more for a relatively basic product. They are the Apple of financial services.

Gatser

dunstonh wrote: »

Gatser, as its you I can be blunt.

Anyone who invests in the virgin funds hasnt put any research into it and really shouldnt be looking at more advanced options.

Virgin financial products are dire. They are playing on the brand name to make you pay more for a relatively basic product. They are the Apple of financial services.

Dear Dunstonh,
...and as it's you...I like BLUNT!
You are right... I did not research (at the time), and went along with Richard's charming smile

But... I have left this ISA too long now, so do you think I should move the monies into something like an HSBC tracker (as I think I'll leave these monies in some form of tracker)

thank goodness I don't have a MAC!

dunstonh

If you are going to stick with trackers then you can do so much better. HL use the institutional HSBC trackers. That makes them a good DIY option as they are cheaper then the retail version (which you get if you go to HSBC or some other platforms).

jimjames

Definitely a good plan to move to the HSBC funds. I use them with the HL ISA and it means you can move to other funds if you decide you want to try something different at later date. I moved my L&G funds to them to reduce the annual charges. With Virgin you are paying around 4x as much in charges as you will with HSBC. (1% vs 0.25%)

Rollinghome

dunstonh wrote: »

HL use the institutional HSBC trackers. That makes them a good DIY option as they are cheaper then the retail version (which you get if you go to HSBC or some other platforms).

HL describe only HSBC FTSE All share tracker as the institutional version but as HSBC reduced the AMC of all their trackers to 0.25% in Sept 2009 there's no difference anyway. The other HSBC trackers HL offer all seem to be retail and still with the same 0.25% AMC. See HSBC tracker charges since 2009 here...

The AMC charged by Virgin is four time that charged by HSBC.