Halifax Share Builder some opinions please.

roswell

Hi,

Well not sure where to start here so will start with a general overview, Im looking to use my sharebuilder account to get going in the world of investments, so today i had a little play around schdualting a buy of the following.
Invesco Income and growth,
I Shares IADP Asia paccific dividends
I shares IUKD (Uk dividends)
I shares ISF (ftse 100)

problem ? Well Im only going to put in £100 a month, doing thsi as amonthly investment looks like its going to be a long long time before I recover the purchasing charges, i know investing is for the long run but starting £6.15 down seems like a lot to make up each month,

my next thoguht was to only make 1 purchase a month and rota them this way costs only £1.50 - £1.65 each month but then i miss out on any growth on the other funds.

Am i doing somethign wrong or just not got enough money to put in ?

sham63

Have you used up your isa allowance? If not, you should try Selftrade as they do not charge commission on the purchase of ishares into their isa. Well worth considering if you are mainly investing in ishares. Your monthly £100 will go alot further.

Why have you decided on the particular ishares in your list?

roswell

Theres a mixture of reasons and probably not all good but hey they make sence to me,

I will start with Invesco income and growth, been watching this in a fantisy trade and its doing good. (not an I share)

Ishares (Due to costs mostly so picked from a bunch)
Im looking for long term investment eg retirement etc im currently 25, These are no way set in stone for the next 40 + years but saw them as a starting point with not to much risk. FTSE 100 (there will always be companys in the FTSE 100)
UK Dividends ( Same reason as above)
Asia pacific Dividends .... Now thsi will though most people But i dont have much hope for the USA economy and believe that Asia / Chine will be best performing economys for the next few year, Look at the funds they arent the TOP funds but my logic is the TOP funs take the most risks and likely to be weighted to one sector / industry / type of investment. I dont hold much hope for the UK economy either but more than the USA, on thsi Asia is a bit of a edge bet i guess.

Please tell me ly logic is wrong and I should just get shares in BP / VODA / Loyds and prudential if you wish im open to being told im wrong / silly etc

jamesd

But why aren't you buying these with regular purchases into an ISA, so you benefit from the tax wrapper and start accumulating a large tax-advantaged set of investments? This is particularly beneficial for investments producing income rather than growth.

Shares and funds are your call but not using the tax wrapper for the purchases where it can be used seems like a bad idea.

roswell

Im happy to use a ISA but not with the associated costs, eg the ISA is £5 a purchase, split in 4 thats £20 in fees a month not £6 im looking at using the share builder to start i can easy move to a isa once it get a good amount in the pot. or am i wrong ?

Do self trade really do ishares purchases FREE? i cant belive that.

Mr_Mumble

Selftrade allow you to buy ishares free within their ISA wrapper. Of course they're getting a £25pa ISA fee and charge £12.50 when the shares are sold so its not exactly a free service. You'd have a problem if selftrade stopped the free purchase of ishares offer of course, but this would also apply if Barclays decided to withdraw an ishare you've got a small amount of money in.

The TER for the ishares FTSE-100 isn't particularly low, 0.40% is more than the Fidelity FTSE all-share (83% of which is FTSE-100) tracker. The latter would be easier to pay in regularly (minimum of £20 per month if you do it online) and doesn't have the upfront charges.

£6 of charges on £100 of purchases is a lot, especially when these purchases have ongoing management fees. I'd say rotate your purchases so you spend £100 on one stock each month if you're going to use sharebuilder and maybe concentrate on building up the FTSE tracker to a decent lump sum before diversifying.

roswell

Ok think ill sit this one out and investigate a bit more before i make some mistakes thanks.