H-L introduces a Tracker Platform Charge

JamesU

competitionscafe wrote: »

0.5% is high for the Blackrock trackers though - for a personal pension on Skandia (via Clubfinance) charges are 0.20% for the Blackrock trackers: (Of course you also have the £68.50 annual fee from Skandia but that covers as many funds as you want).
http://www.clubfinance.co.uk/Skandia-SIS-Collective-Retirement-Account-CRA-Personal-Pension.php

Find the Skandia fundlist on Clubfinance confusing. For the class D Blackrock index trackers on the "SIS" fundlist, it says within the fund list under the "Pre-reg" column that the trackers are "CIA" only, which I guess refers to the collective investment account option. If so, irrespective of options available on Skandia CRA pension (have not looked into this) looks like it is not possible to set up a Skandia ISA containing Blackrock class D trackers.

JamesU

SnowMan

koru wrote: »

I just received a letter from HL notifying the specific platform charges that I will incur on my funds. Not that it matters in my case, because I have already set in train a transfer to Bestinvest.

Interestingly, they suggest that people who have small holdings of HSBC trackers might prefer to switch to their range of Blackrock trackers, which have a higher AMC of about 0.5%, but this is probably going to be cheaper than the HSBC trackers plus £24 platform fee for any fund that is worth less than about £10,000.

There is a full list of trackers available through HL on the HL website here. The Blackrock trackers are pretty much the only ones without platform charges, the only other ones with no platform charge (currently) have a very high annual charge.

I can't remember ever seeing that list before.

I think anyone with HSBC trackers with over £500 in should be keeping an eye on the HSBC Global Investment Centre as a good place to hold the HSBC trackers.

The problem with that at the moment is that the HSBC Global Investment Centre aren't accepting ISA transfers, and those with smallish funds I am guessing are in ISAs, but that policy of not accepting ISA transfers surely must change shortly.

JamesU

SnowMan wrote: »

There is a full list of trackers available through HL on the HL website here. The Blackrock trackers are pretty much the only ones without platform charges, the only other ones with no platform charge (currently) have a very high annual charge

The Blackrock trackers on HL are the more expensive class A though, not the lower cost class D Blackrock trackers available at Skandia (around 0.2%). Blackrock info on classes of trackers and annual costs in link here:

http://www.blackrock.co.uk/IndividualInvestors/FundCentre/Prices/index.htm#

Your suggestion at HSBC global was a good find for holding HSBC trackers though, well spotted, despite the current limitations on ISA transfer and requirement for larger fund sizes.

JamesU

fieldofdreams

koru wrote: »

I just received a letter from HL notifying the specific platform charges that I will incur on my funds. Not that it matters in my case, because I have already set in train a transfer to Bestinvest.

Interestingly, they suggest that people who have small holdings of HSBC trackers might prefer to switch to their range of Blackrock trackers, which have a higher AMC of about 0.5%, but this is probably going to be cheaper than the HSBC trackers plus £24 platform fee for any fund that is worth less than about £10,000.

Many thanks for highlighting the blackrock trackers - I dont recall ever seeing the breakdown of index trackers on the HL site before, must have missed it.

0.5% of £1000 gives an annual charge of £5 - not the cheapest around but a lot better than the £27 (ish) Id be paying for each HSBC tracker.

This is now looking like a viable option, at least until RDR comes in at which point I can have another look at whats available

katp1984

Hi,

Interesting to see that there is no platform fee for the Blackrock tracker. However, there is a difference between the buy and sell price (Bid/Offer spread?) why is this?

Does having a bid/offer spread have a significant negative impact on performance if you intend to hold the fund long term?

Thanks

Rollinghome

fieldofdreams wrote: »

0.5% of £1000 gives an annual charge of £5 - not the cheapest around but a lot better than the £27 (ish) Id be paying for each HSBC tracker.

You might also want to check what exactly you're getting. I notice for example that whereas the HSBC American Index Ret fund returned 2.44% on the year they show the BlackRock CIF North American Equity Tracker A as returning just 0.91%.

Although the charges may be part of the problem it could also be because the Blackrock tracks the FTSE All-World North America Index whereas the HSBC tracks the more normal S&P 500. I seem to remember other Blackrock trackers following less usual indexes which may or may not fit your needs.

Rollinghome

katp1984 wrote: »

Hi,

Interesting to see that there is no platform fee for the Blackrock tracker. However, there is a difference between the buy and sell price (Bid/Offer spread?) why is this?

Does having a bid/offer spread have a significant negative impact on performance if you intend to hold the fund long term?

Thanks

It's a UT rather than an OEIC which have just the one price. Even after the rebate there'll still be a small front end charge.

gadgetmind

Rollinghome wrote: »

I notice for example that whereas the HSBC American Index Ret fund returned 2.44% on the year they show the BlackRock CIF North American Equity Tracker A as returning just 0.91%.

Point-to-point return figures can be a little deceptive in such volatile times and pointing the mk1 eyeball at a side-by-side chart can tell you much more.

Rollinghome

gadgetmind wrote: »

Point-to-point return figures can be a little deceptive in such volatile times and pointing the mk1 eyeball at a side-by-side chart can tell you much more.

Which was why I looked at them on a side by side chart.

But perhaps the more important point is that just because two trackers both have the word 'America' or 'Asia' in the title they won't necessarily follow the same index, the same companies, or the same geographical area and so it's important to ensure you understand what you're buying.

fieldofdreams

Rollinghome wrote: »

You might also want to check what exactly you're getting. I notice for example that whereas the HSBC American Index Ret fund returned 2.44% on the year they show the BlackRock CIF North American Equity Tracker A as returning just 0.91%.

Although the charges may be part of the problem it could also be because the Blackrock tracks the FTSE All-World North America Index whereas the HSBC tracks the more normal S&P 500. I seem to remember other Blackrock trackers following less usual indexes which may or may not fit your needs.

Thanks - Ive just compared the top 10 holdings betwen the two and they contain the same companies bar Coca Cola ( in HSBC, not Blackrock ) and Oracle ( in Blackrock, not HSBC )

Also compared the performance of the UK trackers over last year - HSBC comes in at - 3.21 while blackrock is at -3.15.

What does concern me a little though is the spread between the buy and sell price on the blackrocks trackers in that you'd be playing catch up from the moment you purchase new units as compared with the HSBC trackers