Hargreaves Lansdown & buying additiona/extra/other funds?

westy22

4 out of your 5 investments are Unit Trusts (UTs) which mean they have a Bid-Offer spread cost which will have taken a good bite out of your contributions. I also assume that you have had some commissions deducted by cancelling units. I presume that the original contribution in January was £20 into each fund so they do seem to have dropped quite a lot for the current balance to be £13.xx per fund. From mid-January to mid-February the markets have risen quite nicely so I would have thought that you would have almost broken even by this stage.

jem16

Linton wrote: »

The only possibility I can think of is that Skandia have a annual charge, and I guess that could have been taken out of your first investment.

Skandia have a platform charge of £68.50 which is taken twice yearly. However i don't know when.

Linton

jem16 wrote: »

Skandia have a platform charge of £68.50 which is taken twice yearly. However i don't know when.

Ah that would nicely explain the drop of 33% - half of £68.50 being c. £34.

utigers

KP 83 - You mention in your first post about putting money away for a long time etc...then drawing on it? Is this money for retirement?

You are invested in ISA's. If they were SIPP's you would get plus 25% of what you contribute every month and the minimum would be £40 per month going through HL.

middlepuss

Linton wrote: »

2) Fund investments are for the long term, checking them too frequently and over enthusiastically will end in madness as the euphoria of a rise is continually followed by suicidal depression from a subsequent fall.

Linton, Beautifully put. That should be printed on all investment literature alongside the usual past performance is not a guide to future...blah blah blah.

Nine_Lives

Just looking through my paperwork, it states:

The following charges & commissions will apply to your account...

Initial Charge: £0.00
Investor Charge: £34.25 first half-yearly payment
Initial Commission: £0.00%
Trail Commmission: Nominated (0.50%)

I should point out....

When i saw this IFA, the vast majority of MSEers were impressed with his advice to steer me away from pensions (my employer doesn't contribute. I'd be paying in £100pm) and towards S&S ISAs, with no pressure to go through that particular IFA.
I returned to him & went ahead. I was told by many MSEers i should go it alone, but i had literally no clue, and i went from having a sort of idea, to being bamboozled by many of your replies (& abbreviations/jargon (that's replies AND... instead of JUST abbreviations & jargon)). So as i had no clue, i went with the IFA.

After this, i began "helping" my brother go through HL for his S&S ISA, with much help from you MSEers. A few weeks on, he's doing ok (yes i know it's for the long haul, but what i'm saying is there was no £34.25 taken) & more importantly, it doesn't SEEM too difficult.

So my question here is - what about if/when i don't want my IFA to manage my S&S ISA any longer, and i want to do it myself?
Could i transfer it to my own HL account? Or does it not work like this?

Linton wrote: »

2) Fund investments are for the long term, checking them too frequently and over enthusiastically will end in madness as the euphoria of a rise is continually followed by suicidal depression from a subsequent fall.

I fully understand this, and i am not being obsessive.
I am currently off work due to an injury & as such, i can't fill my day with a great deal. I'll go to the gym to try & make progress with my injury. When i come home i'll spend a bit of time watching TV, might take the dog for a walk, but then i'll come online. I'll look up various sites. If i get bored or whatever, i may have a browse out of just wondering. The first time i did this i saw it was £66. Bearing in mind i put in £100, i could've easily panicked, correct? But i didn't. As i'm aware - it's for the long haul. I didn't bat an eyelid or nothing. Just thought "oh ok" to myself, shut the page down & went & made a coffee.
I do understand what you're saying - that SOME people could become obsessive, but i'm not.

utigers wrote: »

KP 83 - You mention in your first post about putting money away for a long time etc...then drawing on it? Is this money for retirement?

You are invested in ISA's. If they were SIPP's you would get plus 25% of what you contribute every month and the minimum would be £40 per month going through HL.

Yes the money is for retirement. When i say drawing on it .... i'm not too clever with the correct terminology.
What i mean is (simply) ... put money away for many years from now until retirement. Retirement comes, then get the income, either bit by bit (pension for e.g.) or one whole whack. The key thing is that .... this money will NOT be touched until retirement.

I was advised against pensions by the IFA & majority (majority - not all) of MSEers in my situation. I would currently be contributing £100 per month. I get £18k per year. I'm living at home, saving for a house, looking to move in 2013. My employer does not contribute & will never contribute unless it becomes law. Trust me!


I think that covers everything. Anything else, please throw it back to me no matter what it is. Progress & learning can even be made through criticism, so i welcome all replies.

jem16

K_P83 wrote: »

So my question here is - what about if/when i don't want my IFA to manage my S&S ISA any longer, and i want to do it myself?
Could i transfer it to my own HL account? Or does it not work like this?

It will just be like any other ISA transfer. Contact the provider that you wish to use (HL if that's your choice) and initiate the transfer.

Nine_Lives

jem16 wrote: »

It will just be like any other ISA transfer. Contact the provider that you wish to use (HL if that's your choice) and initiate the transfer.

Thanks jem.

It's early days at the moment - but managing your own (or rather helping my brother with his) doesn't seem too difficult (at the moment).
Plus there's the extra fees you wont need to pay by doing it on your own.

I know investing is a long haul process, and that my brother is putting in half of what i am, but it'll be interesting to see (as a percentage) his progress after 12 months vs mine. If his progress is higher than mine, it may well be worth going solo. I'm willing to 'sacrifice' 12 months to see.

middlepuss

The experts may disagree, but I've always thought the biggest risk of going DIY is the risk of doing something stupid: investing everything in some go-go company that only goes one way - West; or keeping all your long term money in cash; or punting on the price of gold...

Which is why I'm a fan of index trackers. For the novice DIYer, starting off with your funds in a tracker, a conservatively managed investment trust like Foreign and Colonial, or a balanced fund that spreads your money around markets, bonds and property, means you're going to perform roughly in line with stock markets.

Didn't Warren Buffet once say that the secret of making money on the markets was simply to avoid investments that go belly up?

Nine_Lives

middlepuss wrote: »

The experts may disagree, but I've always thought the biggest risk of going DIY is the risk of doing something stupid:

Agreed, which is why i went through an IFA.
Though beginning with my brother for his solo approach has been positive so far, even though we're in the first month of it. Nightmare scenario was instant failure.

investing everything in some go-go company that only goes one way - West;

For the very reason i created this thread - looking at adding a second, different, fund, would mean that i couldn't be all eggs-in-one-basket. At the same time, i wouldn't like 100 eggs spread over 100 baskets either.