S+S ISA - Should I change broker?

psychic_teabag

pledgeX wrote: »

Thanks Ilya. I didn't see the UK BlackRock one!

Can you explain the maths a little more as after doing a few sums it still looks like BlackRock is the more expensive option to me (0.27% TER + £2p/m vs 0.57% TER).

My maths isn't great so I'm sure you're right, but I just can't get my head around it

It depends on the size of the investment. Assuming £1200,
Blackrock: TER of 0.57% is £6.84pa
HSBC: TER of 0.27% is £3.24pa, plus £24pa

But if it was £12,000 the fund fees would be £68.40 vs £32.40 and HSBC plus platform fee is still cheaper.

smallfry27

pledgeX wrote: »

Vanguard LifeStrategy funds .... they're even more expensive and have little to no info as they're so new.

I think they are bound to be more expensive than a standard tracker, as there are several trackers within the fund to be managed. Depends whether you want to work out & rebalance the global spread yourself, or pay extra to have someone do it for you. It also looks convenient if you only have a small amount and can't afford to buy the minimum amount in a lot of different funds.

As for new, I was also wary on that, but it looks like Vanguard have been operating the same principal in the US since the 1990s. They have been operating it in UK as an institutional fund for a few years.

I'm planning to get some in April on BestInvest Select platform, as I haven't found it listed on Fidelity FundsNetwork or Cofunds so far.

donniej

There are plenty of places cheaper than HL to get tracker funds. Any provider that uses Cofunds won't be charging a £2/month fee for these, and so will be cheaper than HL. The disadvantage of the Cofunds platform is that they don't have the Vanguard funds - but they do have the HSBC and L&G trackers, which are also very low-cost.

Question to myself - why haven't I moved away from HL?!?!?!?!? Or changed trackers? I suppose this is what HL are relying on!

I suspect it is. Particularly with a regular saver, if you're starting from £0 then £2/month tracker fees are not a good deal. If you have a larger investment then the £2/month fee may not be so bad.

psychic_teabag

donniej wrote: »

There are plenty of places cheaper than HL to get tracker funds. Any provider that uses Cofunds won't be charging a £2/month fee for these, and so will be cheaper than HL. The disadvantage of the Cofunds platform is that they don't have the Vanguard funds - but they do have the HSBC and L&G trackers, which are also very low-cost.

The risk is that cofunds might introduce an annual charge or something soon, as part of the RDR thingy. So you might have to transfer yet again.

I decided to avoid Best for ISA for the moment since they have hefty transfer-out and close charges for ISA. I ended up with Fidelity via Cavendish : Fidelity at least allow free reregistration of their own funds, and with Cavendish there is now no switching charges, so wouldn't be too painful to switch over to fidelity funds, do a transfer, then switch again.

(The downside is that because of the bigger commission rebates, I've been tempted away from trackers to evil managed funds !)

max11

Hydromancer wrote: »

I am in the process of switching to interactive investor...it may be worth a look. They don't have any platform charges for tracker funds. However, they do not refund any annual management charges.

sorry what do you mean with the last?
I am thinking of opening a new ISA account with III and then move HL one to them

BLB53

One option would be to move to iii or sippdeal and invest in the HSBC ETFs.