Stocks and shares ISA's for whole family- advice please!

earthlover

I am a novice to Stocks and shares.

I'm desperately scouring for advice about best broker and which funds to go with for isas before 5 April.

Children mid 20's have some inheritance cash to invest having already done cash isas. Looking to put 5430 in for each of them.

Also hubby and I want to do same as most of our savings are in cash at the moment. I am non taxpayer. He is 40% taxpayer.

I was thinking of investing some First State Emerging Markets Leaders as has good reputation. Also thought about trackers for low fees.

Any suggestions as to what to look into to save me going totally doolally would be very much welcomed!

mr_fishbulb

earthlover wrote: »

I am a novice to Stocks and shares.

I'm desperately scouring for advice about best broker and which funds to go with for isas before 5 April.

You don't have enough time to learn about S&S investments in that time.

However you may be able to open a S&S ISA and fund it with cash before the deadline whilst you decide on what to invest it in.

Can't remember what hoops I had to go through to get my Hargreaves Lansdown ISA open. You may find that some ask you to send in ID.

dunstonh

Cheques need to be in the post by Wednesday 1st class (and hope for next day delivery). Funds have to be drawn on accounts belonging to the ISA holder. So, time is is tight.

I was thinking of investing some First State Emerging Markets Leaders as has good reputation. Also thought about trackers for low fees.

The use of single sector funds would indicate that you are building a wider portfolio. How does this fit in with that wider portfolio?

Neverland

earthlover wrote: »

I am a novice to Stocks and shares.

.....

I was thinking of investing some First State Emerging Markets Leaders as has good reputation. Also thought about trackers for low fees.

Any suggestions as to what to look into to save me going totally doolally would be very much welcomed!

That fund is both expensive and high risk/return

Funds tracking world equity indexes would probably form a better basis to get some exposure to stock markets if you don't have any already

Like someone else already said, given time is short it might be better to set up the ISAs now with cash and make the investment decisions after you have studied the options a bit

I would look very closely at annual charges before you decide on the ISA provider - over 15+ years this matters a lot more than initial charges

High annual investment charges can turn good investment decisions into mediocre performance over the long term

earthlover

Thanks to everyone for your replies.

I have, over last few days, looked at brokers and cavendish online
seem cheapest for small investors, but are they limited in their funds available to invest in?

As we have all savings in cash I was thinking of doing isas with some of the funds recommended in newspapers by 'experts'.

First Sate Global Emerging Market Leaders TER is 1.62%. It didn't seem too bad on comparison with a few others I looked at.

earthlover

On the subject of charges, do you end up paying more in charges if you invest in monthly amounts instead of a lump sum or is that irrelevant?

psychic_teabag

dunstonh wrote: »

Cheques need to be in the post by Wednesday 1st class (and hope for next day delivery). Funds have to be drawn on accounts belonging to the ISA holder. So, time is is tight.

HL and BestInvest allow money to be added by debit card, which should avoid delays. Don't know if the opening deposit can be done that way, though. I don't think Cavendish allow deposit by card (?). I don't know about the other brokers. (Have you seen the list at https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3153942 )

You could put it in HL and then do an ISA-transfer (as cash) at your leisure if you find somewhere better. (Might annoy them a little, but ...) Best have an exit fee on their ISA so probably wouldn't want to try that with them.

HL charge extra for (most) trackers, so perhaps not the best place for them. Though perhaps a good place if you want to use a Vanguard LifeStrategy tracker.

HL seem to have slightly more funds than Best and Cavendish, but I think you'll find there is still plenty of choice.

psychic_teabag

earthlover wrote: »

On the subject of charges, do you end up paying more in charges if you invest in monthly amounts instead of a lump sum or is that irrelevant?

I think it's mostly irrelevant since charges tend to be a percentage of value. But HL's tracker fee is fixed £2 (mostly) per tracker per month, and so is relatively more expensive for smaller holdings. But they do have some trackers with no fee (but a slightly higher annual charge) which would suit a smaller holding - can switch once it gets big enough that the fixed charge is better.

I think there are some providers that charge to purchase funds - Alliance Trust, perhaps. Clearly that's more expensive if you buy in smaller quantities. Looks like they have a discounted rate for monthly purchases by direct debit, but that's no good for you if you want to put the cash in now and drip-feed it in to funds.

pqrdef

earthlover wrote: »

I have, over last few days, looked at brokers and cavendish online
seem cheapest for small investors, but are they limited in their funds available to invest in?

Picking funds is pot luck anyway. If you can't get the one you want, pick one with a pin, it might do better.

Your problem is, the aim and function of brokers is to ensure that the profits from your capital end up in their pockets not yours. Watch the charges and rebates like a hawk.

Bear in mind that if you're buying shares and equity funds and you don't pay higher rate tax, there's no particular tax advantage from using an ISA.

dunstonh

HL and BestInvest allow money to be added by debit card, which should avoid delays.

Many platforms do but if you bank with the likes of Barclays or First Direct then it can be a nightmare. (Barclays appear to have a low floor limit on internet based purchases and online platforms are classed as internet. Frequently get problems with Barclays. First Direct are another that plays up. Had several where they failed the transaction but left the earmark on for 3 days. The money was there but they still failed it).

Given the tight deadline, I wouldnt risk leaving it late to rely on card unless you still have time to get the cheque off.

earthlover

I was looking at the Cavendish Online pdf for 'DoingBusiness with Fidelity FundNetworks' and noticed this in the 'Charges' section:
Fund manager registration fee:

[FONT=NeuzeitGro,NeuzeitGro][FONT=NeuzeitGro,NeuzeitGro]We receive an annual fund registration fee from fund managers in respect of each fund offered on Fidelity FundsNetwork. This is to cover certain administration costs. The amount may vary but is typically £600 per fund, per year. [/FONT][/FONT]

Do they take £600 pounds out of every fund you buy every year? Is this normal for all the online brokers?
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