S&S ISA Advice?

meggles

another question on a completely different topic.

my partner has a S&S Isa through Fidelity. i'm trying/we're trying to figure out if this is teh best deal for him. he intends this ISA to be his pension, as he's self-employed. i'm concerend that he's not getting great advice re: where this money should be invested, and it appears that it's invested for him. also- looking through the paperwork, i cannot clearly see the charges for thsi account. obviously, the tied financial planner at the building society is getting a cut, and fidelity is getting a cut. i want to know what these charges are so taht we can compare apples to apples.

i feel comfortable with an execution style brokerage for my US based pension.

however, he's looking for a firm that can advise him. also, with online functionality (he's never been able to get the fideilty online site to work quite right).

looking for any insight... thanks in advance.

dunstonh

i'm concerend that he's not getting great advice re: where this money should

be invested, and it appears that it's invested for him. also- looking through the paperwork, i cannot clearly see the charges for thsi account. obviously, the tied financial planner at the building society is getting a cut, and fidelity is getting a cut. i want to know what these charges are so taht we can compare apples to apples.

HSBC is the only tied adviser that uses Fidelity (i believe). Tied agents are not portfolio investment advisers. That comes under the remit of IFAs or investment managers. HSBC will also set the plan up on full charges which typically involves a commission of 3.0% on each transaction (compared with industry average of 1.8%).

HSBC also do not provide any ongoing servicing.

Fidelity's online facility is fine (I use it for portfolio rebalancing clients and making switches). However, IFAs do get a different system to the one that clients have so there could be differences there.

however, he's looking for a firm that can advise him. also, with online functionality (he's never been able to get the fideilty online site to work quite right).

If he wants advice, he needs to be looking for an IFA. Not a tied salesman that is currently used. Fidelity is fine as a platform and an IFA can just take over the registration of the agency at zero cost. If the IFA uses back office software then most of the admin, reports and information will come via that rather than the online site.

If he doesnt want advice, his options will be different as he will then be looking at execution only IFAs such as Hargreaves Lansdown.

meggles

so he should be looking for an IFA who can take over his fidentilty S&S ISA. and can invest it on his behalf?

this IFA would be able to clearly & upfront explain the charges, fees or commissions?

dunstonh

this IFA would be able to clearly & upfront explain the charges, fees or commissions?

Its an FSA requirement for that to occur. Change of agency from HSBC to an IFA doenst cost a penny. It just means that ongoing servicing commission is paid to the new IFA rather than to old adviser.