Joebren

Joebren

Hi,

Looking to invest this years ISA allowance in US and/or Japanese equities for long term savings.

Any advice available on a reliable investment fund/good track record with low charges ?

dunstonh

the board is not authorised to give that sort of investment advice.

As we dont know how these fit in with your investment strategy, risk profile and existing holdings, we cant really tell you anyway.

grey_gym_sock

if you want tracker funds for the US and/or japan, we could make suggestions on how to keep the costs down. if you want actively managed funds, you're more on your own.

Joebren

Thanks Grey Gym Sock,

Passive investment funds as is Tracker is my interest.Just wary of hidden costs/charges which may dilute any long term gains.Suggestions welcome.

grey_gym_sock

right, with trackers especially, if you buy them through a third party (on a "platform"), there may be extra charges from the platform provider ... and many platforms are likely to be bringing in new charges ...

Vanguard have some very cheap trackers, but you can't buy them directly (or only for 100k+, and not for ISAs anyway), so there will be some form of platform charges on top.

HSBC have some pretty cheap trackers, and you can get an ISA directly with HSBC (through "HSBC Global Investment Centre"), currently for no extra charge, and most ppl seem to think there are less likely to be new charges if you go direct (instead of with a platform) ... though this is guess work.

specific funds:

HSBC American Index - tracks S&P 500 Index - TER 0.30%

HSBC Japan Index - tracks FTSE Japan Index - TER 0.33%

Vanguard US Equity Index - tracks S&P Total Market Index - TER 0.20%

Vanguard have also recently launched some ETFs, including:

Vanguard S&P 500 Index (VUSA) - TER 0.09%

so actually i can't see any vanguard funds for japan ...

for the US, Vanguard has cheaper options than HSBC, but by the time you've paid the platform provider, it's probably more expensive, unless you have a lot more than 1 year's ISAs invested together ...

e.g. to hold just 1 vanguard fund with a platform might cost £24 per year (if the platform is hargreaves lansdown - who are, as far as i know, the cheapest platform for just 1 vanguard fund, though not for more) ...

for the ETF option (VUSA), there will be dealing charges when buying & selling ... i think there are a few platforms without any other charges for holding shares/ETFs in an ISA, though it's doubtful whether that will last ...

Joebren

Ta very much Grey Gym Sock for this very useful info. Regards Joebren