Ok then - How do I choose a S&S ISA!

dunstonh

Would I be better consulting an IFA or could I go direct to a company such as Hargreaves Lansdown ?

HL are an IFA. They just happen to have a product with their brand which is available without advice given. I understand they charge more for advice.

Going direct to the fund house is usually more expensive than buying through a discount IFA as the fund house keeps the commission for themselves. IFAs have the ability to rebate the commission to reduce the charges.

Murphy_The_Cat

Jackie079 wrote: »

I understand that you can invest say £500 upfront and then invest say a further £50 per month ? I realise there is alot of information in this thread, but some of it seems a little too confusing for me at the mo, so any useful tips and advice would be greatly appreciated,many many thanksJackie

I tried to buy some untits from H-L with £500 (the min buy into that fund was/is) £500, but the website would only let me buy a minimun of £3000.

I phomed H-L and they sadi the minimum to open an account with H-L was/is £3000, but on odd occassions they will do it fro slightly less.

But If I wanted a monthly savings plan, then I could for as little as £50.

I may have this all wrong, and if so, could someone let me know. (& then I'll go back and try again).

jamesd

Jackie079, Murphy_The_cat, I suggest that you start with one of the HL in-house multi-manager funds. They aren't the very best but they are fairly good and a good place to start while you get the feel for how things work. No purchase or selling cost so it's free to move to different funds later.

You can change the amount of a monthly direct debit at any time so you can start at 100 or 250 a month to get in the initial amount over a few months and then lower it later to your desired long term level.

Once you have some fund purchased you can sell all or part of one and split the money up to five ways into different funds via the web site, where the normal 1000 minimum for a new purchase on the site doesn't apply. So, just put the regular amounts into one or more with no buying cost and you can later move the money wherever you like.

Each time you buy or sell something HL will send you a letter with the details. If they are getting 0.25% commission on a purchase they will make 25p on a 100 Pound purchase. Not enough to cover the cost of the stamp. So, it's understandable why they don't want lots of really low value trades. Over time the annual commission they also get will make up for this.

Murphy_The_Cat

jamesd wrote: »

Jackie079, Murphy_The_cat, I suggest that you start with one of the HL in-house multi-manager funds. They aren't the very best but they are fairly good and a good place to start while you get the feel for how things work. No purchase or selling cost so it's free to move to different funds later.

You can change the amount of a monthly direct debit at any time so you can start at 100 or 250 a month to get in the initial amount over a few months and then lower it later to your desired long term level.

Once you have some fund purchased you can sell all or part of one and split the money up to five ways into different funds via the web site, where the normal 1000 minimum for a new purchase on the site doesn't apply. So, just put the regular amounts into one or more with no buying cost and you can later move the money wherever you like.

Each time you buy or sell something HL will send you a letter with the details. If they are getting 0.25% commission on a purchase they will make 25p on a 100 Pound purchase. Not enough to cover the cost of the stamp. So, it's understandable why they don't want lots of really low value trades. Over time the annual commission they also get will make up for this.

Thanks for your thoughts jamesd, but your idea wasn't really what I was after doing !

I had a little bit of money 'spare' that I was willing to put aside for awhile and I had one particular fund that I fancied putting it into. In the end, I used Fidelility Funds Network as they had no problem with me dropping £500 into a fund which had a £500 minimun starting investment - the only downer being that Fidelity only discounted my initial investment by 3%, rather than the 4.5% that H-L would have done, but ho-hum, the jobs been done now :beer:

jamesd

Getting it done beats not. Glad you got it sorted out.

Jackie079

Hi guys,thanks so much for your helpful advice. Can I simply ring H&L and do this over the phone ? I'm a bit worried Murphy the Cat was not allowed to buy the funds for less than £3000, I mean what are the 'odd occassions' when they will do it for less ? many thanksJackie

Murphy_The_Cat

Jackie079 wrote: »

Hi guys,thanks so much for your helpful advice. Can I simply ring H&L and do this over the phone ? I'm a bit worried Murphy the Cat was not allowed to buy the funds for less than £3000, I mean what are the 'odd occassions' when they will do it for less ? many thanksJackie

Give them a call and see what they say (they're very fiendly and professional), it could be that your circumstances are different to mine, or failing that, go through Fidelty Funds Network (or other Funds supermarket).

Whoever you use though, be prepared for opening your account to be a little bit of a protracted affair as they go through the money laundering, duel dilligence proces - but once your set up, your good to go.

good luck and let us all know how you get on.



p.s. going back to your original post, if you want to set up a montly savings plan, that will be a piece of cake, and then once that is in place, setting up one off payments of (say) £500 is really straightforward.

Jackie079

Hi there,i've just spoken to H&L and to be honest, I'm still confsed. They are sending me some info on multi manager funds for me to look at and then decide where to invest, but because i'm so new to it, i'm not sure i'll make the right choices. On their website, they have the Vantage account which also looks like it could be suitable, but i'm really not sure. Can anybody advise what I should be looking for ? I would ideally like something say, low to medium risk that would provide a combination of income/capital growth. I'm sorry if i sound like i'm repeating myself, but i got the impression that H&L were very careful not to be giving me any sort advice, but just send me what i'd asked for (even though i'm not sure if it's right for me), thanksJackie

dunstonh

I'm sorry if i sound like i'm repeating myself, but i got the impression that H&L were very careful not to be giving me any sort advice, but just send me what i'd asked for (even though i'm not sure if it's right for me), thanksJackie

You are buying a non-advice product so they cannot give you advice.

If you want advice you will either need to speak to one of their IFAs or another IFA. They will not put you in the same product at the same terms as advice costs money.

Multi-manager funds fall into two camps. General multi-manager and fund of funds. I dont like the former but the latter can be fine for the lazy investor with small amounts. I wouldnt use as they are generally more expensive than a portfolio built by an IFA but if you arent using one and you want to go DIY, they are valid option. With larger amounts, then getting an IFA to build the portfolio is more cost effective than going DIY into fund of funds.

Liz_the_Whizz

jackie079

I have only just taken an interest in this investing milarkey over the last year, but have found H-L very good for small scale investing. All my investments are doing a lot better than when I had my PEP/ISA with the Pru, and I am enjoying the power of being able to switch them around myself.

If I pick the occasional dog, at least I have the satisfaction of being able to recognise it and do something about it myself.

Just at the moment with the market quite volatile, drip feeding on a monthly basis is definitely your best bet, so even if the market drops, you will at least buy more for your money ready for when it goes back up.

What to choose? Well, hard to get advice for free but you can glean a few words of wisdom if you trawl around MSE, also H-L do give general recommendations, and Citywire show you how things have done historically (of course not a guide to future performance!).

Make sure you spread whatever you invest around, go for a sector which is not too volatile and don't worry about not getting it right first time - you can always move things around later. But only invest what you can afford to lose - remember you can get 5% net on savings at present, poor investments may not bring greater returns.

The best thing is to post what you think you might invest in back on here and wait for people to comment - it usually works!

Good luck!