Vanguard Life Strategy

lentrix92

Is HL still cheapest for the fund given the incoming charge changes - or is Charles Stanley now the cheapest ???

JohnRo

lentrix92 wrote: »

Is HL still cheapest for the fund given the incoming charge changes - or is Charles Stanley now the cheapest ???

Charles Stanley at 0.25% are very competitive for smaller amounts but the twist is that they have a minimum investment level of £500 per fund and they don't currently have any sort of automated monthly investment plan facility.

Their website and customer service are superb though.

Yorkie1

JohnRo wrote: »

Charles Stanley at 0.25% are very competitive for smaller amounts but the twist is that they have a minimum investment level of £500 per fund and they don't currently have any sort of automated monthly investment plan facility.

Their website and customer service are superb though.

Just to clarify: is that £500 for just the initial investment, or the minimum amount each time you invest?

And if there is no automation, presumably that doesn't prevent you manually investing every month?

JohnRo

Yorkie1 wrote: »

Just to clarify: is that £500 for just the initial investment, or the minimum amount each time you invest?

Each and every time, unfortunately.

Yorkie1 wrote: »

And if there is no automation, presumably that doesn't prevent you manually investing every month?

Correct, manual investing as and when you can be bothered. I was told when I asked about a month ago, that they will have a regular investing by DD facility at some point, but the only timeline is "soon"

takesyourchances

esmecullen wrote: »

I've done simple with my S & S ISA,have the LS 60 in mine and,quite pleased with it so far (early days tho)..............dripped a further £250 in this month.

Well done adding more in and I am also pleased with my VLS 60% so far and it has been steady. My most interesting side fund at the moment is the Aberdeen Japanese Small Company fund but could go up and down more, but so far so good

I am now swaying towards a single VLS 80% in an SIPP for a while on its own, thinking bit more rounded all in one than the 100% VLS now with some bonds. Later years can add extra bonds etc.

As I am 33 now I could let it run for a bit so I am considering this simple set up at the moment as well with the SIPP.

Also with my S&S ISA I am trying to think of another SIPP tilt I could add at a later stage that would not totally mirror my S&S ISA as my S&S ISA has a bit more exotic side funds.

Thanks.

Gadfium

I stuck £500 in the Aberdeen Global Asian Small Companies today to run alongside my VLS 80% Acc. Its not a massive loss if it tanks and it might provide a bit of spice.
This brings my small investment pot to 3 funds. M+G Strategic Corporate Bond, VLS80% and the new one. I have another tiny BT Sharesave maturing in August..its only about £2K, so I'll stick that in my HL ISA. Then the remainder of my ISA allowance I'll try and fill with the VLS.

Carpi09

Gadfium wrote: »

I stuck £500 in the Aberdeen Global Asian Small Companies today to run alongside my VLS 80% Acc. Its not a massive loss if it tanks and it might provide a bit of spice.
This brings my small investment pot to 3 funds. M+G Strategic Corporate Bond, VLS80% and the new one. I have another tiny BT Sharesave maturing in August..its only about £2K, so I'll stick that in my HL ISA. Then the remainder of my ISA allowance I'll try and fill with the VLS.

I have also added £600 to Aberdeen Global Asian Small Companies

esmecullen

takesyourchances wrote: »

Well done adding more in and I am also pleased with my VLS 60% so far and it has been steady. My most interesting side fund at the moment is the Aberdeen Japanese Small Company fund but could go up and down more, but so far so good

I am now swaying towards a single VLS 80% in an SIPP for a while on its own, thinking bit more rounded all in one than the 100% VLS now with some bonds. Later years can add extra bonds etc.

As I am 33 now I could let it run for a bit so I am considering this simple set up at the moment as well with the SIPP.

Also with my S&S ISA I am trying to think of another SIPP tilt I could add at a later stage that would not totally mirror my S&S ISA as my S&S ISA has a bit more exotic side funds.

Thanks.

Sounds quite interesting, you have quite a good "collection" of funds................a bit too late in the day for me to think about SIPP's but I do like the idea of the small cap funds...........will look into them and decide whether to jump in with one of those, just to pep up my S & S ISA,:)

atypical

JohnRo wrote: »

they don't currently have any sort of automated monthly investment plan facility.

They told me in an email that they will be offering monthly contributions on 10th May (i.e. tomorrow) with a £50 minimum.

Their customer service is very good, as is their website.

Yorkie1

atypical wrote: »

They told me in an email that they will be offering monthly contributions on 10th May (i.e. tomorrow) with a £50 minimum.

Their customer service is very good, as is their website.

(Ref Charles Stanley).

I spent a while on their website yesterday and couldn't make head nor tail of it.

Their PDF guides were practically illegible - print too small, or if enlarged too fuzzy. However, it appears from lots of squinting at the ISA guide that the minimum deposit within a S&S ISA at a time is £1K, which would put them out of my league.

Did a search for Vanguard Life Strategy and nothing came up, so it wasn't evident that I could buy these funds anyway.

I felt very, very inadequate