Vanguard LifeStrat Via TD Direct - Quick Question

AlwaysLearnin

For anyone with a TD Direct ISA account, can you find any Vanguard LifeStrategy funds listed when you add a Regular Investment?

I've had all sorts of problems with my account since opening, not being able these to my regular investment list, but when I log on tonight none are even showing when you type "van". I'm just wondering if it's just me/my account (again), or a general issue.

Thanks in advance.

MercenaryMan

A quick search for Vanguard results in a single ETF in the TDD Regular Investment list:

VANGUARD INV SER FTSE 100 ETF INC NAV

I'm not buying those funds there so don't know if that is abnormal.

AlwaysLearnin

Thanks for that. Perhaps not just me then. Wonder what's going on over there...

Thanks again

bowlhead99

I have held Lifestrategy through TD Direct but don't use the regular investment feature so don't even know what the screens look like, sorry.

As TD don't impose a buy or sell commission (unlike shares where you might want to take advantage of the 1.50 per trade through monthly advance orders), you could always just buy it normally? Once you have it in your portfolio through one minimum initial purchase of 500, you can then sell or buy much smaller chunks at no incremental charge.

AlwaysLearnin

Thanks bowlhead. I have on-going issues on my account where I can't seem to action anything online for Vanguard funds. For example, trying to initiate a trade online today (and previously) off of a fund listed in my portfolio (previously purchased manually via phone) results in a message:

"We are unable to confirm the status of your order. Please check your orders page or contact the Electronic Brokerage Support team on 0845 607 6002 to verify the status of your order"

I used to at least be able to see the LifeStrategy funds listed on the regular investment page, just couldn’t save any changes, hence wondered if their disappearance was linked to the issues on my account, or a general thing.

blobbi

I am also having problems with Vanguard and TD direct. Two weeks ago all available vanguard funds popped up in the regular saver box and now as you say only that one. I spoke to them and they were quite vague about what was and wasn't available for regular investment. I have also had issues with setting upa direct debit, it has taken over a month to do so and still not set up!

I wondered. When I then looked for some other funds to make up my own portfolio it says that there is a £1.50 commission on these funds (ie HSBC UK Gilt Index C). I thought that there was no commission on funds?

blobbi

OK so spoke to them again and ALL investments done as a regular investor (both shares and funds) are charged £1.50 commission. So guess I will hav to do it manually each month. What a pain.

MercenaryMan

blobbi wrote: »

OK so spoke to them again and ALL investments done as a regular investor (both shares and funds) are charged £1.50 commission. So guess I will hav to do it manually each month. What a pain.

That is at odds with the information on their Regular Investing page:

How Much Does it Cost?

Commission is just £1.50 per trade for stocks. Funds do not incur commission but there may be a Fund Manager charge, which is a percentage of the value of your investment. This can differ depending on the fund. Any further real time purchases and any sales will be at our standard rates.

EDIT: found the regular investing commission charges:

To buy:
FTSE 350/ETFs - £1.50
Funds - Nil

AlwaysLearnin

Funds should not incur a dealing fee. This is backed up by their website, per links provided by MercenaryMan.

Unfortunately I have found their customer services wanting in most of my dealings with them to date, therefore wouldn't trust anything they told me...:(. I personally don't think the website is up to much either, with their upgrades appearing to be a very thin veneer of smart appearances on top of what would appear on closer inspection to be a flawed system.

I take some comfort in the fact that it's not just me it's wrong for though. Thanks

blobbi

Its official, they are useless, spoke to another person and they said, as per the website, that there is no fund charge. Anyone still able to get other vanguard funds up on the regular investing bit of the website?

AlwaysLearnin

As of last night I was still only seeing the one ETF item.