Hargreaves Lansdown "playing hardball"

westy22

Interesting comparison between HL and Cavendish - one operates with 3 staff in a tiny office close to Exeter Cathedral and one operates with thousands of staff in a modern glass palace 5 times larger than Bristol Cathedral!

bigadaj

westy22 wrote: »

Interesting comparison between HL and Cavendish - one operates with 3 staff in a tiny office close to Exeter Cathedral and one operates with thousands of staff in a modern glass palace 5 times larger than Bristol Cathedral!

I didn't realise cavendish were that small.

HL are pretty good on the pr, spin and media side, managing to get into the bbc regularly but it's going to be a difficult business model going forward. High overheads mean higher pricing but if you're prepared to pay more wouldn't you go through an ifa and get the benefit of more thought and opinion, insurance cover etc, particulalry as on larger pots then the ifa costs all in might not be a lot more.

No difference to most businesses in that it's easier to exist at the very top and bottom and a real dogfight in the middle. I can't see many optins for them,could they tray and elbow in on the st James place market possibly?

grey_gym_sock

it may be that HL's funds platform would barely be profitable with 0.32% revenue (i'm not sure how much of the platform's costs relate to funds).

last reported revenue (net of loyalty bonus) on funds seems to be c. 0.63%.

however, less than half of HL's revenue comes from commissions on funds. if cutting margins drastically is what it takes to keep growing assets on the platform, HL is in a position to do that.

it seems more likely to me that most customers will be saying: they're charging me 0.6% (or however much), but my loyalty bonus is up from 0.15% to 0.75%, so not much change there. but look at these even cheaper funds, 0.5% (+ 0.6% for HL) - i could put some money in them, and save even more!

blizeH

What's the general consensus on the best company to go with then? My main issue is I'd like to do it soon as I have quite a bit in the Cavezone Smaller Companies fund which is closing in under a month.

I have money in:

60% Vanguard Lifestrategy - S&S ISA
20% Cavezone - Fund account
10% Marlbrough Micro cap - Fund account
5% Unicorn Income - Fund account
5% Aberdeen Asian Smaller companies

Would really appreciate any advice... I know a lot of people here are talking about Cavendish, but X-O look good too.

Interestingly, it seems like at the moment HL is actually cheaper than Cavendish for some funds?

ie http://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/investments/fund-research/ 1.5% annual fee
vs http://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discounts,-prices--and--factsheets/search-results/c/cazenove-uk-smaller-companies-class-b-accumulation 1.25%

le_loup

wile wrote: »

Yet it still takes 4 days for them to deal my regular monthly investment from the time it leaves my bank account, and funnily enough it also only ever seems to be dealt after the fund price has risen.

I think you will find that the money transfer takes 3 days. therefore to deal on the 4th day is pretty good. As for the price going up ... that's just paranoia!

westy22

le_loup wrote: »

I think you will find that the money transfer takes 3 days. therefore to deal on the 4th day is pretty good. As for the price going up ... that's just paranoia!

Not so - HL's system is to take DDs on the 7th of the month and make investments on the 10th. Has always been so, AFAIK.

Mind you, my F&C and Aberdeen IT Share Plans are worse - they have my cash for up to 7 or 8 days before they invest it - and they always buy at the peak price on that day. I have monitored this for over a year and not once has my purchase been completed at other than the day's peak!

Rollinghome

blizeH wrote: »

Interestingly, it seems like at the moment HL is actually cheaper than Cavendish for some funds?

ie http://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/investments/fund-research/ 1.5% annual fee
vs http://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discounts,-prices--and--factsheets/search-results/c/cazenove-uk-smaller-companies-class-b-accumulation 1.25%

Yes HL offer a "loyalty bonus on that particular fund which effectively makes it 1.25% But you seem have missed that Cavendish/Fidelity rebate 100% of the trail commission on all their bundled funds to make theirs 1.00%. They also offer the clean version X class at 0.75% plus 0.25% platform. (From 16 Dec all funds on offer will be the clean versions.)

You may also have spotted that typically HL only offer the most expensive fund class: such as the very successful M&G Optimal Income where HL sell the X class for 1.5% minus 0.10% "loyalty bonus" so 1.4% net AMC. Cavendish/Fidelity have the cheaper class A at 1.25% and then refund all commission 0.50% to make a net AMC of 0.75%.

foofi22

blizeH wrote: »

What's the general consensus on the best company to go with then? My main issue is I'd like to do it soon as I have quite a bit in the Cavezone Smaller Companies fund which is closing in under a month.

I have money in:

60% Vanguard Lifestrategy - S&S ISA
20% Cavezone - Fund account
10% Marlbrough Micro cap - Fund account
5% Unicorn Income - Fund account
5% Aberdeen Asian Smaller companies

Would really appreciate any advice... I know a lot of people here are talking about Cavendish, but X-O look good too.

Interestingly, it seems like at the moment HL is actually cheaper than Cavendish for some funds?

ie http://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/investments/fund-research/ 1.5% annual fee
vs http://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discounts,-prices--and--factsheets/search-results/c/cazenove-uk-smaller-companies-class-b-accumulation 1.25%

I'm no expert but the Cavendish one rebates all the trail commission (0.5%) bringing the fee down to 1%. That's ignoring any other fees that may apply though.

Rollinghome

foofi22 wrote: »

I'm no expert but the Cavendish one rebates all the trail commission (0.5%) bringing the fee down to 1%. That's ignoring any other fees that may apply though.

No extra fees either, not even for transferring funds to another provider for which HL sting you for £25 per fund. See http://www.cavendishonline.co.uk/investments/our-service/

blizeH

Thank you very much both, they don't like to make this easy do they!

To be honest I think I need to take the plunge and move my funds across. Will keep the shares in HL as I can't see any benefit to moving them (ie I've already taken the hit with the high trading fees) - plus it looks like you can't buy individual shares on Cavendish either (nor can I see Vanguard funds worryingly)

Going to start the transfer process now, will likely pay the £25 for my S&S ISA as that'd be easier, and just sell my other funds for cash, simples