Hargreaves Lansdown "playing hardball"

jamesd

Rollinghome wrote: »

On most trackers, Vanguard being an exception, they've also been getting 0.1% - 0.2% from the AMC as well the extra £2 platform charge. Fidelity got the same but didn't make an extra charge.

I checked every tracker HL lists with a £2 a month platform charge except the Vanguard ones. These are the commissions declared by HL:

0.000 Aviva Inv Intl Index Tracking Class 1 Acc
0.000 Fidelity MoneyBuilder World Index Class A Acc
0.100 HSBC Japan Index Inc
0.100 HSBC Japan Index Acc
0.100 Allianz UK Index Class A Acc
0.100 Allianz UK Index Class A Inc
0.000 Aviva Inv UK Index Tracking Class 1 Inc
0.050 F&C FTSE All Share Tracker Fund Class 1 Inc
0.050 F&C FTSE All Share Tracker Fund Class 1 Acc
0.000 Fidelity Moneybuilder UK Index Acc
0.100 HSBC FTSE 100 Index Inc
0.100 HSBC FTSE 100 Index Acc
0.100 HSBC FTSE 250 Index Inc
0.100 HSBC FTSE 250 Index Acc
0.150 HSBC FTSE All Share Index A Institutional Acc AMC 0.25
0.150 HSBC FTSE All Share Index A Institutional Inc AMC 0.25
0.200 Legal & General UK Index Retail Acc AMC 0.40
0.200 Legal & General UK Index Retail Inc AMC 0.40
0.000 Liontrust FTSE 100 Tracker Inc AMC 0.30
0.000 M&G Index Tracker Class A Inc AMC 0.30
0.000 M&G Index Tracker Class A Acc AMC 0.30
0.000 Marks & Spencer UK 100 Companies Inc AMC 1.0
0.000 Marks & Spencer UK 100 Companies Acc AMC 1.0
0.000 SWIP FTSE All Share Index (SWIP Foundation Growth) Class B GBP Inc AMC 0.07
0.000 SWIP FTSE All Share Index (SWIP Foundation Growth) Class B GBP Acc AMC 0.07
0.000 Virgin FTSE All Share Tracker Fund Inc AMC 1.0
0.000 Fidelity MoneyBuilder US Index Class A Acc AMC 0.1
0.100 HSBC American Index Retail Inc AMC 0.25
0.100 HSBC American Index Acc AMC 0.25
0.100 HSBC Pacific Index Inc AMC 0.25
0.100 HSBC Pacific Index Acc AMC 0.25
0.100 HSBC European Index Inc AMC 0.25
0.100 HSBC European Index Acc AMC 0.25
0.000 M&G European Index Tracker Class A Inc AMC 0.50
0.000 M&G European Index Tracker Class A Acc AMC 0.50
0.100 HSBC UK Gilt Index Inc AMC 0.25
0.100 HSBC UK Gilt Index Acc AMC 0.25
0.000 Legal & General All Stocks Gilt Index Trust Acc AMC 0.15
0.000 Legal & General All Stocks Gilt Index Trust Inc AMC 0.15
0.000 Legal & General All Stocks Index-Linked Gilt Index Class M Acc AMC 0.15
0.000 Legal & General All Stocks Index-Linked Gilt Index Class M Inc AMC 0.15

41 funds. 19 paying no commission, 22 paying commission. The HL portion of your claim appears to be correct, though at 19:22 it's close and most might not really be the best word choice even though it's strictly correct.

Drp8713

I just got an email saying one of my funds had been removed from the wealth 150 so guess the changes are happening.

They said performance had been "mixed"

JPM obviously didnt pay them enough.

+15% this year and a 3.75% income yield seemed ok to me

Rollinghome

jamesd wrote: »

I checked every tracker HL lists with a £2 a month platform charge except the Vanguard ones. These are the commissions declared by HL:
41 funds. 19 paying no commission, 22 paying commission. The HL portion of your claim appears to be correct, though at 19:22 it's close and most might not really be the best word choice even though it's strictly correct.

Gosh James, you seem to have an awful lot of time on your hands (certainly more than I would bother to waste before I make a casual post to a message board like this) but I'm glad that you found what I said was entirely correct. I'm usually pleased enough if my posts make even the slightest sense.

As it was "strictly correct" as you say then I'm at a loss as to why you should think that the wording used, "most", was not. With due respect you do seem to be somewhat obsessive if it's your habit to check out the smallest details of every post to a public message board like this. Do you have other hobbies?

PS. Would the person with the Marks and Spencer tracker at 1.0% AMC but still paying nothing to HL please put their hand up.

jamesd

I was curious enough to spend twenty minutes or so checking it out. I've been checking a lot of the HL costs so I'll see what changes with their new pricing.

"More than half" seems like a better word choice to me than "most", given it being only just over half.

What do you make of the number of funds where HL is getting more than the fund management company?

Froggitt

Its impossible for them to come up with a business model that allows them to retain so much commission AND be competitive with other intermediaries such that they retain similar levels of business to present.


Shorting HL for a few weeks has to be a massive moneyspinner.

Rollinghome

jamesd wrote: »

I was curious enough to spend twenty minutes or so checking it out. I've been checking a lot of the HL costs so I'll see what changes with their new pricing.

"More than half" seems like a better word choice to me than "most", given it being only just over half.

I might have even said "precisely 22 blah blah to 19 if you include funds like Virgin and Marks and Sparks"... if I'd thought it important enough to check.

jamesd wrote: »

What do you make of the number of funds where HL is getting more than the fund management company?

It's an interesting one. It does of course look odd that the people who do little more than keep the accounts and send me irritating sales literature should take more than the outfit who make the investment decisions that will hopefully grow my money. But then it's sometimes also difficult to see quite what the fund managers do to justify the vast salaries they're paid.

Especially when "most" of them do no better than that annoying monkey with a pin after their charges are taken. It's an industry that has frequently managed to persuade us that they are entirely plausible and more valuable to us than perhaps they really are.

grey_gym_sock

Rollinghome wrote: »

But then it's sometimes also difficult to see quite what the fund managers do to justify the vast salaries they're paid.

Especially when "most" of them do no better than that annoying monkey with a pin after their charges are taken.

but then who can afford to keep a monkey to pick shares? the regulations about protected species are a nightmare ... and as for letting them handle pins ...

Rollinghome

grey_gym_sock wrote: »

but then who can afford to keep a monkey to pick shares? the regulations about protected species are a nightmare ... and as for letting them handle pins ...

When our dog was pup I used to put the FT on the kitchen floor and hoped he'd put me onto a winner. But he just used it as a toilet. Hopeless.

jimjames

jamesd wrote: »

What do you make of the number of funds where HL is getting more than the fund management company?

It seems unbelievable that a company like Virgin or M&S is raking in 1% on a tracker and keeping all that fee themselves.

Just gives some idea of the profit they are making when HSBC are doing exactly the same tracker product for 0.15% net of commission and SWIP at 0.07%. 15% more for the same product, M&S may be pricey but that really takes the biscuit and if anything is a bigger story to me than HL fees.

jamesd

Does anyone know when HL started disclosing commission? I see it on contract notes for November 2013 but not July and don't have any in between to narrow it down a bit.