Sippdeal shocker (& link to template complaint letter)

xylophone

I notice HL have just started advising you to keep minimum cash balances in your accounts - up to £250.

Where is this - have just checked my account and the web site?

primalgeek

xylophone wrote: »

Where is this - have just checked my account and the web site?

It's just under the "Amount available to invest" field on the account summary page. Strangely enough, my wife's account shows the 'Suggested minimum balance' field, but neither my SIPP or ISA has this.

Perelandra

I was actually looking at Youinvest the other day as a cheaper option for me than ATS for my SIPP, glad I didn't now.

The cheaper options seem to be vanishing.

pip895

xylophone wrote: »

Where is this - have just checked my account and the web site?

They have appeared at the top of the page for each account as "suggested minimum cash balance" there is a sliding scale with anything over 100k suggesting a £250 balance

Linton

JohnRo wrote: »

.....
I'm surprised the likes of Blackrock, Vanguard, et al haven't moved to take a slice of the retail online investment portal market. Perhaps they think it will just add costs and little else but I'm sure they'd find a market if the prices charged were inviting.

I would not be surprised if they started taking over the more successful players. It could be too much of a risk for them to go in with something new. That's what has happened with other new markets eg internet connectivity - the pioneers start up something interesting and then the big companies take over.

xylophone

They have appeared at the top of the page for each account as "suggested minimum cash balance" there is a sliding scale with anything over 100k suggesting a £250 balance

Nothing about this on my account page yet.

pip895

xylophone wrote: »

Nothing about this on my account page yet.

Interesting?! Clicking the help button gives this:-

Minimum cash balance

We suggest all clients keep a minimum cash balance on each of their accounts. You don't have to keep a minimum cash balance, but by doing so you will always have money to meet fees or other outgoings. We look at each account separately, and so clients with more than one account - an ISA and SIPP for example - may find different balances on each account. Your minimum cash balance is only a guideline and the amount shown will be included in any interest payment calculations. The minimum balance we recommend is as follows:
Account Size by AssetsSuggested Minimum Cash Balance you keep£0 to £10,000£25£10,000 to £25,000£50£25,000 to £50,000£75£50,000 to £100,000£100£100,000 and over£250

JohnRo

pip895 wrote: »

... Suggested Minimum Cash Balance you keep
£0 to £10,000£25
£10,000 to £25,000£50
£25,000 to £50,000£75
£50,000 to £100,000£100
£100,000 and over£250

Looks perfectly sensible to me. I tend to keep about 5% in cash on the account I monitor regularly for the opportunity to buy any sudden and significant dips.

That 5% in cash only provides an additional performance drag of about 0.01% at current cash deposit interest rates.

Perelandra

JohnRo wrote: »

That 5% in cash only provides an additional performance drag of about 0.01% at current cash deposit interest rates.

How does the maths of this work, JohnRo? Shouldn't you use the opportunity cost of not-investing as the performance drag?

JohnRo

Perelandra wrote: »

How does the maths of this work, JohnRo? Shouldn't you use the opportunity cost of not-investing as the performance drag?

I guess so but that's not really quantifiable without hindsight, is it? I'm working on lost income from savings interest, in other words the difference between it sat in the investment account ready to go at a moments notice, earning 0.1% interest or being sat mostly forgotten about in a 2% savings account.

I know it's not optimal but I've found transfers in take hours sometimes and also within the ISA it's not an option. It's worked a few times in my favour so far but I admit there's no robust theory behind it.