Buying investment trusts directly

westy22

grey_gym_sock wrote: »

you'd ask HL to convert your shares into certificated form and send them to you.

unlike a transfer to another broker, in which you send your instructions to the broker you want to move to.

And is that the same £25 that HL would charge for a transfer? I can't actually find that charge option on the HL website.

grey_gym_sock

yes, the same charge either way ... "Stock transfer (to another provider or into your own name)"

kidmugsy

Glen_Clark wrote: »

o if I held Investment Trusts with HL I would cut my losses, stump up the £25 to get free of HL and hold them as certificates. … Holding certificates incurs no charges, and when you come to sell you are free to chose the cheapest broker.

That's a neat idea. What are your safe-keeping arrangements? I ask because we used to keep that sort of paperwork in the safety deposit at the bank - but all the local ones have closed over the last few years.

Glen_Clark

kidmugsy wrote: »

That's a neat idea. What are your safe-keeping arrangements? I ask because we used to keep that sort of paperwork in the safety deposit at the bank - but all the local ones have closed over the last few years.

Hidden in a fireproof box. But if you lose the certificates you wouldn't lose the shares. You would just have to pay for a replacement certificate.

brasso

Some good information on this thread, thanks.

It seems to make financial sense to consider individual IT arrangements but let's face it, it's not just about charges. At present I'm with HL and while I'm not going to defend their charging policy, I have to put some value on the sheer convenience of being able to see everything in one place and make quick comparisons.

Something else that concerns me a bit (based on painful experience over the last year when trying to sort out the estate of a deceased family member) is that having dollops of money invested here, there and everywhere makes your financial affairs much more complex and there is a possibility that things will get missed, particularly if you go a bit doolally in your later years.

So I will definitely consider looking to switch from HL (X-O looks like a decent alternative), but probably wouldn't go for individual ITs.

kidmugsy

brasso wrote: »

having dollops of money invested here, there and everywhere makes your financial affairs much more complex

I am under instruction from my better half to simplify my affairs and hers. We can still get some diversification of providers by having her ISAs and mine with different ones. The huge increase in 100% deposit protection from £2k to £85k makes it all much easier.

Porcupine

Rollinghome wrote: »

Plus the new HL account closure fee - £30 for closing each sub-account you hold with them. That's £30 for your trading account, £30 for your ISA account etc. Effectively a back-end charge you incur as soon as you open any account with them. They will automatically close your accounts if the value goes below £50 and take the closure fee.

Interesting point: HL automatically open a Fund and Share account when you open an ISA, 'just in case'. Does this mean I'll incur a £30 fee for closing my F&S account which I've never used and never had a penny in it?

db7

Excellent news from HL today:

[FONT=&quot]"from 1 March 2014, as they do today, clients will pay no charge for holding any shares, investment trusts, bonds, VCTs, gilts or ETFs in the Vantage Fund & Share Account."[/FONT]

Rollinghome

Porcupine wrote: »

Interesting point: HL automatically open a Fund and Share account when you open an ISA, 'just in case'. Does this mean I'll incur a £30 fee for closing my F&S account which I've never used and never had a penny in it?

It does if you close it after 2 June, though how they'll get it if there's nothing in the account for them to grab is another question.

"There will be a new fee of £25 +VAT to cover the costs of closing an account. If you withdraw cash or transfer to a new manager with the result that your Hargreaves Lansdown account is worth less than £50 then your account will be closed, the closure fee collected and any balance returned to you or transferred to your new provider. This fee does not apply to clients closing an account to transfer between the SIPP, Group SIPP and Drawdown. The fee will be introduced on 2 June 2014 and apply in addition to any transfer charges that may apply."

db7 wrote: »

Excellent news from HL today:
"from 1 March 2014, as they do today, clients will pay no charge for holding any shares, investment trusts, bonds, VCTs, gilts or ETFs in the Vantage Fund & Share Account."

Though not strictly true in as far as there will be that new £30 backend charge from June that's incurred for holding any account with them and becomes payable if the balance falls below £50 - with separate charges for each fund and share account and ISA account.

MikeR371

I opened an x-o account to escape charges for holding investment trusts. I haven't funded it yet. So am I right in thinking now I might as well stick with HL or are there any other charges I should be aware of (except the exit charge mentioned above)?