Alternatives to Hargreaves Lansdown?

brasso

I know there are several discussions about the new HL charges, and in among them various alternative platforms are mentioned. Leaving HL would be a wrench but I will do so in order to save hundreds of pounds a year. The interview with Danny Cox on R4 gave me no confidence at all. Someone who speaks as quickly and as robotically as that seems to be panicking.

Can I ask what people regard as good alternatives to HL? I've been with them a long time and I've got used to how their website works -- and I like it. If I could find something similar I would jump but the ones I've looked at so far seem a bit less substantial somehow.

Any ideas? I have a SIPP, S+S ISA and a S+S fund. About 300K in total, spread across individual shares, managed funds, trackers.

SnowMan

In terms of cost it depends how the amounts are spread across the 3 accounts and what proportion is in shares and ETFs. And it depends on how many fund/share sales and purchases you make a year.

There is a strong argument for splitting up funds and shares/ETFs and using a sharedealing platform (x-o for example) for the shares and a different platform for the funds.

If putting it all with one provider the new Trustnet Direct platform looks good as they will cap their charge at £200 across accounts (+ a SIPP admin fee of £144pa, waived for first year). So they come in at £344pa platform charge plus dealing costs.

ATS is £366pa platform charge (90 + 90 + 186) plus fund and share dealing costs. They have an offer on as well if you move to them.

HL is up to £1,350pa platform charge + share dealing costs (less depending on how much is in shares/ETFs and which account those shares are in).

Interactive Investor looks cheapest though at £144pa platform charge + fund and share dealing costs (note there is an uncertainty as to whether you pay their £80pa account charge as well if you have a SIPP and a dealing or ISA account but you get 8 free trades if it does apply in addition).

Like HL, Youinvest seem to be on a mission to increase exit fees (and their fee cap is per account and not across accounts). So moving to them would be escaping one prison (HL) and finding yourself recaptured and locked into another prison (Youinvest).

Without the accurate split of investments into accounts/types is hard to be precise.

dunstonh

Any ideas? I have a SIPP, S+S ISA and a S+S fund. About 300K in total, spread across individual shares, managed funds, trackers.

One of the key issues is that HL is positioning itself as a wrap platform. It is no longer a fund supermarket (although in more recent times it was more a fund supermarket with a brokerage bolt on).

If you want shares/direct investments only then a broker that focuses on those will be better. If you want managed funds then HL is probably cheaper than before (or at least comparable). If you want passives only then a personal pension or direct to fund house may be cheaper.

if you want the lot in one place then a wrap platform is the service you are after and you would expect similar pricing in the end. Although HL is more expensive than IFA platforms. Which is daft for the DIY side (although you could argue that with IFAs doing a lot of the work and taking liability that the IFA platforms actually have to do less than a DIY platform, hence why they are cheaper). Anyway, the point of that is that some IFA platforms are available via DIY intermediaries. They are less likely to be as consumer friendly as their inputs are not aimed at the DIY market but they will be cheaper.