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Investment platform with cheap fixed fees?
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Scotty2000
Posts: 4 Newbie
Hi,
I typically invest in low-cost index trackers, mainly Vanguard, through Hargreaves Lansdown.
However, their new fee structure will be very very expensive for people investing higher amounts.
Previously, the cost of the platoform was £2 per month per fund. Now, it's 0.45% of the value of the fund for investments below £250k! So, you can see for £250k (as an example) the fees rocket effectively undermining the concept of low-cost index trackers.
To my question: can anyone please recommend a fund platform (fund supermarket, are they called?) which still has the per-month fixed fee?
Alternatively, any other ideas of how to invest in trackers with very low fees?
I realise I could go directly to Vanguard but their limit is £100k per fund; my preference would be to invest in a geographically divers range of funds ...
Thanks in advance for help!
I typically invest in low-cost index trackers, mainly Vanguard, through Hargreaves Lansdown.
However, their new fee structure will be very very expensive for people investing higher amounts.
Previously, the cost of the platoform was £2 per month per fund. Now, it's 0.45% of the value of the fund for investments below £250k! So, you can see for £250k (as an example) the fees rocket effectively undermining the concept of low-cost index trackers.
To my question: can anyone please recommend a fund platform (fund supermarket, are they called?) which still has the per-month fixed fee?
Alternatively, any other ideas of how to invest in trackers with very low fees?
I realise I could go directly to Vanguard but their limit is £100k per fund; my preference would be to invest in a geographically divers range of funds ...
Thanks in advance for help!
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Comments
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Previously, the cost of the platoform was £2 per month per fund. Now, it's 0.45% of the value of the fund for investments below £250k!
Their new charge is high. On that amount you would expect somewhere in the range of 0.25% to 0.35%.I realise I could go directly to Vanguard but their limit is £100k per fund; my preference would be to invest in a geographically divers range of funds ...
use their lifestrategy funds instead.
What tax wrappers are you using for your £250k? This will impact on the available optionsI am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.0 -
It depends on the amounts involved and other factors, I'm considering Charles Stanley Direct at 0.25%
Have a play with this, it doesn't have all platforms (e.g. HL) but worth a look
http://www.comparefundplatforms.com/0 -
I don't see why you should be expecting to pay 0.25% on fund if you hold £250k, it would be far cheaper to use platforms charging a flat fee like Interactive Investor or Alliance Trust, both of whom are offering incentives to transfer at the moment.
According to the Telegraph, you can buy Royal London's FTSE 350 tracker (Income) 0.1% charges direct with a minimum investment of £1,000 and pay no management fees. And providing you have £100k you can do the same with Vanguard.0 -
If it's tax-exposed investment that interests you, then you can use this tracker for the British part of your portfolio
http://www.aberdeenuktracker.co.uk
while holding it almost free in the management company's Share Scheme: scroll down to p44 of
http://www.theaic.co.uk/sites/default/files/statistics/attachment/AICStats31Dec2013.pdf
Their ISA is pretty cheap too: p47.
Now you need to find a solution for your non-UK stuff.Free the dunston one next time too.0 -
Their new charge is high. On that amount you would expect somewhere in the range of 0.25% to 0.35%.
use their lifestrategy funds instead.
What tax wrappers are you using for your £250k? This will impact on the available options
Thanks- the lifestrategy funds look good, well diversified, with low costs. But, roughly £150k of £300k would be within both of our ISAs. Is this possible through Vanguard directly?0 -
Or another thought, if you really want to stick with HL is to transfer to Vanguard ETFs, Annual fees are then capped at £200 (0.08% at £250k)
And if you hold £300ks worth of tracker funds at HL you're in same boat as me facing a 1800% rise in fees, I'd suggest following this thread https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/48700180 -
I don't see why you should be expecting to pay 0.25% on fund if you hold £250k, it would be far cheaper to use platforms charging a flat fee like Interactive Investor or Alliance Trust, both of whom are offering incentives to transfer at the moment.
According to the Telegraph, you can buy Royal London's FTSE 350 tracker (Income) 0.1% charges direct with a minimum investment of £1,000 and pay no management fees. And providing you have £100k you can do the same with Vanguard.
If you use Halifax the annual fee is £12.50 for holding funds. £12.50 to purchase each fund but if you aren't trading much then you will save a massive amount compared to HL.
iWeb is even cheaper.Remember the saying: if it looks too good to be true it almost certainly is.0 -
But the Halifax/iWeb's range of Vanguard funds is somewhat limited, according to the recent thread on this forum.0
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Lejog2003,
We're in the same boat!
My current thinking is:
1. £150k index tracker ISAs for my wife and I using a fixed-fee platform. As I call round those offering Vanguard trackers, none seem able to confirm their future platform charging approach. I suspect many will follow HL with a percentage based fee.
2. £200k direct with Vanguard in Lifestrategy fund.
Any thoughts on this approach?0
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