Help in understanding charges please

DiamondLil

I'm hoping someone on here can clarify charges please. If I open an account with, for example, Fidelity Funds Network (or any other brokerage firm), and then buy units in a fund, will I pay charges to the fund manager as well as to Fidelity?
I want to save monthly for my grandchildren, outside of ISAs, and can't work out whether it's better to go direct to the funds or go through a broker.
Thank you to anyone who can put me straight - been going round in circles reading all the small print and can't find the answer....

Rollinghome

If you buy through Fidelity you'll pay the fund manager's charges plus a 0.35% "platform fee" to Fidelity. You won't pay Fidelity an initial charge or pretty much any other charge. See here. You'll also be able to easily switch to any of the other funds they offer whenever you choose.

Most other brokers/platforms will have other charges in addition to a platform fee which you will need to take into account. The best value will depend of how and how much you intend to invest.

If you buy directly from the fund managers in most cases you will pay more but there are a few exceptions, especially if investing seriously large amounts, so you'll need to check out the options for whichever funds you choose to invest in.

DiamondLil

Thanks Rollinghome, much appreciated.

grizzly1911

As per Rollinghome.

Rather than direct with Fidelity consider Cavendishonline - operate on the same platform Funds network but fees are lower. It is a broker but you can operate a near mirror of the platform through them or use it direct through Fidelity.

IME their service has been very good.

There are other platforms/brokers as well so make sure you do your own research.

DiamondLil

Thanks Grizzly.
I've looked at Cavendish, Charles Stanley and III as well as Fidelity; I'm looking to save monthly for a good few years. All seem pretty competitive so I guess it comes down to my own personal preferences.
However, I do have existing funds directly invested with Jupiter and I'm not sure whether to leave them as they are or move these to a broker as well (assuming I'm happy with whichever broker I go with).
Anyway, thanks again Rollinghome and Grizzly1911 for your comments.

grey_gym_sock

iii become better value with £32k or more invested (which can be across linked family accounts), since they have minimum charges of £80 per year. with less than that invested, 0.25% p.a. from charles stanley or cavendish is cheaper.

are your funds with jupiter "full priced" units, which typically means an AMC of 1.5%? if you moved to 1 of the platforms, you could switch or convert to cheaper "clean" units (perhaps 0.75% AMC).

DiamondLil

I presume so, grey gym sock; I've had them a long time. Now that I've been shown the direction to look in, I've seen that the charges are lower if invested through one of the brokers as opposed to directly with the fund management company.
Until I came here, I was thinking that the fund AMC of, say, 1.5% was in addition to the broker's charge of 0.25%.
Senior moments come thick and fast these days...

grey_gym_sock

oh, that's not a senior moment at all - it's the finance industry making it deliberately opaque.

DiamondLil

Thank you grey gym sock - you've made my day.

bigadaj

DiamondLil wrote: »

I presume so, grey gym sock; I've had them a long time. Now that I've been shown the direction to look in, I've seen that the charges are lower if invested through one of the brokers as opposed to directly with the fund management company.
Until I came here, I was thinking that the fund AMC of, say, 1.5% was in addition to the broker's charge of 0.25%.
Senior moments come thick and fast these days...

Companies often have several classes of fund, even though they're the same investment, it's normally signified by a single letter after the fund, such as r, w etc.

If you can find this you can then use trustnet to check the charges online.