Starting a S&S ISA: Vanguard LS. Platform?

macgyver

Have been reading arround this forum and the different sites suggested, I have decided that I am going to invest in Vanguard Life Strategy Fund Acc 100%. I have not contributed to ISA this year and would be investing full amount of 11,500 before April and further full S&S allowance after April.
Not sure about the platform yet.
http://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/
The ones I have narrowed down to are:
1. Charles Stanley Direct: Charge 0.25% admin fee. Good points- good for small amount and less transfer out charge of £10. Good website
2. Youinvest: Good for small investment; charge .2% with a limit of £200 per year. Transfer out charge £25
3. Halifax share dealing: Was not sure if they would charge any admin fee but after chatting online I was told that an annual charge of £12.5 will be charged and no annual fee and when I buy again after April, I will just pat another £11.95.
But the read somewhere that Halifax would charge £50 per year for the ISA.
4. I-Web; It has been mentioned that it is cheapest but have see that apart from opening charge of £25, they would charge an annual fee of 0.33% on the VLS fund.
http://www.iweb-sharedealing.co.uk/PDFs/fund-conversions.pdf

My wife would be opening an S&S ISA as well with a similar risk profile. Will buy VLS 80% or even 100% as well.

Any suggestions on the platform please. Planning on once a year lump sum buying the fund for the full S&S allowance for both. I have an NHS pension and emergency funds available and investing for 10 to 20 years.

Thank you

Archi_Bald

Also check out trustnet, might be a good candidate for the two of you.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4849408

westy22

macgyver wrote: »

4. I-Web; It has been mentioned that it is cheapest but have see that apart from opening charge of £25, they would charge an annual fee of 0.33% on the VLS fund.
http://www.iweb-sharedealing.co.uk/PDFs/fund-conversions.pdf

Thank you

That 0.33% is the AMC that Vanguard will charge you on the LS 100% fund whatever platform you are on.

macgyver

westy22 wrote: »

That 0.33% is the AMC that Vanguard will charge you on the LS 100% fund whatever platform you are on.

Thank you. I did not realise that.
It means even with Charles Stanely who charge 0.25% to hold the funds, Vanguard will charge an extra 0.33%.

In that case Iweb and Halifax come out to be the cheapest platforms

bigsy

The AMC on the Vanguard LS funds is 0.29%. It was reduced at the end of Jan '14.

See https://www.vanguard.co.uk/uk/portal/articles/vanguard-news/vanguard-lowers-charges-on-lifestrategy-funds.jsp

dunstonh

My wife would be opening an S&S ISA as well with a similar risk profile. Will buy VLS 80% or even 100% as well.

That is a higher risk profile than the average UK investor. Have you really considered your risk views and capacity for loss? A common problem for new investors is to invest above their risk profile.

How are you going to react when your fund value drops 40%?

Scrimpy

macgyver wrote: »

Thank you. I did not realise that.
It means even with Charles Stanely who charge 0.25% to hold the funds, Vanguard will charge an extra 0.33%.

In that case Iweb and Halifax come out to be the cheapest platforms

I posted about the same thing (new to this forum, my bad).

Just wondering how Halifax is cheaper than Charles Stanley?

grey_gym_sock

halifax, or iweb, can be cheaper for bigger investments, or less frequent dealing. charles stanley are cheaper for the smallest investments, or more frequent dealing.

suppose you currently have £10k invested in 1 lifestrategy fund.

charles stanley would be charging you 0.25% p.a., which is £25 per year. with no further charge for dealing, either monthly or as a 1-off.

halifax would instead charge you a fixed £12.50 per year, plus any dealing charges. e.g. if you add a lump sum once a year (for you whole ISA allowance), that costs £11.95, so the total annual cost is £24.45.

or if you invest monthly with halifax, that costs £1.50 per month, so £18 per year, making the total cost £30.50.

those figures (£25 vs £24.95 vs £30.50) are pretty similar. the point is mainly that, if you have a lot less than £10k invested, charles stanley are cheaper, but if you have a lot more, halifax are cheaper.

and iweb are similar to halifax. no annual charge. all dealing costs £5 (no cheaper monthly dealing). but £25 to open your first account with them.

for starting with £100 per month, charles stanley makes more sense.

for starting with the whole ISA allowance (£11.5k) as a lump sum, and perhaps doing the same next year, halifax or iweb makes more sense.

macgyver

grey_gym_sock wrote: »

halifax, or iweb, can be cheaper for bigger investments, or less frequent dealing. charles stanley are cheaper for the smallest investments, or more frequent dealing.

suppose you currently have £10k invested in 1 lifestrategy fund.

charles stanley would be charging you 0.25% p.a., which is £25 per year. with no further charge for dealing, either monthly or as a 1-off.

halifax would instead charge you a fixed £12.50 per year, plus any dealing charges. e.g. if you add a lump sum once a year (for you whole ISA allowance), that costs £11.95, so the total annual cost is £24.45.

or if you invest monthly with halifax, that costs £1.50 per month, so £18 per year, making the total cost £30.50.

those figures (£25 vs £24.95 vs £30.50) are pretty similar. the point is mainly that, if you have a lot less than £10k invested, charles stanley are cheaper, but if you have a lot more, halifax are cheaper.

and iweb are similar to halifax. no annual charge. all dealing costs £5 (no cheaper monthly dealing). but £25 to open your first account with them.

for starting with £100 per month, charles stanley makes more sense.

for starting with the whole ISA allowance (£11.5k) as a lump sum, and perhaps doing the same next year, halifax or iweb makes more sense.

Thank you very much for clearing my doubts.
I did not realise the Vanguard charges(0.29%) will be in addition to the platform fee which will differ as per the platform.

So, I am going to go with Iweb as they will charge £25 to open the account but when I do additional contributions each year (Lump sums as not planning on monthly feed), they will probably will not charge any money when I make any additions. So all I would be paying after the initial £25 would be ).29% fund charges to Vanguard.

Hope I have understood things correctly.

Thank you dunstonh for your comments. I have done my risk profiling and am happy with the higher risk. I am in for a longer term upto 20 years. Not sure about my wife, so would probably buy a 80% or a 60% VLS.

macgyver

Scrimpy wrote: »

I posted about the same thing (new to this forum, my bad).

Just wondering how Halifax is cheaper than Charles Stanley?

If I have understood it correctly CS will cost me £29 per year to hold £11,520 as compared with £12.50 with Halifax (+0.29% with all funds).

grey_gym_sock

macgyver wrote: »

So, I am going to go with Iweb as they will charge £25 to open the account but when I do additional contributions each year (Lump sums as not planning on monthly feed), they will probably will not charge any money when I make any additions. So all I would be paying after the initial £25 would be ).29% fund charges to Vanguard.

not quite. iweb will also charge £5 each time you buy or sell. so with a lump sum added once a year, that's £5 per year. still very good value, though.