Stocks & Shares ISAs

SIRUSKEY

dunstonh wrote: »

Do also take some of the data analysis on sites like trustnet and Morningstar with a pinch of salt. Funds pay to have their data included on those sites. The more they pay, the more the analysis.

Some very good funds pay little or nothing and may look less attractive than poorer quality funds with lots of stars.

Are there any funds or managers that would be a good research topic?

Jimmyc

I'm looking to open a stocks and shares isa with legal and general and invest monthly. I doesn't mention anywhere on the webpage if you can pause the monthly investments. Reason for the concern is I'm moving next year and may need the extra funds temporarily.

Thanks

le_loup

You need to read the full T&Cs and not rely on a web page.
Alternatively, you could ask them.

john46jac46

Maybe I missed it on your ratings list, but the iWEB SSISA seems to me to be by far the best and cheapest "no frills" platform.
There's a £25 fee to open an account, Zero, yes £0, annual charge, and only £5 per trade for buying or selling, irrespective of how few or many trades per year.
I am mostly invested in shares, with a few funds, so probably braver than many, but it's great for me.

You show the Halifax platform, which is also part of Lloyds Banking Group, but to me it's just a more expensive version of iWEB

Or am I missing an important downside ?

eskbanker

john46jac46 wrote: »

Maybe I missed it on your ratings list, but the iWEB SSISA seems to me to be by far the best and cheapest "no frills" platform.
There's a £25 fee to open an account, Zero, yes £0, annual charge, and only £5 per trade for buying or selling, irrespective of how few or many trades per year.
I am mostly invested in shares, with a few funds, so probably braver than many, but it's great for me.

You show the Halifax platform, which is also part of Lloyds Banking Group, but to me it's just a more expensive version of iWEB

Or am I missing an important downside ?

The trouble is that there are too many variables involved to allow a simplistic one-size-fits-all ranking of providers, so anyone looking to identify the lowest-cost option for their own specific choice of shares, funds, investment pattern, size of holding, etc, should use more granular analyses at the likes of:
http://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/
http://www.comparefundplatforms.com/
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5583030

Having said that, I do agree that there's a strong case for including iWeb in that article and use them myself....

Brand

I use iWeb and x-o which look to be the cheapest execution-only stockbroker-type S&S ISAs and I opened them in different financial years. For convenience I put shares in x-o and ETFs in iWeb.
With UK shares (including investment trusts) you pay stamp duty upon purchase. With ETFs you don't.
x-o are very good on handling the extra correspondence which occasionally comes with shares. (I can't speak for iWeb)
iWeb can hold OEIC type of funds, and occasionally you may wish to hold one of these (e.g. because you think the fundmanager is very good) You'd pay £5 to buy and sell as normal, but, as iWeb is not really tuned up to handle OEIC type of funds, it is not easy to determine on iWeb exactly what the fund managers initial charge and annual costs will be, as it may (or, more likely, may not) have done a deal with the OEIC fund manager.
The simplest thing is to open an extra separate S&S ISA with a fundsupermarket type of S&S ISA. (and to do this either by a transfer of old money, or with new money in a new financial year from that of your last S&S ISA.

Alexland

I am with Halifax and accept it costs a tiny bit more in fees but the way I use the account it's very cheap anyway. In some ways I like that the trade costs are high as it stops me fiddling with a core portion of my portfolio. As I have above the FSCS limit in some accounts I prefer to be with companies that are well known enough there would be some political upset if they went belly up and customer assets disappeared without a trace.

If x-o went bust and the assets were fraudulently snaffled away would the media be upset?

Audaxer

Alexland wrote: »

I am with Halifax and accept it costs a tiny bit more in fees but the way I use the account it's very cheap anyway. In some ways I like that the trade costs are high as it stops me fiddling with a core portion of my portfolio. As I have above the FSCS limit in some accounts I prefer to be with companies that are well known enough there would be some political upset if they went belly up and customer assets disappeared without a trace.

If x-o went bust and the assets were fraudulently snaffled away would the media be upset?

I agree in that I feel a bit more security in using a platform from a big name bank or broker than some of the smaller platforms that are not that well known.

schiff

I have a S&S ISA directly with Fundsmith for the Fundsmith Equity Fund. I have a separate S&S ISA that I want to re-invest, also into the same Fundsmith fund.

Is it cheaper to transfer directly into Fundsmith or to start a new S&S ISA with uWeb? I won't be an active investor.

TYIA

jasdev

I was with TD Direct, who've now been taken over by Interactive Investor.
I have a small number of shares which I don't really pay attention to, I'm embarrassed to admit.
So little attention was paid, that I've only just glanced back at an email from I.I. sent in December in which they set out their rates and charges, one of which horrified me. It seems I will now be charged £22.50 per quarter for the privilege of having an account with them.

I don't really feel that I have the time at present to research potential investments and start drip-feeding money into them again. What would be a good platform to transfer to, which would allow me to just sit on the account fee-free for a while until I get my act together? Is there even such a platform?
Or would I be better off selling my shares and getting out of the market altogether for the time being?