Stocks & Shares ISAs

debtfreehorizon

Apologies - I meant monthly (have updated original post)

I want to start with 100/ month and then hopefully increase both this amount as well as invest in some other (potentially non-BG) funds in the near to longer term.

Brand

bowlhead99 wrote: »

. . .

Note that the Lifestrategy fund has a different approach than either Nutmeg or the alternative index-based mixed asset finds at HSBC or Blackrock or L&G to which ValiantSon referred earlier. The Vanguard Lifestrategy fund aims for a fixed declared ratio of equities to bonds, while the other three fund series do not, and neither does Nutmeg; also their ratio of UK to overseas assets will differ from the others.

These differences have the potential to produce a bigger difference in total return in any particular year than the fee differentials, though will not necessarily be better or worse over the long haul.
. . . .

Isn't this part of the issue for an investor, that you can fill in a questionnaire with one company, and in consequence be robo-ed into, say, their "moderate" risk portfolio, but this could be a significantly different set of ETFs from a moderate risk portfolio with another company.
Secondly, I would think for many people it could be worth having a more discretionary managed robo, even if it costs, a little more, say 1% all in, in the hope that, for each risk level they would tweak bonds v shares and USA-Europe-Japan etc. to the extra risk-on or risk-off arising from economic winds, whereas a (cheaper) fixed allocation model perhaps just does nothing and hopes for the best.
(We don't know if they are any good at such adjustments of course, as I suspect there is little published verdict on the skill of the robo fund managers?)

ValiantSon

Brand wrote: »

Isn't this part of the issue for an investor, that you can fill in a questionnaire with one company, and in consequence be robo-ed into, say, their "moderate" risk portfolio, but this could be a significantly different set of ETFs from a moderate risk portfolio with another company.
Secondly, I would think for many people it could be worth having a more discretionary managed robo, even if it costs, a little more, say 1% all in, in the hope that, for each risk level they would tweak bonds v shares and USA-Europe-Japan etc. to the extra risk-on or risk-off arising from economic winds, whereas a (cheaper) fixed allocation model perhaps just does nothing and hopes for the best.
(We don't know if they are any good at such adjustments of course, as I suspect there is little published verdict on the skill of the robo fund managers?)

I'm not convinced, and at the kind of fees they charge you might as well give thought to seeing an IFA (although they may not be too interested if you don't have a decent amount to invest).

dekkard

Re: opening a new Stocks and Shares ISA with Vanguard, the MSE guide says: "Min ISA deposit: £100/mth or £500 lump sum".

Does anyone know whether this means you can invest a £500 lump sum when opening the account, and then pay in monthly any amount if you choose to do so?

ValiantSon

dekkard wrote: »

Re: opening a new Stocks and Shares ISA with Vanguard, the MSE guide says: "Min ISA deposit: £100/mth or £500 lump sum".

Does anyone know whether this means you can invest a £500 lump sum when opening the account, and then pay in monthly any amount if you choose to do so?

Yes, it does. If you make an opening investment of £500 then you are not committed to a regular monthly amount, but can invest as and when you wish to.

dekkard

ValiantSon wrote: »

Yes, it does. If you make an opening investment of £500 then you are not committed to a regular monthly amount, but can invest as and when you wish to.

Thank you for your comment. Do you have experience of Vanguard yourself? If so, are you happy with them overall?

ValiantSon

dekkard wrote: »

Thank you for your comment. Do you have experience of Vanguard yourself? If so, are you happy with them overall?

Yes, I do. I am very satisfied. The fees are super cheap at 0.15% p.a. (no exit fees or trading fees) and the service is very good. If you only intend to hold Vanguard funds, at present, then I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.

Some people will caution against using them as they only allow you to buy Vanguard funds, but that isn't a problem if that is all that you intend to buy, and because there are no fees for transferring out to a different platform, if at a later date you decide to add investments from other companies, it won't cost you anything to switch.

iainfitzy

Hi,

Appreciate some help.

I have about £3500 in Stocks and Shares ISA with Barclays Smart Investor. Since their new system (Smart Investor) was introduced they are charging me £4 a month - which seems a bit steep given my small outlay!

Any suggestions as to where I could transfer this to? Not really in a position to invest more but would rather this investment remained for a rainy day!

Cheers
Iain

eskbanker

iainfitzy wrote: »

I have about £3500 in Stocks and Shares ISA with Barclays Smart Investor. Since their new system (Smart Investor) was introduced they are charging me £4 a month - which seems a bit steep given my small outlay!

Any suggestions as to where I could transfer this to? Not really in a position to invest more but would rather this investment remained for a rainy day!

There's plenty of choice of lower cost platforms, take your pick at:

http://monevator.com/find-the-best-online-broker/
http://www.comparefundplatforms.com/
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5583030

although whether or not you can transfer directly will depend on what you're actually invested in and whether that's supported on your new platform of choice....

Nart77

Hi, Peeps dunno if this is the right place to post this but I could do with some help or pointing in the right direction?.

I’m extremely new to all this but want to start investing using a S&S isa, This is where the confusion starts lol. My main goal at the moment is to invest some money into some of vanguards funds and hopefully have some individual stocks else where at a later date. Now my question is could I open a s&s isa with say Barclays and still invest both ways using that account or am I way off the mark? I know I can open a vanguard s&s isa but I think I’m restricted to just their funds?.

Sorry if that’s a really stupid question I just can’t seem to find the answer 😩.

Thanks in advance