Stocks & Shares ISAs

sabretoothtigger

The closed down the old FTSE shares thread because it had a date in the title.   Had hundreds of insightful posts on there.
 Start a new one

williamplamp

Hi,

I'm a novice investor looking to start a stocks and shares ISA. The markets are low and tax allowance year is ending soon, so thought I'd go for it still understanding all the risks involved.
Looking to invest ~150 a month into it, with a lump sum up front. I'm looking for a managed portfolio, not a do it yourself platform. Due to various reasons, I have been pointed in the direction of St James' Place services. I have been reading a lot that they are expensive and that their fees dont match their performance. But then I think, how can they be so successful? Are they just an easy target at the top of the tree to be scrutinised? Or is it all a fasade and they just have good marketing pulling people in? A point raised to me before is that their performance is often compared to other funds' raw performance, not taking into account charges, so will always come out less favourably. I have been offered by them due to where I work, a reduced initial investment fee of 2.5%. The annual charge however remains at circa 1.6%. Based on my research, this does seem expensive still, but from my previous experiences, the financial advisor is very friendly, personable and selfless with his time and advice at no extra cost. 

So I am just looking for some beginners advice and if i should be looking elsewhere or stick with SJP for what I'm wanting.
Appreciate you time!
Will

Alexland

I dont know how big the lump sum is (presumably no more than one tax year of ISA allowance) but I doubt SJP would be interested in setting up an ISA that small on percentage charges. Most of their customers would have six figure or higher valuations. Not to say they got rich using SJP as they would have got richer with better value advice or doing DIY well. Still using SJP probably hasn't made them poorer in the long term. Their success is based on slick customer acquisition and retention techniques rather than investment performance. At those charges you are taking all the risk and they are getting much of the long term average return above inflation.

For that level of contribution consider a low cost Vanguard Investor account investing in one of their LifeStrategy multi asset funds or for more volatility a stock market tracker fund such as their Global All Cap fund. No setup fee and a total platform and fund fee of under 0.4% pa ongoing. Once the account gets big enough some fixed or capped price platforms can work out even cheaper.

williamplamp

Alexland said:

I dont know how big the lump sum is (presumably no more than one tax year of ISA allowance) but I doubt SJP would be interested in setting up an ISA that small on percentage charges. Most of their customers would have six figure or higher valuations. Not to say they got rich using SJP as they would have got richer with better value advice or doing DIY well. Still using SJP probably hasn't made them poorer in the long term. Their success is based on slick customer acquisition and retention techniques rather than investment performance. At those charges you are taking all the risk and they are getting much of the long term average return above inflation.

For that level of contribution consider a low cost Vanguard Investor account investing in one of their LifeStrategy multi asset funds or for more volatility a stock market tracker fund such as their Global All Cap fund. No setup fee and a total platform and fund fee of under 0.4% pa ongoing. Once the account gets big enough some fixed or capped price platforms can work out even cheaper.

Thanks so much for this advice. Its very much appreciated when overwhelmed by the amount of options out there. I'll take it all on board with my decision.

Alexland

williamplamp said:

Thanks so much for this advice. Its very much appreciated when overwhelmed by the amount of options out there. I'll take it all on board with my decision.

Something you would get from advice (although a local Independent FA should be cheaper) is help understanding if a S&S ISA is the best option for your circumstances and objectives. For many the best way to invest in S&S is via their pensions (or maybe a Lifetime ISA) due to the tax advantages.

williamplamp

Alexland said:

williamplamp said:

Thanks so much for this advice. Its very much appreciated when overwhelmed by the amount of options out there. I'll take it all on board with my decision.

Something you would get from advice (although a local Independent FA should be cheaper) is help understanding if a S&S ISA is the best option for your circumstances and objectives. For many the best way to invest in S&S is via their pensions (or maybe a Lifetime ISA) due to the tax advantages.

Yes have that set up for the pension. For me its just to make my savings work harder to keep my head above inflation and maybe do a bit better, and whilst i have a bit of time (29 yo) in my life, give them time to grow..5-10 years

carrollp

williamplamp said:

Alexland said:

williamplamp said:

Thanks so much for this advice. Its very much appreciated when overwhelmed by the amount of options out there. I'll take it all on board with my decision.

Something you would get from advice (although a local Independent FA should be cheaper) is help understanding if a S&S ISA is the best option for your circumstances and objectives. For many the best way to invest in S&S is via their pensions (or maybe a Lifetime ISA) due to the tax advantages.

Yes have that set up for the pension. For me its just to make my savings work harder to keep my head above inflation and maybe do a bit better, and whilst i have a bit of time (29 yo) in my life, give them time to grow..5-10 years

You may find the site comparefundplatforms.com useful to compare fund charges for different investing scenarios.
Personally I have been using Fidelity for the last 25+ years and it works out about the cheapest but my Portfolio is quite large.
(Note: edited to fix URL)

eskbanker

carrollp said:
You may find the site Compareplatforms .com useful to compare fund charges for different investing scenarios.

Two issues with that:

1. There is no site called compareplatforms.com, although comparefundplatforms.com exists and is presumably what you meant.
2. However, starting with platforms is putting the cart before the horse when it comes to investing - it's far more important to identify investment objectives, risk tolerance, etc, and from there establishing what best to invest in, long before thinking about which platform to use....

carrollp

eskbanker said:

carrollp said:
You may find the site Compareplatforms .com useful to compare fund charges for different investing scenarios.

Two issues with that:

1. There is no site called compareplatforms.com, although comparefundplatforms.com exists and is presumably what you meant.
2. However, starting with platforms is putting the cart before the horse when it comes to investing - it's far more important to identify investment objectives, risk tolerance, etc, and from there establishing what best to invest in, long before thinking about which platform to use....

 1. Yes you are correct. The reason I put in the site like that is because it wont allow me to post links yet and it somehow got messed up when I edited it. Thanks for clarifying my mistake.
2. The OP was asking about costs of investing. It is obviously important to do your research and select the correct funds etc. Sorry if you found issues with my response.

Rodgers1

Hi,
I'm an inexperienced investor but have enough understanding to know I want to invest long term in S&S ISA.I already have a small but adequate amount of cash and a half decent work pension scheme For the last year I have held two funds and a handful of individual stocks and am looking to put them into an ISA this month. My question is am I in the minority in having a combination of individual stocks and funds or do most choose to either invest in funds OR individual stock?  My idea is  to have a couple of funds as the base of my portfolio and then have 4 or 5 stocks that I have more control over buying more or selling when the time is right if necessary.
I would appreciate any help on this, sorry if it seems an obvious question.