Latest & Best S&S ISA Comparison Tool?

David8686

Hi all,

Could any of you lovely people point me to what they know is the latest and most up-to-date S&S ISA Comparison Tool?

I'm looking to check which would be the cheapest platform for me to open with approx £500 and then drip feed around £3-400 per month into my account, mainly into trackers with the possibility of some funds further down the line.

I haven't had an S&S ISA before, at the moment I'm a little confused as to how the cost for buying investments will affect my overall costs (not selling as I'm planning on the major long-haul 20+ years view) - I was about to sign up to AJ Bell but then was unsure if i'm putting £300 a month into trackers, do I have to pay the £9.95 fee everytime I add money to one I already own, or is that only for completely new investments? If anyone could give me first hand experience or recommendations that'd be great.

As i'm a novice with this type of thing, I'm wondering what people think the research/advice/tools on providers such as Hargreaves Lansdown is worth? Would it be possible to open up a HL ISA for their advice and research etc. while using iWeb or another one of the v-v-low cost platforms in order to get the best of both worlds or is this prevented somehow. I thought as long as your total investments don't exceed the ISA allowance it didn't matter how many ISAs you opened in a year - would need to check that though...

Anyway, i'll stop waffling thanks a lot in advance

Dave

le_loup

If you are new to this and have, or expect to have, only a modest amount invested in the early days, I would recommend a competent outfit like Hargreaves Lansdown. When your fund grows and you know what you are doing, a smaller, less expensive outfit may suit you better.

Your_Hero

David8686 wrote: »

Hi all,

Could any of you lovely people point me to what they know is the latest and most up-to-date S&S ISA Comparison Tool?

I'm looking to check which would be the cheapest platform for me to open with approx £500 and then drip feed around £3-400 per month into my account, mainly into trackers with the possibility of some funds further down the line.

I haven't had an S&S ISA before, at the moment I'm a little confused as to how the cost for buying investments will affect my overall costs (not selling as I'm planning on the major long-haul 20+ years view) - I was about to sign up to AJ Bell but then was unsure if i'm putting £300 a month into trackers, do I have to pay the £9.95 fee everytime I add money to one I already own, or is that only for completely new investments? If anyone could give me first hand experience or recommendations that'd be great.

As i'm a novice with this type of thing, I'm wondering what people think the research/advice/tools on providers such as Hargreaves Lansdown is worth? Would it be possible to open up a HL ISA for their advice and research etc. while using iWeb or another one of the v-v-low cost platforms in order to get the best of both worlds or is this prevented somehow. I thought as long as your total investments don't exceed the ISA allowance it didn't matter how many ISAs you opened in a year - would need to check that though...

Anyway, i'll stop waffling thanks a lot in advance

Dave

HL is fine for DIY ISAs. Only one ISA provider per tax year.

You may have to pay an initial charge each time you invest but this largely depends on the platform and funds you use. HL benefits from a lot of funds with no initial charges.

Choose funds based on your risk profile. As it's your first time you do realise that you can lose money i hope.

You also mentioned trackers, i presume this is due to their low cost nature. You should also be aware that good things don't usually come cheap, and cheap things are seldom good. Some trackers can be great in a portfolio though.

I suggest with the amounts we are talking about here you should not overcomplicate it with many funds but instead choose one or two good quality multi asset funds and it should be fine fine until you build up a larger portfolio.

colsten

Check the first few posts of this thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3153942

There's mention of a [STRIKE]nice little[/STRIKE] great spreadsheet by poster snowman which you might find useful.

I agree though, for a novice, there are worse places than HL.

bigadaj

Your_Hero wrote: »

HL is fine for DIY ISAs. Only one ISA provider per tax year.

You may have to pay an initial charge each time you invest but this largely depends on the platform and funds you use. HL benefits from a lot of funds with no initial charges.

Choose funds based on your risk profile. As it's your first time you do realise that you can lose money i hope.

You also mentioned trackers, i presume this is due to their low cost nature. You should also be aware that good things don't usually come cheap, and cheap things are seldom good. Some trackers can be great in a portfolio though.

I suggest with the amounts we are talking about here you should not overcomplicate it with many funds but instead choose one or two good quality multi asset funds and it should be fine fine until you build up a larger portfolio.

Where do you still pay an initial charge?

Your_Hero

bigadaj wrote: »

Where do you still pay an initial charge?

I suppose the best example is "soft closed" funds where they are restricting inflows of money as the fund reaches optimal size. For instance, First State Global market leaders imposed an initial charge of up to 4% since September 2013.

David8686

Thanks all, I've gone with HL after your replies.

I am definitely prepared to lose money and know the risks etc. Hoping over a 20-25 (possibly longer) period that i'll be OK.

colsten - Thanks for the link to the snowman tool, had been googling that to no avail.

Your Hero - I appreciate that advice. From the research I've done it really did seem as though managed funds didn't outperform passive as a rough guide and for an absolute rookie there was little point in me trying to guess which fund managers may perform well etc. That was the thinking that lead me to the view that "well if i've got 25 years and am not expecting magical returns then low cost passive should be the way to go."

That said, I'm going to map out my intended risk profile etc. and the % mix of trackers vs managed funds I may initially look to start off. At the moment I'm leaning towards a Vanguard Lifestrategy 80/100, as I'm prepared to take a fair amount of risk at 27yrs old, (though I've not fully decided yet) and then potentially add in managed funds a few months down the line if I can do the needed research while working.

Thanks again for your replies all

Dave

bigadaj

Your_Hero wrote: »

I suppose the best example is "soft closed" funds where they are restricting inflows of money as the fund reaches optimal size. For instance, First State Global market leaders imposed an initial charge of up to 4% since September 2013.

Yes, but not widespread and not something that hl have a Particular advantage over.

The one thing to note with hl is transfer out fees, these could become significant as pot sizes grow, and the need to transfer away form hl makes more sense the larger the pot is.

OP, look at trustnet or Morningstar as both have free tools that allow you to manage a portfolio and give you risk ratings, asset allocation breakdowns and performance articles that are similar to hl but without the cost and arguably more independent, though I wouldn't guarantee that some of their research isn't sponsored in one way or another.

Your_Hero

bigadaj wrote: »

Yes, but not widespread and not something that hl have a Particular advantage over.

The one thing to note with hl is transfer out fees, these could become significant as pot sizes grow, and the need to transfer away form hl makes more sense the larger the pot is.

OP, look at trustnet or Morningstar as both have free tools that allow you to manage a portfolio and give you risk ratings, asset allocation breakdowns and performance articles that are similar to hl but without the cost and arguably more independent, though I wouldn't guarantee that some of their research isn't sponsored in one way or another.

I didn't suggest HL had an advantage over this. I was saying that it's not unusual if he needs to pay initial charges when investing because OP was asking this as a question.

What transfer fees are you talking about?

From the HL ISA KFD:

"If you want to transfer your investments to another manager please contact them and ask them to arrange the transfer with us. There are no charges to transfer your holding as cash. If you transfer your holdings as stock the re-registration fee is £25 per holding."

Most people use a cash transfer anyway so there is no cost to exit.

Sparky47

Your_Hero wrote: »

I didn't suggest HL had an advantage over this. I was saying that it's not unusual if he needs to pay initial charges when investing because OP was asking this as a question.

What transfer fees are you talking about?

From the HL ISA KFD:

"If you want to transfer your investments to another manager please contact them and ask them to arrange the transfer with us. There are no charges to transfer your holding as cash. If you transfer your holdings as stock the re-registration fee is £25 per holding."

Most people use a cash transfer anyway so there is no cost to exit.

HL now charge £25 to transfer as cash as well as £25+VAT to close the account and numerous other charges introduced on 2nd June.
They also now charge up to £500+VAT for a probate valuation.

bigadaj

Your_Hero wrote: »

I didn't suggest HL had an advantage over this. I was saying that it's not unusual if he needs to pay initial charges when investing because OP was asking this as a question.

What transfer fees are you talking about?

From the HL ISA KFD:

"If you want to transfer your investments to another manager please contact them and ask them to arrange the transfer with us. There are no charges to transfer your holding as cash. If you transfer your holdings as stock the re-registration fee is £25 per holding."

Most people use a cash transfer anyway so there is no cost to exit.

It read that hl had some sort of advantage to me. It's unusual for the any oeics for example to charge an initial fee which is what I was driving at and would cover the case for an inexperienced investor, ie no need to pay initial charges on funds.

HL have introduced a rake of charges in the last few months and there's a rather long thread in here about the problems transferring out from them in specie.

There would be a minimum cost of £55 to transfer out from them, which may be significant dependent on teh size of your holdings at that time.