Trustnet wants my business! Help me crunch the numbers please

sydenhambased

Hi all,

I'm a newbie to this board; more often found over on the House Buying board as I'm mid way through a flat purchase.

I have a modest NISA and an even more modest SIPP, currently both with Hargreaves Lansdown (I know, I know).

Trustnet have just offered to give me upto £100 towards transfer costs (£10 per line of stock) and NO platform fees for the first five quarters (roughly £96).

They've "calculated" they can save me about £350 over 10 years.



Now, my actual circumstances are these:

NISA
Value: £10628.63 made up of 3 funds. Only about 3 transactions per annum, all in funds (OEICS or unit trusts).

Cost with HL: £47.82 (0.45% AMC, no other fees).

SIPP
Value: £7876.19 (I'm 26 and only been working 3 years; self employed) made up of 2 funds. Probably about 6 transactions per year, as there's a minimum £250 investment amount for funds and my monthly standing order isn't that much, so I 'roll-over' some months.

Again, I reckon there's just the AMC at 0.45%, and as such my annual cost is £35.44 (roughly).

Ignore the waived platform fee and the £100 - that just about covers my transferring out costs from HL.

From what I've read on Trustnet's website, they charge 0.25% as an AMC but they charge £10 per transaction including buying funds. Is that really right? If so, I reckon I'd actually spend more on Trustnet fees.

Am I crazy or are my numbers correct? I'm no mathematician.

Incidentally, if anyone does want to take advantage of this "deal", open an account with Trustnet before the 24th of October and use code TNUSER28

Thanks all.

ColdIron

You could play about with this
http://www.comparefundplatforms.com/

sydenhambased

Thanks ColdIron - why didn't I think of that! Looks like Fidelity's actually my best option at the moment (and they'll also pay up to £500 towards transfer fees, AND I'm trying to scrape an additional £100 through Quidco).

All to save about £40 per year.

I think that's about as MSE as it gets...

ColdIron

At that level of difference I'd also be looking at the site with the best ease of use, tools, customer service etc. Value is worth more than price alone

sydenhambased

Precisely - Cavendish, Charles Stanley and iWeb came in fractionally cheaper but their tools are unwieldy or even absent compared to Fidelity or HL.

£40 p.a. seems worth saving if the products are similar.
An extra £10 p.a. doesn't seem worth saving if the platform's relatively unfit for purpose.

Thanks again!

Ryan_Futuristics

ColdIron wrote: »

At that level of difference I'd also be looking at the site with the best ease of use, tools, customer service etc. Value is worth more than price alone

I'd agree

Also look to see if they offer the same discounts on the specific funds you own

Some platforms look cheap because they save you 0.2% on the annual charge, but Hargreaves may be saving you 0.3% on funds ... Dealing charges also count for a lot at the kind of sums you're talking about now

puk999

sydenhambased wrote: »

Precisely - Cavendish, Charles Stanley and iWeb came in fractionally cheaper but their tools are unwieldy or even absent compared to Fidelity or HL.

I have an ISA and SIPP with Fidelity. As you probably know the platform charge is 0.35% for both. Earlier this year I decided to change agency on the ISA to Cavendish Online as described in this thread to lower the platform charge to 0.25%. I still login to Fidelity as before and everything looks almost exactly the same. I can still use Fidelity's portfolio analysis tools across ISA and SIPP (at the same time) to see what percentage is in bonds, stocks, different sectors, etc.

If you do switch to Fidelity, I suggest considering this change of agency to save 0.1%/year.

sydenhambased

Thanks for that puk999.

Ryan, it's all in index trackers; some L&G, some Fidelity and some Vanguard, so there's not such a huge issue in terms of fund discounts - if I move platform some trackers may be switched into very similar (different) trackers in order to keep fund charges down.

Given it's all funds, dealing charges are out of the equation as long as I steer clear of platforms that charge them on funds!

Mattygroves2

To anyone considering Trustnet be warned that they are effectively III in terms of processes - they even use the same call centre - so read the threads about III before committing.

ExMugPunter

I have slightly more than you ( not much though) in my ISA and SIPP and I am staying with HL for the time being.

To my mind these prices/ charges are still quite new and I think there is still a lot of bedding down to be done yet. There now (at long last) seems to be more noise about charges, I would expect more companies / platforms to tinker with their offerings. For example, HL have already changed / dropped some of their original 'new' chargers.

You also have to look at some of the experiences people have had trying to change. i am thinking of that Iii thread on this board. I bet some of them wished they had stayed where they were!

I would look at the colour coded charts on LongCat (reproduced on the Daily Mail at regular intervals) and look to move when it is absolutely clear that what you are going to save is worthwhile. ie when you need to switch from a company charging a % fee compared to a flat annual fee.
As far as I can remember HL are still a decent choice for SIPPs upto around £30k. Personally, I would stay where you are untill your balances get larger ( and the potential savings are more than negligible) and the market has time to settle down a bit.

The idea of saving £350 over 10 years wouldn't float my boat because we have no idea what the prices will be in 18 months never mind in 10 years.

sydenhambased

Thanks ExMugPunter - you have a very valid point.

I think I'll leave things as they are for now, and keep an eye on those tables. I certainly need to hold off for a couple of months anyway, as it transpires that HL refuse to do paper-free transfers (according to Fidelity) and given I'm shortly moving house (hopefully) I don't want paperwork being sent to the wrong place.