New to investing, just a couple of questions

fmmendo

Hi all,

I'm trying to get started with my first investments but there are a couple things I would like to clear up first to be sure everything runs smoothly.

The idea is to open a Stocks & Shares ISA and invest in one of the vanguard lifestrategy funds. Right now I have about 5k I can invest (all at once?), after which I planned on doing a monthly transfer. (I don't think I'll be able to fill this year's ISA limit, but next year that should be possible). In addition I wanted to be able to invest a small amount in a few companies. (I just add this because it seems from my search that some online brokers either only do funds, or might not provide access to some markets).

- So my first question is on picking an online broker. A few months ago Hargreaves Lansdown was the only one I'd heard of, now I'm getting a bit confused :P HL may or may not be expensive depending on what I do, but iWeb, Charles Stanley and Interactive Investor all seem viable choices, so I'd appreciate some help on picking at least a top 3 or so, or just removing some from the list of ones to consider

- Secondly, these are investments that are naturally supposed to last a long long time, but in my career plan I expect I'll eventually move country (maybe in Europe, maybe all the way to the US) and it would be nice to know if it would be possible/easy/required to move to an online broker wherever I end up?

Thank you in advance

TrustyOven

fmmendo wrote: »

- So my first question is on picking an online broker. A few months ago Hargreaves Lansdown was the only one I'd heard of, now I'm getting a bit confused :P HL may or may not be expensive depending on what I do, but iWeb, Charles Stanley and Interactive Investor all seem viable choices, so I'd appreciate some help on picking at least a top 3 or so, or just removing some from the list of ones to consider

One of the "standard replies" on this is to point people to: http://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/

Edited to add:
Another "standard reply" is to point you to Snowman's infamous spreadsheet:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=64540489&postcount=15

fmmendo

thanks! I've had the monevator list open in the browser for a few days now. That spreadsheet, though, did not show up in my searches thank you very much!

enjoyyourshoes

isas are uk wrappers, you will have to look at usa eu country for their equivalent (that's if they have such products)

TCA

fmmendo wrote: »

Secondly, these are investments that are naturally supposed to last a long long time, but in my career plan I expect I'll eventually move country (maybe in Europe, maybe all the way to the US) and it would be nice to know if it would be possible/easy/required to move to an online broker wherever I end up?

I wouldn't imagine it's impossible to open a new trading in your new country of residence if that's what you want to do. Equally there's no requirement for you to "move" your investments to where you're resident (or close any ISAs), but you'd need to be aware of the tax implications of living in another country.

e.g. don't quote me on this, but I think if you're resident in the US, you may be liable for their equivalent of capital gains tax if you profit from liquidating a UK ISA.

In the example given above, if you definitely needed funds from your UK ISA, you'd close it *before* you left the UK to avoid any tax.

It's a complicated area. You'd need to check the specific regulations of the country you were moving to beforehand.

fmmendo

Thanks for the replies, sounds more complicated than I thought.


I know the US have a Roth IRA which seems to be the closest to our S&S ISAs here. I expected it to be possible (or relatively easy) to access and keep funding the same investments via a new broker. But I'll try to dig around for a solution.


I just wanted to set up some investments and keep funding them until I retire (I've only started working 3 years ago, I still have a long way to go).


(I suppose I could just leave the money in the UK to grow, and open a new trading account elsewhere and start a second pot.. which to me just seems to much trouble for such a simple thing)

TCA

A lot might depend on where you want to retire to. A Roth IRA gives its tax breaks during retirement when you start withdrawing funds. If you weren't in the US when you retired, these might be taxable elsewhere.

It is a complicated area and of course pension rules can change over time, like they did here recently. Unless you know you're definitely going (and where), then it's maybe a bit pointless researching too much. You wouldn't base your decision to move solely on pension regulations I don't think.

TCA

fmmendo wrote: »

I suppose I could just leave the money in the UK to grow, and open a new trading account elsewhere and start a second pot.. which to me just seems to much trouble for such a simple thing

You'd likely have a lot more trouble trying to transfer UK investments to a US platform, if it's even possible. Not to mention issues of which currency it would be denominated in.