Platform/Fund costs

zolablue25

Hi Redbuzzard

I have been to the Compare Fund Platforms website but the one thing that it doesn't show is the minimum investment and the calculator actually has a minimum of £50pm or £500 lump sum. As I've said before, this isn't really an issue for my own ISA but would be for my daughter's where I can not afford to put in such sums.

Thanks for all the info

zolablue25

Tammy2 wrote: »

When I spoke to them (fidelity) the phone about my plan to split my monthly input into amounts below £50 they said that was fine, but they "don't advertise it". And sure enough it has gone through just fine.

If I'm reading you correctly you are investing more than £50 per month but less than that in each individual fund? That's useful to know but it doesn't change the fact that I don't have £50 a month to invest in my daughter's ISA.

If I have misunderstood what you are saying them I apologize.

Tammy2

zolablue25 wrote: »

If I'm reading you correctly you are investing more than £50 per month but less than that in each individual fund? That's useful to know but it doesn't change the fact that I don't have £50 a month to invest in my daughter's ISA.

If I have misunderstood what you are saying them I apologize.

That is correct. I invest £100 a month, but it is split over 4 funds: £75, £10, £8 and £7.

Yesterday, I invested a lump sum of £1000 and split it in the same ratio. It seems to be going through fine.

I understand this is of no consequence to your daughter's JISA, but thought it might be useful info. all the same. I certainly wasn't aware of it until I spoke to them.

Rollinghome

zolablue25 wrote: »

I need to take into account.HL seem to offer a discount on many annual fund charges, do Cavendish do similar?

Yes they do. Up to 0.25% but generally lower. Fidelity list here...

Be aware that as with those imagined 'discounts' on initial charges, with HL in particular, many of the less high-lighted discounts on management charges are just relative to another class of the same fund that no one actually offers. A bit like those trixy price cuts relative to 'recommended retail price' we used to see.

redbuzzard

Rollinghome wrote: »

Be aware that as with those imagined 'discounts' on initial charges, with HL in particular, many of the less high-lighted discounts on management charges are just relative to another class of the same fund that no one actually offers. A bit like those trixy price cuts relative to 'recommended retail price' we used to see.

Yes - which is what made me do some real world comparisons when I was weighing up iWeb the other day.

I think once the OP has got a short list from Compare Fund Platforms etc, the only way to improve on that is to identify the funds you he / she is most likely to use and do something similar.

It throws up a few oddities here and there - for an identical fund and class, the OCF can only be what it is, but sometimes the quoted OCF differs (usually very little) from the K11D. I put this down to the fact the the OCF varies slightly from year to year and they just get out of sync when the fact sheets are updated.

AlanP_2

zolablue25 wrote: »

If I'm reading you correctly you are investing more than £50 per month but less than that in each individual fund? That's useful to know but it doesn't change the fact that I don't have £50 a month to invest in my daughter's ISA.

If I have misunderstood what you are saying them I apologize.

You don't have to to set up a monthly DD though do you? Why not pay £40/50 in via Debit Card every other month to get to your target annual allocation and take advantage of the lower charge?

zolablue25

AlanP wrote: »

You don't have to to set up a monthly DD though do you? Why not pay £40/50 in via Debit Card every other month to get to your target annual allocation and take advantage of the lower charge?

Because, as I've mentioned previously, I'm only going to be able to put in approximately £200-£250 a year. If the minimum lump sum allowed is £500 then I can only deposit every 2 years at best, missing any benefit there may be that accrues in that 2 years. Of course, should the markets tank then I would miss 2 years of losses too.

Given that I would like my daughter to take an active interest in the whole investment process to hopefully kick start her into financial planning mode only contributing every 2 years is not going to hold her attention. HL take a minimum amount of £100 which means I can purchase funds at least every 6 months which may interest my daughter more and the higher fees will hopefully be seen as a cost of a financial lesson

zolablue25

Damn! Thought I'd found the ideal solution. rplan take a minimum lump sum payment of £50 and have charges of 0.35%. Unfortunately they don't offer JISAs!

JohnRo

Why on Earth are you looking at rplan? They're relatively expensive.

Haven't the replies already pointed you in the right direction?

Your only hurdle will be getting the investment started with a quite small lump sum, £500 via Charles Stanley, not sure about others.

Then after that a monthly, or less frequent, top up can be done for a minimum £50

zolablue25

JohnRo, thanks for your input.

Actually, according to Compare Fund Platforms rPlan aren't anywhere near the most expensive - more expensive than Cavendish or CSD admittedly.

No, the replies haven't pointed me in the right direction - or if they have I have missed the signs (which is definitely possible).

As I have said at least twice in this thread for my daughter's JISA I will not have £50 a month to invest. If I had then I wouldn't have continued this thread. Now, the problem may be that I am misunderstanding the minimum fund purchase requirements, but as I see it I can agree to deposit £50 per month (which is not affordable) OR I can invest lump sums at irregular intervals. Unfortunately with both Cavendish and CSD the minimum for the non-monthly deposits appears to be £500. If I have misunderstood this and I can, in fact, put money into the JISA and purchase funds FOC for £50 at random intervals throughout the year then I do have my answer.

Can anyone confirm from their own knowledge whether I have misunderstood and I can purchase non-regular amounts less than £500?