Guidance on investment funds

[Deleted User]

PS theres a degree of tax exemption if you pop them in a ISA

dunstonh

Would this approach be generally more costly than going via a discount broker?

discount brokers are IFAs. HSBC business model probably wont allow discounting or execution only.

munk

Aegis wrote: »

As far as I can tell, there's no exit fee for them either

There is a clause in the t&c about exit charges - the charge is £20 per stock/fund. I mailed support about this because it wasn't clear from the t&c whether or not it applied to just stock sales or to both stock and fund sales - the email reply read:

I can confirm that the exit fee for transferring holdings out of the Vantage ISA or PEP is £20 plus VAT per stock. For transferring funds out of the Vantage Fund and Share account, this fee also applies. However, when transferring a share out of the Vantage Share account, the exit fee is £12.50 plus VAT per share with a minimum of £25. There is no exit fee when transferring out as cash.

When switching funds within the Vantage Service, there is no charge for selling funds. For the repurchase, you will pay the initial charge on the fund minus any discount we are able to offer. Therefore, if we are able to offer a full discount on a fund, you will not pay any initial charges.

Can anyone who's exited out of a fund they held with HL clarify this - do you get charged £20 for exiting fully out of a fund holding with HL?

EDIT: The clause in the t&c is 31.2 - from it's wording it sounds as though it's a discretionary charge.

At first I was slightly put off by this as it's so well buried in the t&c and if I'd not read carefully through the small print I'd have been none the wiser. However generally their other discounts - which are explained in most of the posts above - are so good that if you're looking at around £1000/fund then the exit fee is effectively 'cancelled out' by the other discounts anyway.

I'd just add though that since I started investing with HL I've been very impressed with their service - at least as efficient as Fidelity / Fundsnetwork. I'd recommend them.

Aegis

munk wrote: »

There is a clause in the t&c about exit charges - the charge is £20 per stock/fund. I mailed support about this because it wasn't clear from the t&c whether or not it applied to just stock sales or to both stock and fund sales - the email reply read:

I believe the exit fee applies when you want to transfer to a different provider rather than selling your stock. When you sell a fund, no charge seems to apply from what I've seen, and when you sell shares their standard commission is taken (prices are shown within their share information area, and they are NOT competitive at all!

Can anyone who's exited out of a fund they held with HL clarify this - do you get charged £20 for exiting fully out of a fund holding with HL?

Not that I've seen.

EdInvestor

dunstonh wrote: »

discount brokers are IFAs

A discount broker may have a separate advisory arm, but the basic point about the concept is that they don't offer advice, but rather work on an "execution only" basis, rebating to you that part of the fund fee which represents the commission the fund would otherwise pay to an advisor.

dunstonh

A discount broker may have a separate advisory arm, but the basic point about the concept is that they don't offer advice, but rather work on an "execution only" basis, rebating to you that part of the fund fee which represents the commission the fund would otherwise pay to an advisor.

You are playing with words. Whatever way you look at it, discount brokers are IFAs doing an execution only transaction. Every IFA can do execution only if they wish. Some have made it their primary business models, others have plugins on their websites, others get approached and may do small quantities.

That said, HSBC are a salesforce model and I would bet that they will not do execution only. Salesforces usually have no ability to discount transactions and their compliance departments often wont allow execution only.

hyposmurf

I've managed to find two funds that I'm happy with.They are as follows:

http://www.h-l.co.uk/fund_research/security_details/sedol/B0WDH72.hl
http://www.h-l.co.uk/fund_research/security_details/sedol/B0LMN16.hl

However I have a few questions.
The fund by Allianz RCMBRIC stars A, what does the stars A refer to I have also seen a stars C about.
Regarding the Allianz RCMBRIC stars, the unit type is accumulation & type of payments are dividend.Does this mean that this a capital growth fund rather than one that pys a income?
Regarding the Franklin Templeton BRIC, the unit type is Income & type of payments are dividend.Does this mean it is one that pays an income rather than a capital growth fund?
Im personally looking for a fund that is capital growth rather than income.Would rather my interest sits there earning than having to keep reinvesting it.

Also the Allianz RCMBRIC stars fund manager appears to be very young and the fund doenst seem to have been going that long.This is something that puts me off the Allianz RCMBRIC stars fund a little, although it appears to be performing well.

Although I am hoping to invest in one of these funds, looking at their performance I notice that they are both performing well would it not be wiser to hold out a little longer and wait until there is a a drop,with the steady increase in performance surely a dip is likely to occur.I now realise that I may have been better to have bought when the funds were performing porly last month!

I already have a mini ISA and will hopefully wrap my bonds up in a stocks & shares ISA, as well through H&L.If I decide to buy further bonds can I have a number of bonds within the same stocks & shares ISA so long as they arent exceeding the limit of £4000?

If at a later date I decide to invest further in the same bond,when say the bond performance dips, will I be charged, as I escaped the first time as it was a initial charge?

[Deleted User]

The fund guys will come along with better advise over stars and managers etc.

You can wrap what ever you like into your H-L stocks + shares ISA. You can even have stocks and shares ISAs with other companies as long as you dont exceed the 4K input into these companies in any one year (not sure if you can only use the same company during that particular tax year. If you dont use your cash ISA allowance then the limit is 7K and yes you can transfer cash ISA money into the stocks and shares ISA and stick protect its tax free status and not affect your current yearly allowance.

I dont understand what you mean by bond, theres millions of different types, savings bonds, company bonds, government bonds etc etc.

love2learn

I like the Marlborough Special Situations Fund. Which is one of the top performing funds in the UK. Although it is in the small uk companies, if your in it for the long term and won't be scared if your money fluctuates. It does have an excellent track record. Here's the link to it on CityWire http://www.citywire.co.uk/Funds/FundFactsheet.aspx?FundID=7349&CitywireClassSchemeID=1

You can also buy into this fund by investing through a tax efficient ISA. As was mentioned before, HL would be a good bet to do this, as they are very likely to save you quite a bit on the charges.

hyposmurf

Thanks for that clarification, my own bank arent too helpfull when you mention youre not interested in their selection of shares.I meant investment bond.
Yes Im hoping theyll give some helpful feedback.