Platforms

Fayeowens

Hi,

I was just looking for people's opinions on fund supermarkets/wraps. Anyone got any positive or negative experiences to share?

Thanks

Faye

dunstonh

I was just looking for people's opinions on fund supermarkets/wraps. Anyone got any positive or negative experiences to share?

Why?

Is this for commercial reasons or personal reasons? i.e. is it for some research for a study or article. The question, as you ask it, doesnt really fit with someone doing it for their own personal investment research.

Fayeowens

It's for research. I am, eventually, writing an essay on benefits or drawbacks of them and just wanted to get a personal opinion outside of the general facts.

Aegis

The benefits are that you can access investments via the platforms easily rather than having to go individually to each fund house. This makes it far easier to switch from one investment to another and to hold multiple funds within the same tax wrapper (ISA or pension, for example).

I'd say that by far the biggest drawback is that you integrate another party into the chain, and it's one that the average customer is unable to accurately assess before investing. A given platform may well have hidden (or just tricky-to-understand) fees or absolutely terrible service - there's just no way to be sure without actually starting to use them. As such it can be very difficult to find a good platform, whether as a direct client or as an adviser. of course, once you find a good one you can stick with it until you have reason to leave, so this isn't a permanent disadvantage.

Fayeowens

Aegis thank you very much for your insight.
Do you have any experience of using them?

Totton

For me the platforms offer a wider range of choice for my investments whereas going through a fund provider, stockbroker, IT company etc lessens the choice/range of investments. The platforms are very convenient and also provide a faster way to buy/sell, usually immediate except for investments with a single time of dealing. It is also a very user-friendly experience in being able to see my investments in one place. Of course that may lessen if you split investments across platforms.

I have previously invested through a stockbroker and direct to IT companies via post & email, I find the online platforms a much better choice.

HTH

dunstonh

Do you have any experience of using them?

Look at his sig. He is an IFA and IFAs dominate the use the platforms. They originally started out for the benefit of IFAs.

It may be worth you looking at the regulator position as it views platforms very differently to the average consumer. Indeed, the changes the regulator made changed the way platforms are treated on the market and they have moved from being a cost saver to an added cost compared to investing directly. Although many fund houses countered that by offering different share classes for direct investment vs investing via a platform.

Personally, platforms are very similar in what they deliver but at the same time, very different in how they deliver. They are effectively a software platform. You could say its like comparing firefox, chrome and internet explorer. All doing the same thing but with different features and each having pros and cons and a lot of it down to personal preference.

Fayeowens

Thank you all so much. It's so helpful having actual opinions from advisors and investors and opposed to the standard pros and cons found online!

schiff

I've got money in both Fidelity and CoFunds. I have found Fidelity's website awful to use in the sense of finding straightforward facts, dates and figures which are easily available in say a website for a bank account. In consequence I have a string of messages in my account asking for clarification. Not been with CoFunds for very long but have found it much better. I have the facility to switch the Fidelity money to CoFunds, something I'm seriously thinking of doing.

dunstonh

schiff wrote: »

I've got money in both Fidelity and CoFunds. I have found Fidelity's website awful to use in the sense of finding straightforward facts, dates and figures which are easily available in say a website for a bank account. In consequence I have a string of messages in my account asking for clarification. Not been with CoFunds for very long but have found it much better. I have the facility to switch the Fidelity money to CoFunds, something I'm seriously thinking of doing.

Cofunds have put out a tender to replace their software. Although since then, it was announced that L&G have put Cofunds up for sale and are currently have Cofunds on a cost cutting drive. According to the press, the cost of replacement technology is one reason L&G would consider selling it. Apparently the main interest is coming from private equity firms.

Fidelity is awful. However, they have made changes on the IFA side. I still dont like it compared to others but another adviser said to me just the other day that he really liked it now.

greenglide

Fidelity is awful.

It is fairly dire, isnt it.

It isnt so much, IMHO, what it does or doesnt do it is just hard work to navigate round and all of the "help" and "information" is hidden away to make sure you can't find it.

However, if they follow the current trend for updating it, you can guarantee it will only get worse! You only have to look at the original BBC news website which I found dead easy to navigate and had lots of news on the front page whereas not it has a much smaller amount of content with lots of tabs and buttons and doesnt work.

From work I can get to the https://www.bbc.com version of the news, which still thinking I live in the UK so I can get the proper news but in the old formay, at least for now.