Been out of the game for a couple of years - is H&L still a good option for Vanguard?

mr_fishbulb

Hi all,

A couple of years ago I sold all my shares and funds in order to put down a deposit on a house.

I've got a little bit of a pay rise now, so I'm overpaying the mortgage and I'll have about £100 per month to invest.

I'm going to stick to the same plan as before - build up a healthy base through a (or a few) tracker fund(s), before I start looking at shares in individual companies. Probably going to go for the Vanguard LifeStrategy 100% Equity fund to start with.

What's the best platform to use? Hargreaves Lansdown would be easiest for me as I still have an account with them.

I'm probably going to put this in a non-ISA shares & funds account as it's cheaper and the capital gains wouldn't be that much at this time.

Cheers

Archi_Bald

HL will be rather expensive for small ISA holdings. More competitive for small SIPP holdings.
http://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/

http://www.comparefundplatforms.com/

grey_gym_sock

using an ISA is usually no more expensive than using an unwrapped account. that is even true with HL when you're buying funds (though not when buying ETFs/ITs/etc).

for a small (up to £20,000 or so) investment in funds, you want somebody who charges nothing for buying/selling, just an annual % of the current value of your investments. HL do fit that description, but their % charge is high, at 0.45% ... you can pay as little as 0.25%, if you use cavendish online, or charles stanley direct.

colsten

grey_gym_sock wrote: »

using an ISA is usually no more expensive than using an unwrapped account. that is even true with HL when you're buying funds (though not when buying ETFs/ITs/etc).

Also you don't have to worry about CGT, keeping records for HMRC, making tax returns. You could also liquidise your investment and keep any interest the cash proceeds make tax free.

HL isn't the cheapest platform for ISAs though, particularly not in the start up years.