Best Platform For Vanguard Life Strategy 60/80

mickeywaffle

Hi, myself and my brother (both aged 25) have recently come in to some money and would like to invest around £150,000 initially in to Vanguard Life Strategy 60 or 80.

We currently have zero of our ISA allowance filled but this may not be relevant over the next few years with our taxable wage set to be very low.

If we have the money for it we will want to put in an extra £100-£500 each month.

Can someone recommend the best platform for us? Best most likely being the cheapest!
At the moment I've been looking at Halifax Sharedealing but really am unsure.

Any advice is greatly appreciated since I'm very new to all this, any information I'm sure will be adding to my knowledge. Also if I've said anything that sounds stupid, let me know!

Flobberchops

I'm no expert but my first thought is that if you're talking that kind of figure, a platform which charges a flat fee may be cheaper than one that takes a percentage (as I believe Halifax does?)

Glen_Clark

With over £100k you can invest directly with Vanguard, avoiding middlemen and their fees

mickeywaffle

Thanks Glen! I thought that was the case but the email I got back from them was next to useless. So I could invest the full £150k directly with them as long as it was all in Vanguard Life Strategy 80 for instance?

colsten

As a personal investor, I think you will always do better with firms that are geared towards personal investors. If you want to deal with the funds directly, you need to be fluent in big investor and fund manager speak. I think it would be silly to think you can save a few quid by trying to play above your station.

The Fund Managers won't, for example, be equipped to "Bed and ISA" your £150K over the next few years. They would probably not even know what you are talking about. Whilst a platform/broker that deals with individual small time investors (sorry, at £150K, you are a small time investor) knows exactly what to do.

It is quite possible to pick the best platform for a £150Kish investment yourself if you are so inclined to do your own research. It might sound harsh, but asking on MSE doesn't comprise doing your own research. I would recommend you find an independent financial advisor, who you can hold accountable for the advice they give to you - as opposed to what random strangers on MSE tell you and who you can hold accountable for nothing.

mickeywaffle

Sure thing Colsten, I'll have a good look in to all the various platforms available. Just wanted to know if maybe anyone had been in a similar situation and had experience with which ones were suitable for them.

Also, no need to say sorry.. Think it's fairly obvious at £150k I'm small fry Won't be asking Warren Buffet to lunch any time soon.

colsten

mickeywaffle, it's a massive jump from knowing nothing about investments to managing your £150K portfolio yourself.

£150K is enough to build a good house. If you knew nothing about building & plannings regs, flood risks, sourcing building materials, bricking up walls, gas regulations, electrical regulations, insulation qualities, hadn't ever thought of how many kids you want to have room for in the house etc etc etc, would you just go ahead and spend £150K on building your own house?

No? Thought so.

So why would you invest £150K on your own accord , without professional advice, if you know nothing about investments?

BTW, I am not an IFA, and I am very careful with who I pay any money to.

mickeywaffle

Who said I wasn't going to get professional advice, Colsten? I was agreeing with your post.

dunstonh

IIRC, Vanguard do not offer the ISA wrapper.

Is the plan to hold the investment all unwrapped or part wrapped or unwrapped with a view to using bed & ISA each year?

VLS80 is above the risk profile of the typical UK consumer. Especially one that has not invested previously. Are you ready for that level of volatility?

Why VLS and not one of the other active passive multi-asset funds?

Who said I wasn't going to get professional advice, Colsten?

You inferred that by asking about DIY options.

mickeywaffle

Well I suppose the fact that I wasn't even aware I was really asking about DIY options shows I definitely should be getting a financial adviser doesn't it, dunston!

Thought that going through a platform and putting it in to VLS was a fairly straightforward way of investing compared to putting together my own portfolio. I suppose my next question then is this:

Where do I find a good financial adviser? It's the part of me that hates handing over money to people that makes it difficult. Couldn't stomach paying for consultation after consultation to just get nowhere and have someone try and make me invest in things that suit them. I'm sure I have the wrong end of the stick though!

BananaRepublic

With that sort of sum and your young age I think you want to look at the broader picture. You have not said where you or your brother live. Depending on your area, it might make sense to use that sum as a down payment on a house. That would save you paying rent, and the house would appreciate in value over the years. Buy a four bedroom house, let out two rooms, and you pay off the mortgage with lodgers. There are tax advantages to letting a room. I'm not sure how it works if two brothers co-own the house, if they have tax breaks each. And you are young enough that sharing a house is fun, unlike miserable old gets like me who have had enough of communal living. Just choose your house mates carefully if you go this route, employed, polite, well spoken (not posh, but well brought up). :rotfl:

If for some reason becoming a property magnate is out, then pensions are worth thinking about, the reasoning being that £10,000 invested now, plus the tax rebate, will be worth much more in 40 years time. Cripes that's a long way off!

Just a few thoughts.