S&S ISA platform fees

madmollusc

Hi all,

I'm reviewing whether I am paying too much in fees for two S&S ISAs I have, and would appreciate some information as I think I may be paying too much.
I currently have 18K with Close Brother asset management (used to be Chartwell), running through the Cofunds platform.

I currently have three fees:
Intermediary fee 0.35%
Cofunds fee £47 per year
seperate Investment management fees

The fee's total about £300 a year, is this excessive considering the amount invested (not trackers, actively managed funds)?

I see the likes of Cavendish are mentioned in some posts, do they also charge and intermediary and a platform fee?

Many thanks for any pointers!!

colsten

You are paying way over the odds. Check out http://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/

BananaRepublic

colsten wrote: »

You are paying way over the odds. Check out http://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/

Unfortunately that page is at least in part wrong. For example Fidelity charges:

• A flat Investor Fee of £45 per year

• A Service Fee of 0.25% per year

https://www.fidelity.co.uk/static/pdf/adviserservices/client-guide-to-fees-and-charges.pdf


The guide is useful as it lists platforms, but it is safest to go to each provider to find the actual charges.

ashleypride

BananaRepublic wrote: »

Unfortunately that page is at least in part wrong. For example Fidelity charges:

Which bit is wrong? Both Fidelty and Cavendish on the page look to have the correct details.

BLB53

If you feel confident to manage yourself on a DIY basis - low cost index funds via a low cost platform such as Cavendish or Charles Stanley Direct, you could save around 1.4% p.a. on the fees you are paying.

That would be a saving of ~£250 each year.

bigadaj

madmollusc wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm reviewing whether I am paying too much in fees for two S&S ISAs I have, and would appreciate some information as I think I may be paying too much.
I currently have 18K with Close Brother asset management (used to be Chartwell), running through the Cofunds platform.

I currently have three fees:
Intermediary fee 0.35%
Cofunds fee £47 per year
seperate Investment management fees

The fee's total about £300 a year, is this excessive considering the amount invested (not trackers, actively managed funds)?

I see the likes of Cavendish are mentioned in some posts, do they also charge and intermediary and a platform fee?

Many thanks for any pointers!!

The £300 fee you quote only includes the cofunds and close bros fees, the fund charges will be additional and will be contained within the fund costs.

I've transferred a larger sum out to Halifax but have a complaint in with close bros currently as I can't recall ever seeing their fees being advised to me, having also been a legacy client. Their website just states total fees of 0.35% which is middle of the road.

I have a smaller portfolio with Charles Stanley direct and they have been fine, more modern platform and more responsive and cheap on smaller sums, though my portfolio now would be better with a fixed fee platform which I'm currently reviewing.

oldfella

why not use one of the fixed fee platforms, I have moved mine to Halifax. £12.50 a year, they are all acc funds so no dividend charge, and the holding is stable so no transaction charges.

dunstonh

It should be noted that the charges mentioned in post#1 are not Cofunds charges. Cofunds dont charge £47 a year and are cheaper than 0.35%. IIRC, it is close brothers pricing and they use a white labelled version of the platform which is powered by Cofunds.

bowlhead99

BananaRepublic wrote: »

Unfortunately that page is at least in part wrong. For example Fidelity charges:

• A flat Investor Fee of £45 per year

• A Service Fee of 0.25% per year

https://www.fidelity.co.uk/static/pdf/adviserservices/client-guide-to-fees-and-charges.pdf


The guide is useful as it lists platforms, but it is safest to go to each provider to find the actual charges.

By following the link given on the comparison table, you would be able to easily navigate to the fund charges page, which explains the fees they charge to all their customers who apply through their website, and you'll see they directly correspond to the table:
https://www.fidelity.co.uk/investor/funds/fund-charge.page

The document you have found is clearly marked "Your guide to investing with FundsNetwork through an advisor", and from the url you can see it comes from their /advisorservices/ part of the Fidelity website.

So, if you have an IFA, they can hook you up with 0.25% and a flat fee of £45 and whatever you agree to pay them for getting their advice and help.

However, if someone is putting together a guide to compare the cheapest online brokers, it makes total sense to me that the comparison table should use the 'direct customer' rates that the DIY investor would experience if they went to the website and tried to buy an investment. If you have an IFA and are not trying to compare DIY market products, then you would go to the IFA and might be given that Fidelity document that you found.

So, monevator's page is not 'wrong' for what it is trying to do or what people would use it for.

The general point that you should go to the provider direct to find their actual charges, is sound, as they may all have small print which is hyper specific to some less-common situations and can't be captured easily by the table. And of course if there's a new or pending fee change, the providers own site will likely know about it before Monevator does.

grey_gym_sock

your total platform / intermediary fee (for cofunds + close brothers) comes to about 0.61% a year. you could get that down to 0.25% by using cavendish online or charles stanley direct.

you could also pay less for funds if you used passive instead of active. i would generally argue for using passive, though there are arguments both ways.

however, there is not much argument for paying 0.61% instead of 0.25% for a platform.

BananaRepublic

bowlhead99 wrote: »

By following the link given on the comparison table, you would be able to easily navigate to the fund charges page, which explains the fees they charge to all their customers who apply through their website, and you'll see they directly correspond to the table:
https://www.fidelity.co.uk/investor/funds/fund-charge.page

The document you have found is clearly marked "Your guide to investing with FundsNetwork through an advisor", and from the url you can see it comes from their /advisorservices/ part of the Fidelity website.

So, if you have an IFA, they can hook you up with 0.25% and a flat fee of £45 and whatever you agree to pay them for getting their advice and help.

However, if someone is putting together a guide to compare the cheapest online brokers, it makes total sense to me that the comparison table should use the 'direct customer' rates that the DIY investor would experience if they went to the website and tried to buy an investment. If you have an IFA and are not trying to compare DIY market products, then you would go to the IFA and might be given that Fidelity document that you found.

So, monevator's page is not 'wrong' for what it is trying to do or what people would use it for.

The general point that you should go to the provider direct to find their actual charges, is sound, as they may all have small print which is hyper specific to some less-common situations and can't be captured easily by the table. And of course if there's a new or pending fee change, the providers own site will likely know about it before Monevator does.

This was where I originally found the information on Fidelity fees:

https://www.fidelity.co.uk/investor/fundsnetwork-adv/prices-and-charging-adv.page

As far as I can see the above page makes no mention of an IFA.