MoneyFarm or funny farm?

Eco_Miser

Little_Miss_Moneysaver wrote: »

Wow Eco Miser - You are infact a math whizz-kid! :T

Once upon a time, maybe. Not now.

Little_Miss_Moneysaver wrote: »

I do understand what you're saying with Option A for Rebalancing, and am slightly tempted to do it.

However, i lack free time for such fun activities (the well-paying job takes up most of my waking hours in the day ).
And, i'm very wary of doing the mathematical calculations accurately / correctly by myself!

The wonderful thing about spreadsheets is that they do all the calculations for you. The spreadsheet I mentioned in (a) just uses SUM function (click the Σ button) on each line and a division for each fund on each line, not really maths, just simple arithmetic. Now the sheet I use to keep track of the bank transfers I need to meet all the conditions for interest and no fees ...

Little_Miss_Moneysaver wrote: »

I'd need someone to check my math for me after doing calculations, to ensure i've not made a total hash of it!

While all sorts of subtle errors can happen, it's usually obvious when there's something seriously wrong.

Little_Miss_Moneysaver wrote: »

Last question for you - I hope you can put me right, if i've not understood iweb's latest fee charging structure correctly?

From what i understand, their account opening fee has gone back to being £25, instead of the £200 it was last year. Is this correct?
Any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated!

That's what it says on their fees page. I joined before the fee went up to £200, so I can't confirm from experience. I can confirm the transaction fee is still £5 though.

Little_Miss_Moneysaver

That's what it says on their fees page. I joined before the fee went up to £200, so I can't confirm from experience. I can confirm the transaction fee is still £5 though.

Thank you again Eco Miser. Yes, i called iweb, and their account opening fee did get bumped up to £200 last year, but they dropped it down to £25 in Feb 2017 - following a lot of customer complaints!

The transaction fee of £5 per each buy/sell, will work out cheaper for a £50k pot with iweb, than the percentage fees charged from Cavendish online.

Thank you again for your help.

Little_Miss_Moneysaver

JohnRo wrote: »

These robo investment portals as you call them are a rip off. I can't help but wonder how they afford to be so cheap if they're offering independent financial advice. The answer must be that they're not offering independent financial advice. All they're really offering is a packaged product selection that provides access to an already existing fund marketed as something else, which can already be bought and held cheaper elsewhere. It's unlikely the 'advice' will be worth the paper it's written on imho. Their sales pitch is designed to fleece those who can't be bothered jumping a couple of very low DIY hurdles by themselves.

Yes, you are right in that the Robo investment portals are more expensive than buying cheap tracker funds, via a cheap platform.

In my experience of Moneyfarm, there wasn't any independent financial advice (in the same way as an IFA would question ALL your financial affairs).
There was an online questionnaire, and their algorithms decided which portfolio/risk i was best matched with.
So, the cost saving on their side, probably comes from using that method.

And yes, you're right - the ETF's that are invested with Moneyfarm could be probably bought on any other platform.

However, it's not from the laziness that i invested with them. It was more due to "paralysis by analysis" from reading too much on investing, that made me question if i really knew what i was doing!

There are a LOT of tracker funds, and when i first joined Moneyfarm, i couldn't decide which ones to go for.

Also, previous to Eco Miser's post, i really didn't know how to mathematically rebalance a portfolio myself. And as Moneyfarm did that for you, it was appealing.

I'm running my Moneyfarm GIA portfolio along with a Stocks & Shares ISA (mostly invested in Vanguard Lifestrategy 60%), that i'm managing myself.

I hope that with time and more confidence, i'll be able to move away from Moneyfarm, and manage those funds myself!

I do appreciate your post - i probably needed a kick up the bum to remind me of your valid points!