Advice re stocks and shares isas

enthusiasticsaver

Having at last come to a decision on what to do with my OHs pension we will be getting a tax free lump sum in November 60-75% of which we will be investing. £42000 is already invested in my name and we will be adding a further £60-£100k over the next year from November 2016. Not sure yet whether to put it all in at the same time yet or drip feed. As much as possible will be wrapped in S and S isas and we will gradually bed and isa them until they are all within the isa wrapper within the annual allowances for OH and me.

I use Vanguard LS60 at the moment and see no reason to change my preferred fund (OH is leaving it to me) and I use Cavendish (Fidelity). I want to move platforms to a cheaper one so it is better so it seems to use Halifax sharedealing or IWeb.

Firstly has anyone used Halifax or iweb and is there anything I should be aware of? Is there another platform which would be better? Secondly drip feeding or just put it all in at once?

Once the required amount is moved across we intend to keep £150k in Vanguard LS60, £50k in fixed term deposits (2 years to take us up to my retirement) and £50k in high interest current accounts. This may change again in 2-3 years but for this year and next this is our goal. We do not need to touch the £150k for foreseeable future.

Any other thoughts or suggestions? We have seen an IFA but decided not to use one for this. We cannot put the money in SIPPs apparently as it is recycling tax free money.

bigadaj

I transferred into Halifax with my isa and some unwrapped funds a few months ago, basic website but works fine and their customer service has been good and very responsive.

I've just transferred a personal pension to iWeb initial thoughts are that all is fine, nothing complicated but the same basic Halifax style website, and I do my analysis on trustnet anyway.

I might be tempted to use another option than vanguard given the fairly large sums, both because it exceeds the investment limit and in terms of performance. I'd maybe look at splitting with an equivalent black rock or l & g option, also for interest on relative performance and the l&g version, say multi index 5(?), also holds property.

One other point on platforms is that they are still varying their charges and fees, as we've seen recently with a j bell, so it could be that you might have to move funds if your chosen option becomes significantly more expensive.

badger09

I moved my then, fairly small ISA, from HL to IWeb when HL increased their charges. Like you, I'm in VLS, though a bit riskier. Older than you, but probably smaller % of wealth invested:o

Absolutely no complaints about IWeb. "It does what it says on the tin":)

enthusiasticsaver

bigadaj wrote: »

I transferred into Halifax with my isa and some unwrapped funds a few months ago, basic website but works fine and their customer service has been good and very responsive.

I've just transferred a personal pension to iWeb initial thoughts are that all is fine, nothing complicated but the same basic Halifax style website, and I do my analysis on trustnet anyway.

I might be tempted to use another option than vanguard given the fairly large sums, both because it exceeds the investment limit and in terms of performance. I'd maybe look at splitting with an equivalent black rock or l & g option, also for interest on relative performance and the l&g version, say multi index 5(?), also holds property.

One other point on platforms is that they are still varying their charges and fees, as we've seen recently with a j bell, so it could be that you might have to move funds if your chosen option becomes significantly more expensive.

I have looked before at the legal and general multi index and I agree that as eventually I would like to get up to £150k invested it may be better to split rather than keep it all in Vanguard. Certainly I will explore that over the next few months until we get the lump sum. I opened a share dealing account with Halifax yesterday and requested transfer of my stocks and shares isas from Cavendish and Fidelity. It seems pretty user friendly.

badger09

bigadaj wrote: »

I transferred into Halifax with my isa and some unwrapped funds a few months ago, basic website but works fine and their customer service has been good and very responsive.

I've just transferred a personal pension to iWeb initial thoughts are that all is fine, nothing complicated but the same basic Halifax style website, and I do my analysis on trustnet anyway.

I might be tempted to use another option than vanguard given the fairly large sums, both because it exceeds the investment limit and in terms of performance. I'd maybe look at splitting with an equivalent black rock or l & g option, also for interest on relative performance and the l&g version, say multi index 5(?), also holds property.

One other point on platforms is that they are still varying their charges and fees, as we've seen recently with a j bell, so it could be that you might have to move funds if your chosen option becomes significantly more expensive.

bigadaj

Can I ask if you've managed to find the L & G Multi Index funds on IWeb? I'm struggling:o

bigadaj

badger09 wrote: »

bigadaj

Can I ask if you've managed to find the L & G Multi Index funds on IWeb? I'm struggling:o

I'm not sure they do them now you come to mention it.

The isa I transferred had l & g multi index 7 and they wouldn't transfer it in specie presumably because they didn't offer it.

It's obvious that all platforms can't offer all funds but was odd that they didn't seemingly offer it, this was Halifax share dealing rather than iWeb so they could be different but they're effectively the same platform. Maybe this will change and some platforms will offer more options on request so worth asking the question, I just moved to another fund rather than raise it as an issue.

badger09

bigadaj wrote: »

I'm not sure they do them now you come to mention it.

The isa I transferred had l & g multi index 7 and they wouldn't transfer it in specie presumably because they didn't offer it.

It's obvious that all platforms can't offer all funds but was odd that they didn't seemingly offer it, this was Halifax share dealing rather than iWeb so they could be different but they're effectively the same platform. Maybe this will change and some platforms will offer more options on request so worth asking the question, I just moved to another fund rather than raise it as an issue.

Thanks. I thought it was just my carp searching skills. I find it odd that IWEB don't offer this range as they offer dozens of L&G funds. I'll ask on Monday.

I'm looking for an alternative to my VLS. Eggs & baskets, though the VLS is a fairly large basket:p

junebaby

I'm also investing in VLS60. Thinking of adding an emerging market and small co fund as satellites to the VLS60 to give a bit more spread in areas not covered.

Was wondering what percentage would be a starting point. Any ideas welcomed.

badger09

UPDATE

I've just spoken to IWEB live chat.

Apparently they don't offer the L&G Multi Index 7 because "it is not signed up to 'Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities' (UCITS)". Same apparently applies to Multi Index 5.

Now off to educate myself as to what that means, unless some kind person would like to enlighten me:o

xylophone

http://ec.europa.eu/finance/investment/ucits-directive/index_en.htm

badger09

Thanks xylophone

Now - how to find out which funds are (or rather are not:cool:) signed up to this.

Or maybe I'll just look for another alternative to VLS:o