Vanguard launching in Britain

chucknorris

Pincher wrote: »

With all the name dropping around here, I always assumed you could invest in Vanguard directly in the UK, but I read in

Money Section, Sunday Times, 14th August
on page 3, near the picture of a Big Mac.

"Expect to hear more about expenses and value when Vanguard Asset management is launched in Britain, selling funds directly to investors, later this year."


Looking at the UK website:

https://www.vanguard.co.uk/uk/portal/investing-with-us/investing-in-mutual-funds

"If you approach us directly, the minimum initial investment into our funds is £100,000 per fund."


Anybody know more? Rather tempted to buy some.
Bypassing the platform middleman, sounds good.

I wish Costco did mutual funds, so I can use my Executive Membership to get 2% cashback on the charges.

I've invested in Vanguard etfs with HL, there is no HL fees, other than £11.95 for buying and selling and a reasonably small spread, unless they are in an ISA or SIPP, even then the fees are capped quite low.

dunstonh

jimjames wrote: »

If it was a migration from accounts held at Cofunds to FNZ then it might be more likely that it's the migration process that's at fault rather than the underlying software. System migration is rarely a smooth process!

For the benefit of completeness, the software FNZ make available is a backend. The platform provider creates their own front end. There are a multitude of configurations set by the platform. There are also a couple of versions in play.

Over the years, I have known for some configurations to require tweaking. Especially with platforms new to FNZ and may not have mature configuration settings. I have also known errors that have required FNZ to correct on the software via an update release/fix. However, the latter is rare and in that case, the platform provider undertook a temporary resolution by using their own funds. However, that would be very much based on the quality of the platform provider as to whether they would do that or not.

JasonPr

I contacted Vanguard recently and they confirmed their D2C platform would launch "in the near future". They couldn't give an exact date though.

Pincher

chucknorris wrote: »

I've invested in Vanguard etfs with HL, there is no HL fees, other than £11.95 for buying and selling and a reasonably small spread, unless they are in an ISA or SIPP, even then the fees are capped quite low.

But isn't that just buying an ETF, using a dealing account?Presumably with 0.5% stamp duty.

I just fancied giving funds a try.

EdSwippet

Pincher wrote: »

Presumably with 0.5% stamp duty.

There's no stamp duty on ETF purchases.

Pincher

EdSwippet wrote: »

There's no stamp duty on ETF purchases.

Doesn't that mean it's a tax dodge?

For example, instead of buying HSBA the share, you buy an ETF that contains HSBA? Assuming somebody could be bothered to set it up, of course.

I assume the chancellor gets his cut somehow.
The ETF pays stamp duty for purchasing the underlying instruments?

Thinking about it, the buy and hold crowd must really nark the chancellor: all those shares not generating stamp duty.
He must be thinking, if people moved house very year, the national debt will be gone in no time.

masonic

Pincher wrote: »

I assume the chancellor gets his cut somehow.
The ETF pays stamp duty for purchasing the underlying instruments?

This. Assuming the ETF is physically replicating and invests in main market listed UK shares. If you want to avoid stamp duty completely, invest in AIM shares - but I wouldn't call that a tax dodge either.

Pincher

masonic wrote: »

This. Assuming the ETF is physically replicating and invests in main market listed UK shares. If you want to avoid stamp duty completely, invest in AIM shares - but I wouldn't call that a tax dodge either.

Just to be obscure. I have been eyeing the exemption from inheritance tax if you held selected AIM stocks for two years.

They seem to come in the form of IHT ISAs, and highish fees.
I assume they put something together so you spread the risk across multiple eligible AIM stocks.

A tax dodge by any other name?

Glen_Clark

As I understand it, ETFs avoid Stamp duty because the Broker doesn't buy shares from (ETF provider eg Vanguard) with cash. The Broker swaps other shares for them which (Vanguard) can use for its ETF. Share swaps don't attract stamp duty like cash purchases do.

masonic

Pincher wrote: »

Just to be obscure. I have been eyeing the exemption from inheritance tax if you held selected AIM stocks for two years.

They seem to come in the form of IHT ISAs, and highish fees.
I assume they put something together so you spread the risk across multiple eligible AIM stocks.

A tax dodge by any other name?

It's more of a perk offered to encourage investment, rather than a dodge. AIUI, there is no need to take out some fancy product or shelter the investments to benefit from the relief. But the loss potential from investing in AIM shares is possibly higher than the loss potential from paying the IHT so don't let the tail wag the dog.