Finding a consolidated platform for Shares, ISAs, Funds and SIPPs

christhedon

Hi,

I'm trying to find a provider platform that will satisfy the following:

1) Allow me to manage my pension, stocks and shares and funds inside and outside an ISA
1a) Have a wide range of funds to invest in
2) Do analysis on all of the above as one pot or as seperate buckets
3) Charge cheap fees (I know thats subjective)
4) Have good customer service (I just need to be able to understand what they're saying, so guess they'd have good command of English and will be flexible enough to dumb things down and give straight answers)
5) Ideally have a mobile phone app (Android)
6) Nice to have ability to also do SEIS/EIS through them as well
7) Nice to have option for advice

I've taken a look on google, and not been able to find a site that compares these features or tell me who offers the above. So far I think Hargreaves and TD have a mobile App, but it looked like TD has not much fund choice... Also I'm struggling to find an easy comparison site on charges. They all seem to have a different charge structure etc.

Any advice, suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

Chris

xylophone

http://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5583030

Plus

I think you're looking for the holy grail here, so would be interested to know if you find it. If you do I suspect it'll be expensive.

However one thing to think about is to split up the requirements. eg analysis can be done with a virtual portfolio on one of the research sites (Morningstar, Trustnet, etc) - it's just slightly more work to keep it in sync with your actual holdings. Advice can be done with a third party IFA who is happy to give you standalone advice, leaving you to carry it out.

Customer service: I'm not aware of any of the main platforms offshoring contact centres, so they'll likely all speak English. For an execution-only broker generally there isn't so much to discuss - they can't advise on X or Y, they can only tell you about the trades that you told them to do.

I'm a bit confused by your level of experience. If you're wanting to use EIS then presumably you know what you're doing and don't need somebody to explain what a bond is? If you do need that handholding, it sounds more like an advice platform is for you - and EIS is probably not for you right now. If you have a good reason to do EIS then maybe you can do that on a separate platform?

Type_45

Someone will be along shortly to post an Excel sheet which a poster here called Snowman has put together. It's a fantastic way of comparing prices for platforms.

I've recently gone through this process. Key points off the bat for me were:

1) Am I an active or passive investor? (Passive in my case, so trading costs didn't matter as much).
2) How much money do I have? (This matters because if you have a smaller amount then you go for a provider who charge a % fee, and if you have a larger amount then you go for one of the platforms which charge a fixed fee. I went for a fixed fee provider as it worked out slightly cheaper for me).
3) Which funds/shares do you want to invest in? Best to know this first, as you don't want to sign up with a platform only to find they don't do your shares/funds. I wanted Vanguard LifeStrategy, and most platforms do VLS.

xylophone

Someone will be along shortly to post an Excel sheet which a poster here called Snowman has put together.

Post 2 link 2.

cashbackproblems

HL fits the bill

Type_45

HL is a % fee platform. If the OP has a larger amount of money they should go for a fixed fee platform.