Complete Novice wanting to invest

dinono10

Thank you Charoniv, It's a variable cash ISA. I'm guessing I can still set up a Life stragety fund with Vanguard as it isn't a S& S ISA?

AlanP_2

dinono10 wrote: »

Thank you Charoniv, It's a variable cash ISA. I'm guessing I can still set up a Life stragety fund with Vanguard as it isn't a S& S ISA?

1) Open ISA with H-L
2) Pay in £500
3) Purchase VLSxx within the ISA account


The ISA is a tax wrapper / box that you can put a variety of investments into.

charoniv

dinono10 wrote: »

Thank you Charoniv, It's a variable cash ISA. I'm guessing I can still set up a Life stragety fund with Vanguard as it isn't a S& S ISA?

Yes, this would be your only s&s ISA for this year. You need to distinguish between the platform and the investment though.

Your bank or h-l would be the platform (broker) which holds the ISA wrapper and Vanguard (80/20) would be the fund which you invest in via the platform.
You could use the Vanguard platform to invest in the Vanguard fund but I think that would be more expensive (maybe not on checking) and certainly less flexible for the future.

In future you will probably want to invest in other funds (add them to your ISA) as you learn more (or want to play).
With h-l you can also set up easily accessible virtual portfolios to see how things compare and also keep track of performance without logging in to the site.

dinono10

charoniv wrote: »

Yes, this would be your only s&s ISA for this year. You need to distinguish between the platform and the investment though.

Your bank or h-l would be the platform (broker) which holds the ISA wrapper and Vanguard (80/20) would be the fund which you invest in via the platform.
You could use the Vanguard platform to invest in the Vanguard fund but I think that would be more expensive (maybe not on checking) and certainly less flexible for the future.

In future you will probably want to invest in other funds (add them to your ISA) as you learn more (or want to play).


With h-l you can also set up easily accessible virtual portfolios to see how things compare and also keep track of performance without logging in to the site.

Thanks again, it is much appreciated. OK, so I set up an ISA S&S with my bank (Halifax) and purchase the Vanguard LS80 if thats what I decide to go with? I have already got an ISA with Halifax, but it isn't a S&S one, so I should be fine.

I understand I could purchase the LS80 with HL however all my banking /morgage is with Halifax so I would prefer to keep the same platform if possible.

Does this sound about right?

charoniv

dinono10 wrote: »

Thanks again, it is much appreciated. OK, so I set up an ISA S&S with my bank (Halifax) and purchase the Vanguard LS80 if thats what I decide to go with? I have already got an ISA with Halifax, but it isn't a S&S one, so I should be fine.

I understand I could purchase the LS80 with HL however all my banking /morgage is with Halifax so I would prefer to keep the same platform if possible.

Does this sound about right?

That would work.
I would be cautious about keeping everything with one bank though. I don't know how the regulations work with this (I expect investment accounts must be kept separate) but banks have a habit of moving money around at their whim. I would be especially concerned about a sole current account and mortgage with the same bank.
I wouldn't keep all accounts with one bank - if nothing else an IT failure or them suspecting you of fraud could mean that you lose access to all your money.

With Halifax it seems you are being charged £12.50 for the initial trade plus £2 for each regular trade plus £12.50 per year - I make that £49 over the year on a total investment of £2,900.
With h-l it would be £13.
At £12.50 per trade with Halifax you wouldn't want to be making ad hoc investments - it's free with h-l.

charoniv

Also looks like the minimum lump sum with a Halifax ISA is £2000 so you wouldn't be able to start off with your £500.
You could maybe do it by a regular investment though. You said you might struggle with £198 per month (don't know where that came from) but you could maybe set up a regular feed of £500 then change it to £100 after the first month. That would reduce the charges too.

Think I stumbled on their managed investment service there - can't find the minimums for their diy platform.

dinono10

charoniv wrote: »

Also looks like the minimum lump sum with a Halifax ISA is £2000 so you wouldn't be able to start off with your £500.
You could maybe do it by a regular investment though. You said you might struggle with £198 per month (don't know where that came from) but you could maybe set up a regular feed of £500 then change it to £100 after the first month. That would reduce the charges too.

Think I stumbled on their managed investment service there - can't find the minimums for their diy platform.

Yeah I don't know where I came up with that figure too:rotfl:

£100 a month is certainly doable for me and sounds better to me than £198 .

This is all so complicated for me but I'm learning each day about how much is involved by this website/monevator/YouTube. I'm in no rush though but need to understand what I could be getting myself into.

charoniv

I recently opened an isa with h-l for a very risk averse friend.
Takes a few minutes to do.
He added £500 and I set up a £100 a month investment into Vanguard 80/20 - will see what he wants to do in 5 months.

He's looking at the performance daily on his phone. I was hoping we would have a largish correction so he could see the value falling and the effect of the regular contribution but hasn't happened yet. It's just over £1 up now and I'm getting a bit worried that he'll get carried away.

Eco_Miser

dinono10 wrote: »

OK, so I set up an ISA S&S with my bank (Halifax) and purchase the Vanguard LS80 if thats what I decide to go with? I have already got an ISA with Halifax, but it isn't a S&S one, so I should be fine.

If you go with Halifax as your platform, make sure it is Halifax Share Dealing Limited (and open an ISA), not the Investment Account or Investment ISA, which are limited to three managed funds.
You might also consider IWEB or Lloyds Bank Direct Investments Service which are operated by the same company, but at different prices. I use Iweb, but my investment pattern is totally different from yours.

Tom_Brine

If it is for investing £100 a month and you wish to open a vanguard fund then the cheapest option is to go directly with Vanguard itself this can be done from here.

https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investing-explained/isa

Platforms which charge per trade etc are only good value when you start getting into the big money or have a large ammount already invested.

The best thing to do if you wish to start investing is just take the plunge. You cant go wrong with the above and all of vanguards funds are available for you to invest into. If you wish to diversify in the future into a non vanguard fund you can do so by opening another ISA on another platform in a new tax year.