Meeting with my IFA and Wealth Manager

bostonerimus

grey_gym_sock wrote: »

well, it's a tight fit, but let's see ... just taking the cheapest tracker i've found for each region (and assuming the OCF is the only relevant cost measure, which isn't quite true):

UK: 0.06% (ishares UK equity index fund, class D)

north america (i.e. USA + canada): 0.07% (ishares north american equity index fund, class D) (there are also several USA-only ETFs with the same OCF)

europe ex-UK: 0.1% (ishare continental european equity fund, class D; or HSBC european index fund, class C)

japan: 0.12% (fidelity index japan, class W)

pacific ex-japan: 0.18% (ishares pacific ex-japan equity index fund, class D)

emerging markets: 0.25% (several options)

so certainly some funds are over 0.1%, but you might just keep the portfolio's average under 0.1%, depending on weightings (mainly, by not putting a lot in pacific ex-japan and emerging).

My <0.1% fees is across my portfolio (some funds are at 0.15% fees) and includes trading and platform charges, I obviously don't pay an IFA to manage my money so that fee is 0.0%

grey_gym_sock

bostonerimus wrote: »

My <0.1% fees is across my portfolio (some funds are at 0.15% fees) and includes trading and platform charges, I obviously don't pay an IFA to manage my money so that fee is 0.0%

yes, in the UK we do need to add platform fees to those OCFs.

it can be minimal for a big porfolio - e.g. use iweb, and pay no percentage platform fee, but pay £5 for each purchase/sale of a fund/ETF.

for small portfolios, it's more economical to pay a percentage platform fee (and no buy/sell charges). and you're looking at 0.25% for a general-purpose platform, or 0.15% for vanguard's own platform (and the latter will be cheaper overall, even allowing for vanguard's OCFs being fractionally higher than the competition).

but that's for ISA or taxable. pensions can be a bit more. fixed-fee platforms will charge a bit more. you can get 0.25% for a general-purpose platform for a pension, but vanguard don't have an offering here yet.

bostonerimus

grey_gym_sock wrote: »

yes, in the UK we do need to add platform fees to those OCFs.

it can be minimal for a big porfolio - e.g. use iweb, and pay no percentage platform fee, but pay £5 for each purchase/sale of a fund/ETF.

for small portfolios, it's more economical to pay a percentage platform fee (and no buy/sell charges). and you're looking at 0.25% for a general-purpose platform, or 0.15% for vanguard's own platform (and the latter will be cheaper overall, even allowing for vanguard's OCFs being fractionally higher than the competition).

but that's for ISA or taxable. pensions can be a bit more. fixed-fee platforms will charge a bit more. you can get 0.25% for a general-purpose platform for a pension, but vanguard don't have an offering here yet.

A US based portfolio can have very low fees, but I'd love to have access to the generous UK tax advantages accounts like ISAs and SIPPs. In the US the ROTHs and 401k max contributions aren't nearly as large,

bigadaj

bostonerimus wrote: »

A US based portfolio can have very low fees, but I'd love to have access to the generous UK tax advantages accounts like ISAs and SIPPs. In the US the ROTHs and 401k max contributions aren't nearly as large,

How much do you hold in non US funds ?

dunstonh

It should also be noted that the US also has investments with fees above the UK norm too.

bostonerimus

dunstonh wrote: »

It should also be noted that the US also has investments with fees above the UK norm too.

Yes, there are plenty of active funds with big fees and entry charges and expensive advisers in the US.

bostonerimus

bigadaj wrote: »

How much do you hold in non US funds ?

I'm about 25% non-US equities, 50% US equities and 25% US Government and investment grade corporate bonds. Vanguard keeps suggesting I increase my international bond percentage.

TheTracker

bostonerimus wrote: »

I know, I look at the costs in the UK relative to the US and I'm shocked. You can keep costs down using index trackers and low cost platforms in both countries, but it will be hard to match the costs I pay in the US on my largest fund, VTSAX (Vanguard Total US Stock Index), which has an annual fee of 0.04% and I pay no platform or trading fees as I hold it directly with US Vanguard.

This is partly down to AUM. Costs per pound might look high at say 0.22%, but cost per total fund (say £x million) might even be less than the US. AUM va cost to run the fund is not a linear relationship.

IIRC My overall OCF is 0.18% including platform and trading costs. 60/40 global portfolio with property, EM, Small, and Value tilts. Halving that would be nice, but the UK demand will never be as big as the US.

RobStaffs

Wow. Reading this thread has given me a headache. I have been investing in funds and a pension for many years now. I have never used an IFA but I would not class myself as an experienced DIY investor either. I have around £140k in funds and a pension which currently stands at £330k. I still pay £500 pm into the latter. I was pretty active in buying funds up to the end of April 17 but stopped when I was made redundant.(second time in two years) After four month period out of work I am working again but on a much reduced income. I have spoken to at least one IFA and will probably get another opinion in the next week or so.

I use H_L for my funds as I like their interface and the fact I don't have to pay for trades. I appreciate they charge a hefty platform fee and recently I have been re positioning my funds to lower charge options to compensate or in funds which have served me well over time.

At the age of 53 I am now thinking about positioning my assets in terms of draw down options. I have never taken any income from any of my funds. I also have a significant amount in cash ISAs/Savings which I know could do a lot better elsewhere. The redundancies knocked my confidence a little in terms of planning/investing and for the last couple of years I have stood still.

username12345678

Quick update...

The meeting was informative and gave me an opportunity to ask a few questions of the DFM as to why the portfolio was structured the way it was and what his processes were for making adjustments to my allocations.

I'm mulling over a suggestion to split the pot (which came from the IFA) which is superficially attractive but my concern is that the DFM will be making investment decisions not based on the full picture of my financial situation.

It would be a half-way house for a couple of years though or until i'd made a decision about whether self-managing was something I really wanted to do.