VLS not on Halifax SD?

Alexland

IanManc wrote: »

Lifestrategy 20% Acc & Inc, 40% Acc & Inc, 60% Inc, 80% Inc and 100% Inc are all still missing from the funds available on IWEB.

I just checked on Halifax SD and they are only offering VLS60, 80 and 100 ACC units only so that matches.

Sorry I only checked VLS80 ACC as that's the one I hold although I am dialing down the risk to HSBC GS Balanced given market performance in recent weeks.

Alexland

I decided to proceed but as the transaction was over the Halifax £100k online trade limit I had to phone up but they still offered the online trade rate which was very nice of them. The VLS sale completed today and I just phoned back to place the HSBC order. So now my total equities exposure is a bit lower and my bonds in the 2 pensions are better split between corporate and government. Also, excluding these two Halifax trade costs, my total weighted fund and platform costs across my 2 pensions are down to 0.31%.

Alex.

Audaxer

Alexland wrote: »

I decided to proceed but as the transaction was over the Halifax £100k online trade limit I had to phone up but they still offered the online trade rate which was very nice of them. The VLS sale completed today and I just phoned back to place the HSBC order. So now my total equities exposure is a bit lower and my bonds in the 2 pensions are better split between corporate and government. Also, excluding these two Halifax trade costs, my total weighted fund and platform costs across my 2 pensions are down to 0.31%.

Alex.

Alex, did you sell over £100k of VLS80 and buy HSBC GS Balanced in it's place? If you had to wait for the VLS sale proceeds coming through before the HSBC purchase, how long were you out of the market?

My wife has recently bought some HSBC GS Bal, but we currently have much more VLS, so I'm thinking of replacing some of my VLS40 with HSBC GS Bal to lessen our UK exposure a bit. The VLS funds are currently with HSD, but I must admit I'm a bit concerned about having too much invested with them when I hear of VLS products disappearing from their system at times, and not being available to buy or sell them.

Alexland

Yes all done on the phone this week - the VLS80 sale took around 48 hours to become available cash and the HSBC GS Balanced purchase completed today in 24 hours. The VLS price dropped the day after the sale so I managed to get into HSBC without any real difference in value.

I don't think there's anything particularly sinister about VLS disappearing from Halifax and it might have been possible to do a telephone trade during the period. I was still stumped when it happened.

I still like a bit of UK bias but it makes most sense for me to hold the UK shares, gilts and cash in my workplace pension alongside some global equities where the fees for those UK funds are lower and I get return on cash. I can adjust my workplace pension with no trade fees to get my target allocation. I am holding circa 10% cash, as the L&G MI funds would, to try and adjust my exposure to the economic cycle.

Alex

Audaxer

Alexland wrote: »

Yes all done on the phone this week - the VLS80 sale took around 48 hours to become available cash and the HSBC GS Balanced purchase completed today in 24 hours. The VLS price dropped the day after the sale so I managed to get into HSBC without any real difference in value.

Gosh, that is one heck of a big trade. Well done.

I don't think there's anything particularly sinister about VLS disappearing from Halifax

That's good. I was getting a bit concerned as I don't think it seems the most reliable platform.

Alexland

Audaxer wrote: »

Gosh, that is one heck of a big trade. Well done.
That's good. I was getting a bit concerned as I don't think it seems the most reliable platform.

Yeah I wouldn't try a trade of that size in exchange traded Shares, ITs or ETFs incase it had an influence on the market but with funds you can get away with it as you get in and out at the same daily fund price as everyone else.

HSBC GS Balanced only has £167m of assets so I now own circa 0.1% of the whole fund.

Alex

Alexland

IanManc wrote: »

All five of the Acc Lifestrategy versions are now available in IWEB, but still none of the Inc versions.

Maybe people are complaining one fund at a time? You would think they would prefer to have the income ones as people might incur trade costs reinvesting returns.

Audaxer

Alexland wrote: »

HSBC GS Balanced only has £167m of assets so I now own circa 0.1% of the whole fund.

That is some amount of money you are confident of leaving with Halifax SD in the same fund. I guess I shouldn't be too anxious of just going over the £50k limit.

I'm sure you said a few weeks ago that you thought the HSBC Global Strategy funds had too much US equity?

I think the HSBC GS Balanced sits quite nicely alongside the VLS60, so thinking of upping my investment in HSBC so I've got roughly the same amount in VLS and HSBC. The returns graph for both funds are almost identical for the last 5 years, but who knows which one would do better in an equity crash - maybe the VLS which is automatically rebalanced by buying more equities at falling prices to keep to the 60%, or maybe the HSBC fund would fare better being actively managed.

Alexland

Audaxer wrote: »

That is some amount of money you are confident of leaving with Halifax SD in the same fund. I guess I shouldn't be too anxious of just going over the £50k limit.

I agree about spreading eggs across baskets but rather than rigidly sticking to the £50k limit it's a judgement about what proportion of your overall wealth you can afford to risk to get low fees. I have a similar sized workplace pension and lots of years employment ahead to build one or two more.

Audaxer wrote: »

I'm sure you said a few weeks ago that you thought the HSBC Global Strategy funds had too much US equity?

Yes. That's my view if was your only investment - but about the same US exposure as VLS if you removed the additional 20% UK bias and redistributed the remaining 80% across 100% of the fund. I like some UK bias so I am holding a UK equities fund in my workplace scheme. I am trying to get the asset allocation right, with the lowest fees, across all my accounts rather than in each account.

Audaxer wrote: »

I think the HSBC GS Balanced sits quite nicely alongside the VLS60, so thinking of upping my investment in HSBC so I've got roughly the same amount in VLS and HSBC. The returns graph for both funds are almost identical for the last 5 years, but who knows which one would do better in an equity crash - maybe the VLS which is automatically rebalanced by buying more equities at falling prices to keep to the 60%, or maybe the HSBC fund would fare better being actively managed.

Well if you held both in equal proportions you would have a smaller circa 15% UK weighting. VLS prefers government bonds and HSBC prefers corporate bonds you would be sitting on the fence there too.

Alex.

ValiantSon

Audaxer wrote: »

That is some amount of money you are confident of leaving with Halifax SD in the same fund. I guess I shouldn't be too anxious of just going over the £50k limit.

The £50,000 protection is only of use in instances of corporate fraud or negligence, so it is incredibly unlikely that it would be called upon. It isn't like the £85,000 on retail deposits. In the latter instance you are a creditor, in the former you are not. The chances are that should there be fraud because of an unscrupulous employee the institution would actually cover you anyway because a) most would likely feel morally obligated to do so, and b) the reputational damage of not doing so could be devastating to their business.

If you insist on keeping all investments below £50,000 then, as your investments grow, you are going to start running out of platforms to use! You will also incur considerable extra and unnecessary cost.