Cheapest platform for newbie infrequent shares investor

andy001

How about Charles Stanley Direct? i've started monthly small investment with ISA wrapper. The rates are quite cheap

capital0ne

ColdIron wrote: »

Up until very recently many people didn't believe there was any point in an ISA for their shares as dividends were not taxed if they were a basic rate taxpayer, until they were. Even with the £11,300 CGT allowance you will be required to keep a record of all transactions to prove you have not exceeded the threshold should you be challenged. It seems to me to be a no brainer to tax protect your investments if only for peace of mind

This is so true, on a couple of points
Next FY 2018-19 you'll be taxed on dividend income over £2,000 (it's £5,000 right now)
People are moaning about how they rely on dividend income, but now it's gong to be taxed! Simple answer move £20k of investments now into an ISA and another £20k on April 6th so that takes care of £40k (or £80k if you have a partner)

Next point, record keeping, no need to do this for an ISA based portfolio. This point is missed by lots of people, but you need to keep records for your tax return, so imaging a portfolio with 20 investments all paying dividends or even ACC fund or ETFs. You would need to know the dividend paid and when. This I think is second biggest benefit for ISAs.

ValiantSon

andy001 wrote: »

How about Charles Stanley Direct? i've started monthly small investment with ISA wrapper. The rates are quite cheap

Charles Stanley Direct would be more expensive than other options outlined above. They charge 0.25% platform fee and £11.95 per trade. (Is it possible that you use them for OEICs, which have no trading fee? The OP is talking about share dealing). Based on the OP's original plan that would be a cost of £108.10, which is easily beaten.

Eco_Miser

buzzbuzz wrote: »

With regards using ISA wrapper, Don't we all get upto £12k CGT allowance on share profits and won't we still be taxed for share transactions even under ISA wrapper. Should i be using shares ISA wrapper even for smaller investments like 5k ?

With most platforms there's no reason not to use an ISA. It saves on record keeping as well as tax.
Yes we do all have £11300 CGT allowance per year of disposal. If your shares do well you may need to split your disposals over multiple years to avoid the tax. This also has to cover any chargeable gains on other assets you dispose of.

You're right that Stamp Duty is still payable on buying shares.

chutney51

Regards the comments about IG.

They are about to start charging a quarterly fee (approx £20 per quarter starting in April I think).
They do have an ISA but beware when it comes to share buying as they do not offer a dividend re-investment scheme. For the small investor this can make a sizeable difference.