Platforms vs Platforms

dqnet

I'll be opening my investment platform account in the coming days and was wondering which platform had better customer support and hand holding. I was thinking of going either AJ Bell or HL. I'm not too worried about the platform fees to initially as I'm just starting out and will make the necessary changes later (I understand this may be a costly) but my concern was more about getting the educated help if I need it. I've called both numbers for various fund questions and both have been pretty good but I was wondering if anyone had a specific experience that would steer someone away from either platform. Thanks

p.s. HL said that in some cases the ongoing fund fee will vary between Platforms. Is this true or are they all the same (providing the platform offers the fund)?

ValiantSon

HL are able to offer cheaper OCFs on some funds. You can check this out before opening an account with them.

Many will sing the praises of HL customer service, but I would caution against being overly swayed by this. You've already said that you were pleased with AJ Bell so far.

However, the biggest concern is that you seem to be going about this the wrong way round. Identify the funds you wish to invest in first and only then work out which platform offers the fund at the best total price (factoring in any customer service needs).

jamesperrett

dqnet wrote: »

p.s. HL said that in some cases the ongoing fund fee will vary between Platforms. Is this true or are they all the same (providing the platform offers the fund)?

That's right - some of the bigger platforms like HL will negotiate discounts with certain funds on the charges for their customers. Usually something like 0.05% to 0.1%.

dunstonh

p.s. HL said that in some cases the ongoing fund fee will vary between Platforms. Is this true or are they all the same (providing the platform offers the fund)?

They are correct but you are typically only talking about 0.05% p.a. Plus, HL do not have the largest range of superclean of all the platforms. Although it is one of the larger DIY platforms to do so.

weenie15

I've got SIPPs and ISAs with both HL and AJ Bell - been with both for several years.

If you're not fussed about fees and more bothered about customer support and reliability of website, then my own preference would be HL, as I have occasionally experienced AJ Bell's website being down at weekends. AJ Bell can also be a little slower allocating dividends and the odd 'regular payment' doesn't always go on the day it's supposed to go! I guess you get what you pay for.

If you only hold shares, investment trusts or ETFs in an ISA with HL, then their 0.45% fee is capped at £45 per annum which is competitive versus AJ Bell's £30 per annum (for similar investments in an ISA).

TBC15

We currently have OH SIPP <£10000 with HL and my SIPP with AJ Bell. The rest of our investments are with II .

HL have a great website and are extremely proficient. I've had no problems with AJ Bell, nice people to do business with.

For the vast majority of our investments we use II. I don't expect a lot, other than its still there day to day.

Bottom line is my main concern with investments.

dqnet

ValiantSon wrote: »

HL are able to offer cheaper OCFs on some funds. You can check this out before opening an account with them.

Many will sing the praises of HL customer service, but I would caution against being overly swayed by this. You've already said that you were pleased with AJ Bell so far.

However, the biggest concern is that you seem to be going about this the wrong way round. Identify the funds you wish to invest in first and only then work out which platform offers the fund at the best total price (factoring in any customer service needs).

I will certainly be looking at overall costs but I was wondering if it was even worth comparing platforms if the recommendations here were to generally avoid one or the other.

dunstonh wrote: »

They are correct but you are typically only talking about 0.05% p.a. Plus, HL do not have the largest range of superclean of all the platforms. Although it is one of the larger DIY platforms to do so.

Agreed. I noticed that whilst looking at their KID's.

weenie15 wrote: »

I've got SIPPs and ISAs with both HL and AJ Bell - been with both for several years.

If you're not fussed about fees and more bothered about customer support and reliability of website, then my own preference would be HL, as I have occasionally experienced AJ Bell's website being down at weekends. AJ Bell can also be a little slower allocating dividends and the odd 'regular payment' doesn't always go on the day it's supposed to go! I guess you get what you pay for.

If you only hold shares, investment trusts or ETFs in an ISA with HL, then their 0.45% fee is capped at £45 per annum which is competitive versus AJ Bell's £30 per annum (for similar investments in an ISA).

That's interesting, I was actually trying to browse a few funds yesterday and HL site was down. In all honesty though I think your right. The site seems more 'stable'

TBC15 wrote: »

We currently have OH SIPP <£10000 with HL and my SIPP with AJ Bell. The rest of our investments are with II .

HL have a great website and are extremely proficient. I've had no problems with AJ Bell, nice people to do business with.

For the vast majority of our investments we use II. I don't expect a lot, other than its still there day to day.

Bottom line is my main concern with investments.

Seems like this is going to be a toss of a coin situation.
It's just unfortunate that some funds have a minimum charge on one platform that is far higher then the other. HL seems to have most funds but the 0.45 seems like it will bite in the long run. Out of curiosity is the 0.45 charge across all accounts held with them or is per product. 0.45 for a LISA and 0.45 for a SIPP, etc? Thanks.

ColdIron

dqnet wrote: »

Out of curiosity is the 0.45 charge across all accounts held with them or is per product. 0.45 for a LISA and 0.45 for a SIPP, etc? Thanks.

Unfortunately not, it's per account but this is the same thing as across accounts if you think about it. Where it matters is HL's reduced fee of 0.25% if you have more than £250,000 of funds per account. Some platforms apply their reduced tier fees across accounts. HL have no annual fee for shares, ITs, ETFs etc in their GIA, the ISA and SIPP charges are 0.45% but are capped at £45 and £200 respectively

dqnet

ColdIron wrote: »

Unfortunately not, it's per account

Thanks mate.

Interestingly enough, I was using the over simplified compare platform costs on AJ Bell's site located here: https://www.youinvest.co.uk/charges-and-rates yet after choosing my individual funds and having to deal with a few minimum investment amounts on some of the funds on the AJ Bell platform the pendulum seems to swing in the favour of HL. Its bizarre that the agreement with AJ for a fund has a minimum investment of £1000 whereas the exact same fund on HL has a minimum investment of £100 (exact same fund, compared by ISIN numbers). If that fund alone performs horribly and doesn't recover you would have paid HL fees for almost 10 years! (figures might be off slightly but makes the point).

bowlhead99

dqnet wrote: »

having to deal with a few minimum investment amounts on some of the funds on the AJ Bell platform the pendulum seems to swing in the favour of HL. Its bizarre that the agreement with AJ for a fund has a minimum investment of £1000 whereas the exact same fund on HL has a minimum investment of £100 (exact same fund, compared by ISIN numbers).

That doesn't really make sense. With AJB I don't see how a larger minimum investment size is making it more expensive.

They have a small transaction fee of £1.50 for a purchase and then 0.25% a year, instead of no transaction fee and then 0.45% a year. If you buy in larger chunks less frequently instead of little and often you would be doing fewer transactions and thereby paying fewer transaction fees - which would help you save fees. So a larger minimum purchase - whether imposed by the platform or self-imposed to reduce the quantity of transactions - would help the AJB model in terms of what it cost, target than hinder it.

What am I missing there?

Fwiw I use AJB for my pension for the last five years or so and a couple of other smaller accounts I've moved there more recently. Parents use HL for their ISAs for the last four years or so; they will be moving to AJB to save some fees and so I can help them monitor/manage what they have more easily (family account view/trade access can be set up if they sign the appropriate paperwork, although you don't get a fee break as they are still charged as separate accounts).

dqnet

bowlhead99 wrote: »

What am I missing there?

[/QUOTE]

Maybe I have my calculations wrong but what I mean is, let's say you want to invest a total of £3000.
Fund A = £1000
Fund B = £1000
Fund C = £500
Fund D = £500

Now since AJ Bell have a minimum investment of £1000.00 for lets say Fund D, you are already £500 out of pocket and cannot invest in Fund C as you didn't want to put an additional £500 in Fund D. Assuming Fund D performs really badly and you lose your £1000.00 (technically £500) you have also lost a further £500 of money that you didn't need to put into the fund had you chose another platform that has a minimum requirement of £100. Now assuming Fund C performs brilliantly, you have lost the returns on this because of your minimum commitment to Fund D.

Unless I am calculating this wrong?