Which Broker for buying and holding some Investment trusts?

RomfordNavy

Any suggestions which Broker would be a reasonable cost option in the long-term for buying and holding say half a dozen different Investment Trusts?

Alexland

It might depend which investment trusts and how frequently you intend to trade?

Otherwise my default answer is iWeb or Jarvis X-O for buy and hold stock investing.

Alex.

Davina40

Another recommendation for X-O. I've been with them years, they're very basic no bells and whistles but cheap and they get the job done.

Thrugelmir

Another vote for x-o. At £5.95p a trade, very cost effective.

ColdIron

ISA, SIPP or unwrapped? There are many low or no fee platforms to choose from. Avoid percentage fee providers for long term buy and hold

http://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/

Audaxer

RomfordNavy wrote: »

Any suggestions which Broker would be a reasonable cost option in the long-term for buying and holding say half a dozen different Investment Trusts?

If it's a significant amount of investment, I think HL is a good option for long buy and hold as the platform costs are capped at £45 per annum for ITs. It's said to have the best customer service, and expensive for buying and holding funds, but cheap for ITs.

londoninvestor

Audaxer wrote: »

I think HL is a good option for long buy and hold as the platform costs are capped at £45 per annum for ITs.

That's in the ISA - 0.45% of the amount held, capped at £45pa.

The SIPP is 0.45% again, but capped at £200pa.

The unwrapped account has no plaform charge at all for ITs or ETFs.

pafpcg

We've been happy with IWeb for our IT holdings in ISAs (£5/trade with no platform charges other than £25 to open the account), but IWeb (and it's parent company Halifax Share Dealing) have a significant drawback for some: there's no option for joint share-dealing accounts. So my partner & I are still using our old SVS account (£7.95/trade with no platform charges www.svsxo.com/account-summary). Jarvis and HL also allow joint accounts (but the application process has to be done by post).

Another issue which differentiates the brokers is the facility to automatically pay-out dividends to an external bank account or to re-invest:
IWeb: automatic next-day distribution or reinvestment; alternatively, retain in account for manual investment or distribution
SVS: no automatic facility - manual only
Jarvis: automatic distribution but only quarterly, or manual
HL: automatic distribution but only monthly, or manual

kidmugsy

If you really want to buy and hold ITs for a long time why not look at their own share plans? Baillie Gifford do an absurdly cheap one - it's awfully hard to beat free - and memory says that Caledonian do a reasonably cheap one.

ValiantSon

Audaxer wrote: »

If it's a significant amount of investment, I think HL is a good option for long buy and hold as the platform costs are capped at £45 per annum for ITs. It's said to have the best customer service, and expensive for buying and holding funds, but cheap for ITs.

Yes, capped at £45 p.a., but X-O is a one-off cost of £5.95 and iWeb is a one-off cost of £5, so they are way cheaper than HL.

londoninvestor wrote: »

The unwrapped account has no plaform charge at all for ITs or ETFs.

There is no platform fee, but there is a trading fee of £11.95.

pafpcg

kidmugsy wrote: »

If you really want to buy and hold ITs for a long time why not look at their own share plans? Baillie Gifford do an absurdly cheap one - it's awfully hard to beat free - and memory says that Caledonian do a reasonably cheap one.

I'll agree the Baillie Gifford plan is good but it's a dying breed. Purely by coincidence I made a posting yesterday on my experience over 25 years with buying direct from IT managers' share plans: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5877671/investing-directly-with-fund-companies

For a really long-term hold, consider certificating the holding. That way you get the dividends on the date of distribution paid direct into the bank account of your choice, you get the annual report and a vote at AGMs, and there'll never be any platform charges. Certificating the holding bought at an execution-only broker usually costs £25/holding (SVS charge only £15); amazingly, Baillie Gifford charge nothing for the trusts they manage (Scottish Mortgage, Monks, Scottish American, ...). To sell, just transfer the certificates back to a broker (at no charge).
But keep the certificates safe!