Charles Stanley Direct to increase fee to 0.35%

ColdIron

Companies with a small market capitalisation, as opposed to mid or large caps (capitalisation). In this case companies specifically tracked by the (MSCI) Small Cap World Index

dunstonh

DennisTenus wrote: »

I suppose it's possible HL could put their price up at any time too?

Unlikely. They are profitable and one of the most expensive already.

it is worth understanding the platform models. Most platforms are not profitable. What they tend to do is start cheap and try and build a critical mass that can make them profitable or find a buyer who is looking for market share through acquisition. The aim is to do that for as long as possible before either failing and going under or before they have to increase their own charges.

A lot of the profitable platforms price small value investments with higher platform charges. This is partly to put smaller investors off but also means the larger investors are not cross-subsidising as much. The DIY market tends to be smaller investors. So, this can hinder a number of the platforms in their quest for survival and profits.

SIPPs are also becoming more expensive to run as well. For decades SIPPs have not had the same running costs of personal pensions which is why they became popular on the DIY side. However, increased regulation, consumer protection and solvency requirements on SIPPs have increased the costs. So, these can hit the small platforms too.

The platform charges in the 0.3x% range for £1+ invested seem to come from the stable platforms. The 0.2% range are those looking to buy business/market share probably at a loss. Those tiering down with higher values indicate the target market they are really after.

fun4everyone

I wish platforms in the 0.3x% range like Fidelity didn't spend all their money making god awful new websites.

Lokolo

fun4everyone wrote: »

I wish platforms in the 0.3x% range like Fidelity didn't spend all their money making god awful new websites.

To be fair to CSD they have spent a decent whack on a good website and a good app. However, at the end of the day I can't justify spending more money on my S&S ISA and SIPP than broadband, landline and mobile.

Audaxer

dunstonh wrote: »

The platform charges in the 0.3x% range for £1+ invested seem to come from the stable platforms. The 0.2% range are those looking to buy business/market share probably at a loss. Those tiering down with higher values indicate the target market they are really after.

What about AJ Bell at 0.25% - I thought/hoped they were fairly stable as they are one of the biggest DIY platforms? I'm also with Halifax Share Dealing which are very cheap for large buy and hold funds at only £12.50 per year platform charge - I would have thought they were also fairly mainstream and stable, but not sure how they can do it so cheaply even although they do charge £12.50 for each transaction?

Alexland

AJ Bell and Halifax are making money on the trade fees (nothing is free) not just the platform fees which effectively means most customers pay 0.3%+ unless they have a high balance or static investment.

Even customers that might intend to be static might not be able to resist fiddling with their investments..

Alex

fun4everyone

Lokolo wrote: »

To be fair to CSD they have spent a decent whack on a good website and a good app. However, at the end of the day I can't justify spending more money on my S&S ISA and SIPP than broadband, landline and mobile.

Yeah I agree the CSD website is good. This price increase is a shame.

Lokolo

Alexland wrote: »

AJ Bell and Halifax are making money on the trade fees (nothing is free) not just the platform fees which effectively means most customers pay 0.3%+ unless they have a high balance or static investment.

Even customers that might intend to be static might not be able to resist fiddling with their investments..

Alex

Yes. IWeb have a good fixed rate fee. My SIPP with 12 trades (6 buy 6 sell rebalance), will cost me £180 annual fee plus £60 making a total of 0.24%.

The more my SIPP grows, the lower the % charge. Doubling my SIPP to £200k means total cost goes down to a decent 0.12%.

It's just so difficult to move, as soon as a platform increases their fees, you have to weigh up if it's worth it.

Aletank

What other fixed fee ones are there besides Interactive Investor ?
The format of II would probably suit me, it's just the reviews that put me off.

EdSwippet

Aletank wrote: »

What other fixed fee ones are there besides Interactive Investor?The format of II would probably suit me, it's just the reviews that put me off.

You can find the flat-fee platforms listed in this table from Monevator.

One additional note is that iWeb and Lloyds are really just alternative facets of Halifax sharedealing, so while they have differing value propositions, the underlying platform is pretty much the same across all three. They even look extremely similar online, clearly all running off the same software, just with different colour schemes and branding.

For historical reasons I currently have accounts at iWeb, Lloyds, Alliance Trust and Interactive Investor (and yes, I should rationalise them at some point!). For what I want though, which is virtually comatose passive investing through tracker funds, all of them are perfectly fine. I save several thousand pounds a year in fees with these when compared with Hargreaves Lansdown, Charles Stanley Direct, YouInvest, and the other percentage-based platforms.