Understanding funds - beginner questions

badger09

boomsmitty wrote: »

Brilliant.

Yes, that's right. Just want to start with a lump sum and plop a bit in every month for the foreseeable future. I like the idea of knowing that a "set charge" is administered every year - regardless of the amount of transactions.

Vanguard is looking like the forerunner at the moment the more I look. I've got a small amount of money in stock at Barclays Smart Investor which I put in a few years ago when I was even more clueless than I am now. They charge me £4 a month for God know's what, so I'm going to sell up in there soon, close the ISA and invest that into my potential fund once I've settled on it.

Don't be too hasty to do this. Once you've sold to cash, just ask Vanguard, or whichever platform you decide to use, to transfer that cash in. It will retain its tax free wrapper and you can invest it in what you want.

I've no idea how much you have invested with Barclays Smart Investor, or what if any exit charges there are, so you need to check first.

schiff

The issue I have with funds is caused by the nomenclature which certainly confuses me! I find it a nightmare. An example:

Are these the same?

Merian UK Equity Income R Inc GBP

Merian UK Equity Fund R GBP Inc

Most people I would guess would say yes of course. But on Trustnet its price today is 132p whereas on my platform it's 176p. Can't even find it ploughing through six pages of funds on Merian's website. I want to research it more but on various sites like HL and Morningstar I can't sort out which I'm checking, nor a graph showing its unit price, as opposed to the 'performance' chart. I know the latter is important but I'm much more used to following prices.

Is the ISIN reference the fail-safe ID of any fund - assuming you can find it of course!?

boomsmitty

I've heard that HL has very good customer service - a decent selling point - but what about Vanguard's?

badger09 - I will look into the cost of transferring the ISA and all that. The amount I have in there is not worth getting excited about at all but every little helps to top up the sum I can invest properly.

ColdIron

schiff wrote: »

Are these the same?

Merian UK Equity Income R Inc GBP

Merian UK Equity Fund R GBP Inc

Different funds, the first has an income objective, the other growth. Don't read too much into the name, look at the factsheets as a bare minimum

I want to research it more but on various sites like HL and Morningstar I can't sort out which I'm checking, nor a graph showing its unit price, as opposed to the 'performance' chart. I know the latter is important but I'm much more used to following prices.

All that information is readily available at HL for each fund. NB HL is not infallible, it's good enough for high level filtering and research but always read the factsheet

Is the ISIN reference the fail-safe ID of any fund - assuming you can find it of course!?

Yes

ColdIron

schiff wrote: »

I want to research it more but on various sites like HL and Morningstar I can't sort out which I'm checking, nor a graph showing its unit price, as opposed to the 'performance' chart. I know the latter is important but I'm much more used to following prices.

With respect to the unit price vs 'performance' issue at HL:

1. Select the Price option for Chart Type
2. Tick the 'Display price rather than percentage' checkbox

This should show you the unit price for the chart, discrete and cumulative grids

schiff

TY.

I've got Jupiter Monthly Alternative Income Fund I (or is it 1?) Class Inc on the same platform; today's price 32p. I put the ISIN of that holding via my platform account, so that I know what I'm looking for, in the search box on Trustnet and I get the same name, which is encouraging. Until I look at their price - 127.17p.

As I said it IS a nightmare.

ColdIron

It's the I class

If you look at the 'All Units' tab at Trustnet you will see the Inc(ome) class is 32p odd but the Acc(umulation) class is 127p ish

https://www.trustnet.com/factsheets/o/09q2/jupiter-monthly-income-i-inc

schiff

You are being very helpful TY. I suppose that means that an ISIS number is for one or more versions of the same fund then.

It's getting clearer!

londoninvestor

schiff wrote: »

You are being very helpful TY. I suppose that means that an ISIS number is for one or more versions of the same fund then.

It's getting clearer!

Inc and Acc should have different ISINs... this sounds like it might be more about the way Trustnet search works.

londoninvestor

The "All Units" page on Trustnet gives you a neat table with the different ISINs - then they undo all their good work with the search functionality! I get the same result as you when I search by the ISIN of the income units.