S&s isa

Ungnome

I've been lurking on the essential money boards for some years and would like to say what a wonderful board this is, everyone is so helpful and supportive of each other and the knowledge shared has helped so many people (myself included)

So I have explored all the usual savings methods, am paying high contributions towards my pension fund, have a lifetime ISA and a few different savings/current accounts with the highest interest rates i could find.

I'm now interested in opening a S&S ISA for a long term investment, I am only looking at contributing a max of £50pm as the core of my savings will be going into the above, and whilst I am still new to this I don't want to invest a larger amount.

I've read a number of articles and forums but going from the MSE article it looks like i have a choice of the below, but I can't find much in the way of recent reviews/discussions of any of these (just some negatives towards Evestor which i had previously been tempted by). I would quite like to go for a 'do it with me' approach. I am in no position to take full ownership but would like to like to be actively involved and increase my knowledge The 'do it for me' method would be easier but I would probably be ten years on and none the wiser because i don't need to be!
Sorry I have rambled a fair bit here but ultimately just want some advice/opinions on the below if you would all be so kind to share your knowledge
Do it with me - Cavendish Online, AJ Bell( The transfer out fee puts me off this slightly)
Do it for me - Wealthify or Evestor (what i have found has been quite negative)
Or are there other suggestions? I had looked at the Virgin Money S&S ISA purely because of my previous good experiences with VM , they have a global fund offer and it is all explained in a straightforward way for a beginner like myself. However i've seen a lot of negative comments about them and understand they are expensive compared to others, although due to my small investment this isn't a huge issue (1% of not a lot isn't a lot!) but then again this will build over time. Anyway any thoughts would be most welcome and appreciated!

masonic

There's lots and lots of reading here: https://monevator.com/category/investing/passive-investing-investing/

The key is to minimise your costs, and the best way to do that for a novice is to identify a multi-asset fund that takes care of the asset allocation and simply pay into that. Whether it is Vanguard Lifestrategy on the Vanguard Investor platform, L&G Multi index at AJ Bell (or AJ Bell's own passive funds, which are a little more expensive), or something else somewhere else.

Ungnome

Thanks for taking the time to reply masonic.
Unfortunately i am not eligible for vangaurd so have discounted that. If going by the MSE article I am limited to those I have mentioned, but I am aware there are many more choices and have looked at the best buys, I was just looking for any personal reviews/recommendations

masonic

You'll get the best idea of your options by using a comparison site like http://www.comparefundplatforms.com

Based on that, if you invest £50 per month into a single fund (you're not going to be able to invest in more than one fund with that limit, nor should you), over 10 years you'll pay just £112 at Cavendish or Close Brothers, £156 at Charles Stanley Direct and AXA Self Investor, and even Hargreaves Lansdown (£200) is cheaper than AJ Bell (£366) because HL doesn't charge for regular investments into funds.

As long as the platform in question carries the fund you wish to invest in, then it would make sense to go with the cheapest. None of those mentioned above have got a bad reputation.

If I were in your shoes I'd go with Cavendish. There are no exit fees so you can transfer somewhere else if it is not to your liking.

However, I wouldn't be looking to invest £50 per month, when I could earn 5% risk free over the course of a year and then put the proceeds into a S&S ISA as a £600 lump sum each year. That would rather change the cost and iWeb would come in cheaper than the others, even including its opening charge.

Daz2009

masonic wrote: »

You'll get the best idea of your options by using a comparison site like http://www.comparefundplatforms.com

Based on that, if you invest £50 per month into a single fund (you're not going to be able to invest in more than one fund with that limit, nor should you), over 10 years you'll pay just £112 at Cavendish or Close Brothers, £156 at Charles Stanley Direct and AXA Self Investor, and even Hargreaves Lansdown (£200) is cheaper than AJ Bell (£366) because HL doesn't charge for regular investments into funds.

As long as the platform in question carries the fund you wish to invest in, then it would make sense to go with the cheapest. None of those mentioned above have got a bad reputation.

If I were in your shoes I'd go with Cavendish. There are no exit fees so you can transfer somewhere else if it is not to your liking.

However, I wouldn't be looking to invest £50 per month, when I could earn 5% risk free over the course of a year and then put the proceeds into a S&S ISA as a £600 lump sum each year. That would rather change the cost and iWeb would come in cheaper than the others, even including its opening charge.

Is this 5% risk free you're talking about with the Natiowide Flex or something/somewhere else ?

Alexland

You can get 5% in the first year of a Nationwide Flex Direct or via a few HSBC related bank regular savers:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-regular-savings-accounts/

For a small amount it's probably a better option than investment. Once you get to £500 you can open a Vanguard Investor account and apparently they will then accept a lower than £100 per month contribution.

Alex