Hargreaves Lansdown fiasco

docboy

What do people think about Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) brokers? I understand their company executives cashed out on Woodward funds (HL's Dampier and Gardhouse cashed in shares weeks before Woodford crisis) at its peak, only to then see the fund prices spiral down. Is this insider trading?? Is HL reliable as a broker anymore??

Zola.

If you don't invest in the funds they recommend and do your own research they are fine, nice flashy website but they are the most expensive for holding funds in..

Alexland

HL are fine if you just ignore all their 'research' (marketing) efforts. They are certainly not the cheapest but they can be good for LISAs or SIPPs where fees are generally higher anyway especially if you regularly invest in discounted passive or mixed asset funds or have enough invested in exchange traded assets for fee capping. HL are not good value on S&S ISAs where the market is very competitive.

Alex

ColdIron

docboy wrote: »

I understand their company executives cashed out on Woodward funds (HL's Dampier and Gardhouse cashed in shares weeks before Woodford crisis) at its peak

Check your facts. Mark Dampier of Hargreaves Lansdown sold his shares in Hargreaves Lansdown. I have not seen it reported that he had any investments in Woodford at all

Alexland

ColdIron wrote: »

Check your facts. Mark Dampier of Hargreaves Lansdown sold his shares in Hargreaves Lansdown. I have not seen it reported that he had any investments in Woodford at all

Or in any cash cow HL funds...

tacpot12

I think AJ Bell are as bad. They promote third-party funds and trusts but can they be an honest appraiser of such investments? I don't think they can.

I would prefer to see the platform operators prevented from marketing anything other than their platform. If they want to setup their own funds, they should have to do so under another brand.

fun4everyone

Alexland wrote: »

HL are fine if you just ignore all their 'research' (marketing) efforts. They are certainly not the cheapest but they can be good for LISAs or SIPPs

I use them for my LISA. Given the lack of choice out there for S&S LISAs they are the best of the bunch imo.

chucknorris

Zola. wrote: »

If you don't invest in the funds they recommend and do your own research they are fine, nice flashy website but they are the most expensive for holding funds in..

Funds maybe, but I have just over £1.3m invested there in ETF's, corporate bonds and REITS and I only pay £245 per annum, plus trading fees, spread and stamp duty whenever I sell or invest.

Alexland

fun4everyone wrote: »

I use them for my LISA. Given the lack of choice out there for S&S LISA's they are the best of the bunch imo.

We do too and I also use the HL app watchlist to track our 95% of investments held in SIPPs and S&S ISAs elsewhere.

Wildsound

The only good part of their Wealth 50 magazine, which they distribute bi-annually I believe, is the pages at the back which list you figures for most of the funds in each sector.

If you've got the time and inclination, you can grab yourself a green and red highlighter pen and then compare each funds annual figures with the trackers/sector at the bottom and then mark green if it's outperformed or red for underperformed. If the lights are mostly green, that's your point of digging deeper into that fund.

It's basically a more hands on way of doing what Trustnet/Morningstar can do for you.

webjaved

Alexland wrote: »

We do too and I also use the HL app watchlist to track our 95% of investments held in SIPPs and S&S ISAs elsewhere.

Ha! The only reason why I have it installed on my phone, for this very reason.