How safe are my investments??

blackbirdxx · 11 February 2020 at 8:08PM

Hi,
I have a Vantage Account with Hargreaves Lansdowne. I have a Stocks and Shares ISA, a SIPP and a Fund and Share Account. All of my money is tied up in this Vantage Account. My question is if this money is safe?? I'm aware that a max of £85k is safe in a single bank account and its wise to diversify to ensure the rest is safe. My question is..... is my money safe with Hargreaves Lansdown or should I be splitting my investments to a number of providers??
thanks in advance

Aminatidi · 11 February 2020 at 8:16PM

It depends what you mean by "safe".

Take the recent Woodford situation.

Your money would have been perfectly "safe" in the FSCS sense of the word.

But you'd still have lost a lot of it.

I'm not sure anyone can give you a "right" answer on the safety of HL as some people will think they're too big to fail and some will say to spread your investments so I think it's a bit of a personal thing.

AnotherJoe · 11 February 2020 at 9:04PM

I would say its "safe"but imagine there was say a massive IT failure that took weeks to months to fix it would be prudent to ahve at least some money elsewhere if you are using that day to day.

Rollinghome · 11 February 2020 at 10:02PM

blackbirdxx said:

Hi,
I have a Vantage Account with Hargreaves Lansdowne. I have a Stocks and Shares ISA, a SIPP and a Fund and Share Account. All of my money is tied up in this Vantage Account. My question is if this money is safe?? I'm aware that a max of £85k is safe in a single bank account and its wise to diversify to ensure the rest is safe. My question is..... is my money safe with Hargreaves Lansdown or should I be splitting my investments to a number of providers??
thanks in advance

Depends what you mean by safe. If you've paid over £85k to HL then presumably it isn't all being held as cash. If it isn't then it will be with the funds etc. you have invested in. That's not to say that HL going bust wouldn't cause its clients some sleepless nights.

blackbirdxx · 11 February 2020 at 10:02PM

Apologies for my ignorance but is Hargreaves considered a bank and subject to the £85k rule or is the fact that it is a trading platform and has spread my investment within its Vantage Account mean that this is not an issue?