OEIC / investment trusts

Malthusian

Although if you are concerned about the possibility that the market might go up in the next few days, you are day-trading (gambling on day-to-day market movements) which is a different conversation entirely. To misquote Warren Buffet, if you wouldn't buy a fund even if it was 5% more expensive then don't buy it at all. It could easily fall 5% three days after your purchase order goes through. If a fund is being held for the long term, the day-to-day movements in the few days after the order is placed are just white noise.

The reason some DIY platforms offer nil or very low ongoing charges for those who hold investment trusts and ETFs is because most people who hold ETFs and individual shares make the platform lots of money churning their portfolio and paying dealing commissions. If you don't plan to do this then these platforms can be great money savers, but don't let the charges tail wag the investment dog.

NedS Another factor which is very relevant at the moment, is that an IT has the ability to retain some income to smooth future dividend payments, so whereas income from your OEIC equity income fund may have just plummeted as a result of the underlying assets cancelling their dividends, your well managed dividend income IT who has been putting a little aside for just such an eventuality is able to sustain, or even increase it's dividend payouts meaning you will not be forced to sell assets at a market low to be able to afford to eat and pay the bills next month.

There is however nothing to stop you retaining some of the income from the OEIC equity income fund in your own bank account, which achieves the same thing only better (because individuals can get better rates of interest on cash than an investment trust manager).