Best investment platform for a regular investment

rookie91

Hi,

If I had a regular sum of money to invest, what is the best platform to use to keep fees/charges to a minimum?

Thank you,

Alexland

Depends on the account valuation, what you are buying, frequency of trade and which tax wrapper you are using.

rookie91

It would be a brand new account. Would be looking to invest 1500 a month buying into the same fund.

Alexland

rookie91 said:

It would be a brand new account. Would be looking to invest 1500 a month buying into the same fund.

If you are happy to be limited to Vanguard funds then Vanguard Investor at 0.15% would be attractive.

dunstonh

rookie91 said:

It would be a brand new account. Would be looking to invest 1500 a month buying into the same fund.

What type of fund/  OEIC/UT, ETF, IT, Pension fund?

rookie91

My knowledge about investing is extremely limited so forgive me for my ignorance.

The idea would be to open a stocks and shares ISA and each month put 1500 into the account. This would then be invested into the chosen fund(I'm thinking HSBC Islamic Global Equity Index but this isn't set in stone. Feel free to suggest other 'Islamic' complaint funds) monthly. Each platform comes with its own charges and each fund comes with its own charges. Not much can be done about fund charges but would like to minimise platform charges. Taking into account that a fund purchase will occur monthly, what platform would be best(Vanguard is out of the question due to the lack of 'Islamic' funds)?

Another_Saver

In that case probably iWeb. You could also review the holdings in Vanguard's ESG funds to see if they are acceptable to you.
I would also caution against seeing Islamic compliant investing as a black and white issue. It is a deeply personal matter. Just because you are excluding certain types of businesses does not mean that every company you would own is one that you would feel comfortable buying were you to create your own portfolio of individual shares.

eskbanker

There are a number of comparison sites allowing you to model costs, based on choice of wrapper, investment type, frequency, etc, so plug your numbers into sites such as:

http://monevator.com/compare-the-brokers/

http://www.comparefundplatforms.com/

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5583030

https://www.boringmoney.co.uk/calculator/

rookie91

Another_Saver said:

In that case probably iWeb. You could also review the holdings in Vanguard's ESG funds to see if they are acceptable to you.
I would also caution against seeing Islamic compliant investing as a black and white issue. It is a deeply personal matter. Just because you are excluding certain types of businesses does not mean that every company you would own is one that you would feel comfortable buying were you to create your own portfolio of individual shares.

I completely agree. Looking at the top 10 holdings HSBC Islamic Global Equity Index hold, I would defintely not being holding Facebook shares but the other 9 companies seem 'ethical' enough.

If I was to create my own portfolio, what platform would you suggest?

rookie91

An individual portfolio of shares does create further questions though

Another_Saver

rookie91 said:

Another_Saver said:

In that case probably iWeb. You could also review the holdings in Vanguard's ESG funds to see if they are acceptable to you.
I would also caution against seeing Islamic compliant investing as a black and white issue. It is a deeply personal matter. Just because you are excluding certain types of businesses does not mean that every company you would own is one that you would feel comfortable buying were you to create your own portfolio of individual shares.

I completely agree. Looking at the top 10 holdings HSBC Islamic Global Equity Index hold, I would defintely not being holding Facebook shares but the other 9 companies seem 'ethical' enough.

If I was to create my own portfolio, what platform would you suggest?

With £1500 a month I wouldn't. There are the 0 commission platforms, Free trade, Trading 213, Plus500, Stake, IG however these push CFD trading on you because that's where they make their money. CFD trading is literally gambling.
After your first year if you've gotten upto £20k it may be worthwhile thinking about buying individual shares, but take it slow, educate yourself, do your research.
Another point re ethics is I hold standard index funds with everything in. Every year I make some charitable donations based roughly on how much I think I received in dividends from "vice" industries. Last year it was to Shelter, a Russian LGBTQ rights organisation and I think MIND - point is we all have our own ethics, our own idea of what counts as a "vice" industry and our own ways of trying to help. But owning or not owning certain companies will not stop them operating. Even if they didn't operate, it would not stop the demand for their product (would people stop drinking if alcohol stopped being legally sold, would people stop gambling if it was banned etc., people will always find addictions).
At least when vices are sold by large businesses they are regulated, they have reputations and stock prices, an interest in maintaining certain standards of business conduct. The dividends from vice companies have to go somewhere, the stock has to be owned by someone. In a way, I don't see myself as profiting from vice industries but taking responsibility for them. You could buy shares in businesses you don't like and become an activist investor.