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AJ Bell LISA v EQi LISA

2

Comments

  • noclaf said:
    Op, I am in a similar boat to you (including age), I posted a thread about this recently and the helpful responses from the guys on here (some have posted above) led me to go with AJ Bell...transfer from my Skipton Lisa still in progress. The only reason I picked AJ Bell is due to some slightly negative comments I've read online about EQI's platform ..don't let that put you off, I don't need bells and whistles personally but I like a platform that is easy and efficient to use e.g: Vanguard' S&SISA platform..nothing too fancy and a unfussy layout but IMO does the job well.
    Thanks for your reply, yes I also have a S+S ISA with Vanguard and like the simplicity of it and ease of use. I am also leaning more towards AJ Bell I think after reading some negative reviews of EQi, their responses have also left me a bit confused which hasn't helped. I want to keep fees as low as possible over the long term but also don't want to have to try and switch  platforms down the road if they continue to be funny about transfers after 40. Could you maybe share a link to your post please so I could have a read through? Thank you
  • Alexland said:
    I agree the way EQi present their charges could be better but they are very clear that fund trading is free and when your LISA account gets big enough they will cap the charges at £10/qtr so for funds they should be cheaper than AJ Bell. For the £1.50 regular trading rate they probably mean for exchange traded shares not funds. Even if it did apply to funds (which is unlikely) you could get around it by doing manual adhoc trades each month. I can't vouch for EQi's service as our LISAs are with AJ Bell and it's not enough of a saving to be worth moving with time out of the market as EQi don't accept stock transfers. We have around £25k each in an ETF for which AJ Bell will now cap at £42 pa and we do 5 scheduled £1.50 trades pa so only £9.50 pa more than EQi. The service from AJ Bell is fairly good.
    Ps I deliberately have our different types of accounts with different providers to increase protection and take advantage of different charge models.
    I'm waiting for EQi to reply to hopefully clear up the issue about the regular investment charge, that's what I was hoping to be able to do, manual trades each month to avoid the fee. I think I'm leaning more towards AJ Bell though after everyone's advice, thank you
  • noclaf
    noclaf Posts: 977 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 500 Posts Name Dropper
    noclaf said:
    Op, I am in a similar boat to you (including age), I posted a thread about this recently and the helpful responses from the guys on here (some have posted above) led me to go with AJ Bell...transfer from my Skipton Lisa still in progress. The only reason I picked AJ Bell is due to some slightly negative comments I've read online about EQI's platform ..don't let that put you off, I don't need bells and whistles personally but I like a platform that is easy and efficient to use e.g: Vanguard' S&SISA platform..nothing too fancy and a unfussy layout but IMO does the job well.
    Thanks for your reply, yes I also have a S+S ISA with Vanguard and like the simplicity of it and ease of use. I am also leaning more towards AJ Bell I think after reading some negative reviews of EQi, their responses have also left me a bit confused which hasn't helped. I want to keep fees as low as possible over the long term but also don't want to have to try and switch  platforms down the road if they continue to be funny about transfers after 40. Could you maybe share a link to your post please so I could have a read through? Thank you
    Sure, here's the link to the thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6214538/s-s-lisa-fund-tracker-options/p1
  • noclaf said:
    noclaf said:
    Op, I am in a similar boat to you (including age), I posted a thread about this recently and the helpful responses from the guys on here (some have posted above) led me to go with AJ Bell...transfer from my Skipton Lisa still in progress. The only reason I picked AJ Bell is due to some slightly negative comments I've read online about EQI's platform ..don't let that put you off, I don't need bells and whistles personally but I like a platform that is easy and efficient to use e.g: Vanguard' S&SISA platform..nothing too fancy and a unfussy layout but IMO does the job well.
    Thanks for your reply, yes I also have a S+S ISA with Vanguard and like the simplicity of it and ease of use. I am also leaning more towards AJ Bell I think after reading some negative reviews of EQi, their responses have also left me a bit confused which hasn't helped. I want to keep fees as low as possible over the long term but also don't want to have to try and switch  platforms down the road if they continue to be funny about transfers after 40. Could you maybe share a link to your post please so I could have a read through? Thank you
    Sure, here's the link to the thread: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6214538/s-s-lisa-fund-tracker-options/p1
    Thank you, that was a really interesting read. One thing I hadn't considered was the difference between the EQi fee of 0.2% being capped at £40 per year, as opposed to the uncapped fee of 0.25% with AJ Bell. This combined with the £1.50 fees for fund investments with AJ bell could begin to add up, especially the 0.25% uncapped during the 10 years from age 50 to 60 when you are unable to further contribute. I hadn't considered switching to ETF's at any point to avoid this but that is an interesting point, to be honest I was planning on regular investments into Vanguard Retirement 2040 fund and not thinking too much more of it, just letting it rebalance itself with % of equities/bonds as I approach 60, which would be in 2041. 

    If I do this EQi is now maybe looking the way to go with the lower overall fees, a lot to think about! Does this sound sensible if my plan is pretty much to 'fire and forget' with a Vanguard Retirement Fund? For context I have a good work based contribution pension that I already receive maximum matched employer contributions from, this is more to top this up and help out my son who will turn 23 when I can access the LISA.
  • Alexland
    Alexland Posts: 10,183 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 9 December 2020 at 12:03AM
    Yes if you stick to funds then AJ Bell's fees will keep going up as the account gets bigger. That's why we hold an ETF for the capping. I did have an idea of recycling some of our LISA money into my younger wife's pension for a little bit of tax benefit from when I am 60 until she is 75 and giving the rest to the kids in their 20s for house deposits hoping there is a new government scheme for them to earn further bonuses on it....
  • Alexland said:
    Yes if you stick to funds then AJ Bell's fees will keep going up as the account gets bigger. That's why we hold an ETF for the capping. I did have an idea of recycling some of our LISA money into my younger wife's pension for a little bit of tax benefit from when I am 60 until she is 75 and giving the rest to the kids in their 20s for house deposits hoping there is a new government scheme for them to earn further bonuses on it....
    But what about your older wife’s pension... 🤔 
  • Alexland
    Alexland Posts: 10,183 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    But what about your older wife’s pension... 🤔 
    Sadly not lucky enough to have an older wife otherwise she could do the heavy lifting and I could retire very very early :smile:

  • I've looked at a few Vanguard funds on EQi and they all seem to say minimum investment is £100,000. Surely this isn't correct? I invest in a S+S ISA with Vanguard through their own platform, minimum initial investment was £500 with minimum monthly investment after that £100, AJ Bell minimum investment is £1 in the same funds. Am I missing something really obvious?
    https://eqi.co.uk/info/stock-detail?ISIN=GB00B3TYHH97#!?id=F00000MLUO&idCurrencyId=&idType=msid&marketCode=&name=Vanguard LifeStrategy 60% Equity A Acc

    https://eqi.co.uk/info/stock-detail?ISIN=GB00BZ6VK781#!?id=F00000X4GD&idCurrencyId=&idType=msid&marketCode=&name=Vanguard Target Retirement 2040 Acc
  • Eco_Miser
    Eco_Miser Posts: 4,902 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    I've looked at a few Vanguard funds on EQi and they all seem to say minimum investment is £100,000. Surely this isn't correct? I invest in a S+S ISA with Vanguard through their own platform, minimum initial investment was £500 with minimum monthly investment after that £100, AJ Bell minimum investment is £1 in the same funds. Am I missing something really obvious?
    It's not really obvious, but that £100k minimum is what the platforms reselling the product, including Vanguard's own platform, are required to (promise to) buy.
    Retail clients buy a small fraction of this allocation each from their platform.

    Eco Miser
    Saving money for well over half a century
  • Alexland
    Alexland Posts: 10,183 Forumite
    Eighth Anniversary 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 9 December 2020 at 7:22PM
    Yes for an individual retail investor using a platform the high minimums can usually be ignored and provided the fund trade is reasonable the fund manager is likely to accept the order.
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