Fully managed S&S ISA for a beginner

Polly05

Thinking about taking out my first S&S ISA. The main MSE site recommends nutmeg, wealthify and openmoney as the fully managed ones.
Does anyone have any comment on these? Which one is easiest for a newbie? 
Thanks

Alexland

We tried Nutmeg and Wealthify just for signup cashback they were offering at the time and of the two my preference would be Nutmeg.

However for very little extra effort you could signup to Vanguard Investor and invest in a LifeStrategy fund (which has a very similar asset allocation to the Nutmeg fixed allocation portfolios) and save at least 0.30% per year in ongoing charges. Vanguard are one of the worlds largest asset managers much more established than a loss making robo.

https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investing-explained/stocks-shares-isa

https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investing-explained/what-are-lifestrategy-funds

Also consider if it might be more efficient to invest via a Pension or Lifetime ISA.

Polly05

Thanks. 
Is the vanguard one more work on my behalf? I mean, I would like a say in things etc, but since I am very new to it.. I don't know if I would.. Be very good at it at the start.. 

grumiofoundation

Polly05 said:

Thinking about taking out my first S&S ISA. The main MSE site recommends nutmeg, wealthify and openmoney as the fully managed ones.
Does anyone have any comment on these? Which one is easiest for a newbie? 
Thanks

How much are you planning to invest? As Alexland mentions above the cashback on some of the robo-investing sites can be a pretty good deal when you are investing smaller amounts. 
For example minimum for cashback on topcashback is currently £500 lump sum and £100 per month. 

When the minimum offer period is up it is sensible to switch to a cheaper platform, otherwise you will end up 'spending' the cashback on the higher fees. 

But if you are planning to invest much greater than the minimum needed to get the cashback might be better to look at cheaper platforms since the greater fees make the cashback less attractive. 

On a side note MSE doesn't recommend anything (let alone investment platforms) just provides info. 

As above pension and/or stocks and shares lifetime ISA are more tax efficient (but less accessible) than stocks and shares ISA.

grumiofoundation

Polly05 said:

Thanks. 
Is the vanguard one more work on my behalf? I mean, I would like a say in things etc, but since I am very new to it.. I don't know if I would.. Be very good at it at the start.. 

With for example nutmeg you have to choose your risk level. You can do the same thing with vanguard by choosing one of their lifestrategy funds which has the same equity % as the risk level you would choose with nutmeg. 

Albermarle

There is no such thing as a fully managed S&S ISA. You have to choose which fund(s) to invest in  within the ISA.
Now within all S & S ISA's there are funds that are managed , which is what I guess you meant , but you have to choose which one (s) you want, and whether to change them in future .
The ones mentioned above , like Nutmeg , Wealthify etc only offer a very limited choice , so seem easier to manage but you still have to make a choice. Another similar option is a Legal & General ISA, or as suggested above you could save on charges by looking at Vanguard.

Nurse2047

I am a first time investor also and started with Vanguard life strategy funds and i find it easy to use and understand, it explains the level of risk with each life strategy fund.

Polly05

Albermarle said:

There is no such thing as a fully managed S&S ISA. You have to choose which fund(s) to invest in  within the ISA.
Now within all S & S ISA's there are funds that are managed , which is what I guess you meant , but you have to choose which one (s) you want, and whether to change them in future .
The ones mentioned above , like Nutmeg , Wealthify etc only offer a very limited choice , so seem easier to manage but you still have to make a choice. Another similar option is a Legal & General ISA, or as suggested above you could save on charges by looking at Vanguard.

Sorry, I'm sure nutmeg used the term fully managed when I was reading on their website.
I'm now leaning towards the vanguard one... Though I have just seen legal and general has cashback at the moment.. Will read up on that now.. 

Alexland

Polly05 said:

I'm sure nutmeg used the term fully managed when I was reading on their website.

I suspect they just use that phrase to reassure customers into choosing their higher margin portfolios and imply there is more work or something wrong with their lower cost fixed allocation portfolios which are perfectly adequate but still not inexpensive when good value options such as Vanguard are around.

Polly05

I found a YouTube video demonstrating the vanguard website and explaining their lifestyle funds and it makes more sense to me now and isn't as scary. Quite excited now. 

Polly05

Another quick question... For the vanguard one.. You either need to deposit £500 or a monthly £100 direct debit. Not sure what is better. Anyone have any ideas? I know you're meant to drip feed it. But is £500 too much? Then I think u can only do £500 one off payments? So am I better going for the £100 a month installments so I can choose a different fund each month? Or top up one, most months but maybe put the new £100 into something different now and again?
Hope that makes sense. Thanks