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How to calculate cost with monthly deposits into S&S ISA?

I need some clarification if anyone can answer. I've held trading accounts in the past and I understand that every position you open is subject to fees, but how does that work with for example HSBC GS multi-asset portfolio with their S&S ISA? Do monthly deposits count as new positions? Similar with Interactive Investor where they advertise "regular investor" scheme; if you pay monthly by DD into a ready-made portfolio such as HSBC GS they void fees, but you can't just add shares to an open position. Every purchase is a position in its own. So how do fees get charged then? It's not clear from their website(s)?
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  • masonic
    masonic Posts: 24,528 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    You pay a trading fee for each trade you place, that fee can be discounted or zero when regular investing or if the platform has a specific subscription service. Some platforms charge no trading fees for funds.
    At Interactive Investor you can use the regular investing service to buy whatever you want, or top-up existing holdings. You just need to select what you want to invest in by a cut-off date each month. You can use the service for a one-off investment by removing the item after it executes for the first time. If you can use the regular investing service for all of your buy orders, then you will only pay the monthly subscription fee (and will get a free trade per month that you can use for ad hoc trades - these expire after 3 months, so effectively you can place 3 free full price trades per quarter on their cheapest subscription)
  • That makes sense, thanks. So there's no incentive to go directly to HSBC or Vanguard then.
  • masonic
    masonic Posts: 24,528 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    That makes sense, thanks. So there's no incentive to go directly to HSBC or Vanguard then.
    It depends, Vanguard and HSBC charge on a different basis than Interactive Investor. It will work out cheaper for some and more expensive for others depending on your trading behaviour and size of your account.
  • masonic said:
    That makes sense, thanks. So there's no incentive to go directly to HSBC or Vanguard then.
    It depends, Vanguard and HSBC charge on a different basis than Interactive Investor. It will work out cheaper for some and more expensive for others depending on your trading behaviour and size of your account.
    I'm looking for an alternative to cash savings and pension (because I may want to access the funds before I'm 55). So not looking to trade actively, just a monthly contribution to a low risk bond heavy fund. I think £9.99/pm is cheaper than 0.55-0.60% that HSBC charge once your pot goes over 20k, not to mention if I had to pay fees for Vanguard too.
  • masonic
    masonic Posts: 24,528 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    masonic said:
    That makes sense, thanks. So there's no incentive to go directly to HSBC or Vanguard then.
    It depends, Vanguard and HSBC charge on a different basis than Interactive Investor. It will work out cheaper for some and more expensive for others depending on your trading behaviour and size of your account.
    I'm looking for an alternative to cash savings and pension (because I may want to access the funds before I'm 55). So not looking to trade actively, just a monthly contribution to a low risk bond heavy fund. I think £9.99/pm is cheaper than 0.55-0.60% that HSBC charge once your pot goes over 20k, not to mention if I had to pay fees for Vanguard too.
    Vanguard charges 0.15% for its platform. II will work out cheaper eventually, but in the first few years £9.99 will be relatively expensive.
  • masonic said:
    Vanguard charges 0.15% for its platform. II will work out cheaper eventually, but in the first few years £9.99 will be relatively expensive.
    Yes that's true, although the difference is negligible and there's the convenience of not having to migrate ISAs later on.
  • masonic
    masonic Posts: 24,528 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    masonic said:
    Vanguard charges 0.15% for its platform. II will work out cheaper eventually, but in the first few years £9.99 will be relatively expensive.
    Yes that's true, although the difference is negligible and there's the convenience of not having to migrate ISAs later on.
    In the first year it's £30 vs £120, over 4 years it is £300 vs £480. I'd be happy to arrange the migration of your ISA at the start of year 5 for £90, so we split the saving 50:50 ;)
  • masonic said:
    In the first year it's £30 vs £120, over 4 years it is £300 vs £480. I'd be happy to arrange the migration of your ISA at the start of year 5 for £90, so we split the saving 50:50 ;)
    If I reverse-engineer your £30 it looks like you're basing it on HSBC's 0.50% with a monthly £500 contribution? That's fair enough, but you're not considering splitting your investment into multiple funds ie. investing in Vanguard alongside HSBC. Going with one portfolio only is obviously not worth it, I agree, but still over the course of four years the £180 comes out to £3.75/month. That's a cup of coffee. :smiley: For the price of medium Americana you can have more investment options. :smile:
  • masonic said:
    In the first year it's £30 vs £120, over 4 years it is £300 vs £480. I'd be happy to arrange the migration of your ISA at the start of year 5 for £90, so we split the saving 50:50 ;)
    If I reverse-engineer your £30 it looks like you're basing it on HSBC's 0.50% with a monthly £500 contribution? That's fair enough, but you're not considering splitting your investment into multiple funds ie. investing in Vanguard alongside HSBC. Going with one portfolio only is obviously not worth it, I agree, but still over the course of four years the £180 comes out to £3.75/month. That's a cup of coffee. :smiley: For the price of medium Americana you can have more investment options. :smile:
    Just as an aside to this rather interesting discussion, I'm happy to pay £3.75 (or even a little bit more) for a pint of good ale these days but I'm definitely not paying £3.75 for a mere cup of coffee, no matter how fancy it may be! :)
  • masonic
    masonic Posts: 24,528 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 29 January 2021 at 7:04AM
    masonic said:
    In the first year it's £30 vs £120, over 4 years it is £300 vs £480. I'd be happy to arrange the migration of your ISA at the start of year 5 for £90, so we split the saving 50:50 ;)
    If I reverse-engineer your £30 it looks like you're basing it on HSBC's 0.50% with a monthly £500 contribution? That's fair enough, but you're not considering splitting your investment into multiple funds ie. investing in Vanguard alongside HSBC. Going with one portfolio only is obviously not worth it, I agree, but still over the course of four years the £180 comes out to £3.75/month. That's a cup of coffee. :smiley: For the price of medium Americana you can have more investment options. :smile:
    The technique of equating costs to the price of the regular consumption of an over-priced beverage is a marketing ploy to make significant costs accrued over a period of time seem insignificant. One of the best things you can do for your finances is cut down on the over-priced coffee habit. It's almost as bad for your wallet as smoking.
    The Vanguard fees are 0.15% on the amount invested with no trading fees. I assumed you were paying in £20k at the start of each tax year (£20,000 x 0.15% = £30).
    If you are only investing £500 per month, then your average balance in year one would be about £3000 and go up by £6000 per year, so it would be cheaper for 13 years. In year one the cost would be £4.50 vs £120 (£115 saving), in year two, it would be £13.50 vs £120 (£106 saving).
    If you want to hold both HSBC and Vanguard low risk multi-asset funds (not sure why you would), then the cheapest way to do that is at Charles Stanley Direct (0.35% per year and no trading fees). In year one the cost would be £10.50 vs £120 (£109 saving), in year two, it would be £31.50 vs £120 (£88.50 saving).
    If you're not interested in saving £200 over 2 years, I fear you've come to the wrong forum.
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