Choosing funds on Hargreaves Lansdown

kidwell25 · 25 February 2021 at 4:04PM

I've been investing in funds within a S&S ISA wrapper for a little over a decade. Until a couple of years ago, once or twice a year HL would send out a pamphlet comprising a completely comprehensive listing of all their funds (categorized into different sectors) with their performance in each of the last five years. I found this a really easy way of being able to quickly skim my eye over everything and instantly pick out those that did consistently well year on year, and/or outperformed others in the same area (many of which were in fact not in the wealth list!) Now that they are no longer sending that out, has anyone found a way of essentially achieving the same thing on the HL online platform? The closest I've come is to use the performance filter and tick the highest percentage box for 1, 3 and 5 years. Then on the results page go to the discrete performance tab. Being limited to 20 results on a page isn't very user friendly though - I've not missed an option to export to spreadsheet or some other trick have I?

kidwell25 · 25 February 2021 at 4:07PM

Actually, I see that can be increased to 60, but still not ideal!

dunstonh · 25 February 2021 at 4:57PM

once or twice a year HL would send out a pamphlet comprising a completely comprehensive listing of all their funds (categorized into different sectors) with their performance in each of the last five years.

That must have been some pamphlet. HL is whole of market with over 30,000 investment options (like most platforms).

The closest I've come is to use the performance filter and tick the highest percentage box for 1, 3 and 5 years.

That is not a very good way to pick funds.

Why not use an independent data source, like Trustnet or Morningstar?

pip895 · 25 February 2021 at 5:37PM

I use Trustnet - I particularly like there risk score as It gives an indication of whether a new choice will add or reduce risk in my portfolio.

Eyeful · 25 February 2021 at 8:28PM

Have a look around these sites to see if there is anything you like:-
https://lipperleaders.com/index.aspx
https://www2.trustnet.com/Tools/
https://citywire.co.uk/funds-insider/funds-and-managers

eastmidsaver · 26 February 2021 at 3:29PM

it does take some research, and it's true past performance is not indication of future. but it does give you an indicator of a track record. i have learnt a lot in the last few months, and like to do a combination of things. as suggested above, i like trustnet and morningstar. trustnet you can see what crowns they rate the fund, and morningstar you can see the star rating. a good thing with both of these is you can filter OCF costs as well, as you don't really want a fund at more than 1% max, but ideally less. this is especially important as you will have to give an additional 0.45% to HL. once you identify some funds, you can then use HL website to see if they've done any research on the fund, and get an idea of what strategy the fund manager likes to use. let us know how you get on.