Which platform is best please?

havingaball74

Hi all,
I've been researching this for ages but still can't seem to make s decision so I'd love any advice please.
I'm a 47 year old teacher. I have around £85,000 in s cash ISA that I'd like to invest in a stocks and shares ISA. After much ruminating I now need to take the plunge!
I'm thinking of a VLS 60 or 80 (I'm more inclined to play safer with a 60 as a new and nervous investor!).

Would I be better to:
Invest directly through Vanguard or choose another platform like iweb or Fidelity?
Drip feed in smaller or larger chunks?
Go with a company like iweb/Fidelity and also invest in HSBC Global Fund?
What is it best to do with the money in the cash ISA while I drip feed the rest?
Thank you!

dunstonh

Which platform is best please?

I very much doubt many here have used all of the different platforms available to be able to garner the knowledge required to answer that question.   They will have experience of their platform and maybe one other that they used to be at.

Invest directly through Vanguard or choose another platform like iweb or Fidelity?

If you want to limit yourself to Vanguard then Vanguard makes sense.  However, you do have to ask why you want to be limited to Vanguard.  VLS is not the only game in the house.  Today there are cheaper and arguably better alternatives (subject to opinion).

Drip feed in smaller or larger chunks?

Phasing results in lower returns in the vast majority of cases.   

Go with a company like iweb/Fidelity and also invest in HSBC Global Fund?

I have no experience of iweb and I find the Fidelity platform software limiting compared to others.  However, I am a more advanced investor than you.

I assume you mean one of the HSBC Global Strategy ranged funds rather than the HSBC global fund?  If so, then that is certainly a viable option.

What is it best to do with the money in the cash ISA while I drip feed the rest?

Why would you want to drip feed?

Albermarle

Here is a link to a comparison of multi asset funds ( like life strategy )https://monevator.com/passive-fund-of-funds-the-rivals/
As said above if you are happy with only Vanguard funds , then Vanguard platform is a good choice.
If you might want to invest in other funds then there are plenty of other platforms.
https://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/

Notepad_Phil

Personally, if I had £85,000 that I wanted to put into investments and I was going to keep dealing to a minimum then I'd probably look first at the fixed cost platforms such as iweb rather than percentage based platforms such as Fidelity - something like £85,000 of VLS80 would have a zero annual ongoing platform cost on iweb once you had opened the S&S ISA (there is a one time £100 cost to open an initial account) and bought the funds (£5 per purchase) as opposed to something like £300 annual costs for Fidelity where although it is free to open and purchase funds there is a 0.35% annual charge for funds like VLS80.

As to whether to drip feed or do a lump sum, why not do a bit of both - 50% lump sum and the rest gets drip fed in over the next year. Personally I'd probably put it all in one lump sum as statistically that is the probable winner, but I've never been in the situation where I had £85,000 in cash that I was planning to invest, as I would have been investing the majority of it already.

ChilliBob

Fidelity could work if you only want to invest in ETFs or Investment Trusts - it's £10 per trade but then capped at £45 per year if you only hold ETFs or ITs. (You can get a Vanguard ETF, or other ETFs too). 

Fidelity is a nicer interface than iWeb, which is pretty basic, if that's important to you then it should be a consideration. 

It's seldom mentioned on here but Lloyds isn't a bad option - it's basically iWeb (both owned by Halifax), but £40 a year and cheaper dealing for funds. 

Both Fidelity and Lloyds would = cheaper year one costs, which you choose depends on whether you go ETF or Fund route and how important the interface is.

iWeb will be cheapest once you get past year 2 pretty much. 


Fidelity had a decent £125 cashback for ISA accounts too, so do check TCB and Quidco first -  iweb isn't on there, but others, like Interactive Investor are etc

jimjames

dunstonh said:

What is it best to do with the money in the cash ISA while I drip feed the rest?

Why would you want to drip feed?

I don't know about the OP but I drip feed in because my money comes in drips each month.

I can understand why someone might be nervous putting all their cash in one go if they have never invested before

eskbanker

jimjames said:

dunstonh said:

What is it best to do with the money in the cash ISA while I drip feed the rest?

Why would you want to drip feed?

I don't know about the OP but I drip feed in because my money comes in drips each month.

I can understand why someone might be nervous putting all their cash in one go if they have never invested before

It's horses for courses - if you're starting with a lump sum then statistically it makes sense to get it invested at the earliest opportunity, albeit that's looking at it from a purely financial perspective rather than a psychological one.

If, on the other hand, the funding for investment is only available on a monthly basis, then the same principle applies, i.e. invest asap, but obviously this manifests itself differently....

dunstonh

I don't know about the OP but I drip feed in because my money comes in drips each month.

Perfect answer and justification for doing so.

I can understand why someone might be nervous putting all their cash in one go if they have never invested before

But the problem with that response is that they will be fully invested at some point. So, sooner or later they are going to have to face up to it.  Statistically, it is more likely to be later and they would have missed out on the gains from sooner.  

So, whilst I understand the sentiment,  it can also mean the person doesn't quite have the risk profile yet for what they are looking to invest in.   
Putting in monthly when you have it available to invest now is basically deferring the disappointment of going through your first crash rather than avoiding it.

macman

If you want an 'invest and forget' style of provider, then Vanguard has a lot going for it, and for me it is administratively excellent. However this does mean that you are constrained by only being able to choose from it's own range of funds. This may or may not be an issue for you.
Fees are not the cheapest, but they are competitive.

Alexland

dunstonh said:

Which platform is best please?

I very much doubt many here have used all of the different platforms available to be able to garner the knowledge required to answer that question.   They will have experience of their platform and maybe one other that they used to be at.

We have used all 3 of the platforms mentioned (and still use 2 of them, not Vanguard) and for £85k investing in a multi asset fund such as VLS or HSBC GS via S&S ISA then I would choose iWeb as after writing off the £100 setup fee then the £5/trade is going to be a lot cheaper than paying 0.15% to Vanguard or 0.35% to Fidelity ongoing especially if going for the accumulation units (to avoid dividend reinvestment trades) and if making infrequent contributions. The service quality from all 3 of them is generally adequate if you don't have too high expectations.

macman said:

If you want an 'invest and forget' style of provider, then Vanguard has a lot going for it

It's easier to 'forget' about iWeb as there is no ongoing fee to worry about so you can run the account with a £0 cash balance without getting notified that your fund units are being sold to pay platform fees each month as would happen with Vanguard or Fidelity.

DiamondLil

I currently use IWeb, Charles Stanley and II. The cheapest is IWeb which is reasonably easy to use and is used as somewhere to park a long term investment without having to think about charges. The nicest and most helpful in terms of Customer Service is Charles Stanley but it is the most expensive in terms of charges/fees. II is handy for the "free" trading credits and the free regular investing service.