Best Invest

Starwarsb2b

I am looking to transfer my ISA's to another provider and was looking at Best Invest.  Just wanted to know other clients experience with this company?  Also of major concern to me are their security measures.

Linton

I have used BestInvest for the past 8 years - no problems.  However they would not be my first choice:
1) They are one of the more expensive platforms (0.3% for up to £250K)
2) A bit of a pain with SIPP administration.  Any changes to drawdown have to go through the post.
3) Basic website, it does the job fine but minimal added extras. For example they do have an asset allocation tool but it provides much less info than the platforms that use morningstar xray.

On the plus side their support has been good.  Also they are one of the few platforms that support switching: sell and buy of funds as a single transaction.

Login is the normal username/password/PIN.  I dont know what security measures concern you.

Starwarsb2b

Linton said:

I have used BestInvest for the past 8 years - no problems.  However they would not be my first choice:
Login is the normal username/password/PIN.  I dont know what security measures concern you.

Thank you Linton
May I ask who your first choice would be?
I understand that and funds invested are ring fenced so they are 100% safe, so my Security concerns would be regarding  the company and any fraudulent activity.
Cost is not my top priority, security of any money/funds held would be. 

jimjames

I used Best Invest some time back but moved to iWeb more recently. I'm not sure what you're referring to about funds being ringfenced. That's the case with all FSCS investment providers

Starwarsb2b

jimjames said:

I used Best Invest some time back but moved to iWeb more recently. I'm not sure what you're referring to about funds being ringfenced. That's the case with all FSCS investment providers

jimjames thank you.
Was there any reason for moving away?  How do you find iweb?
I may have used the wrong term, but funds are held outside of the platforms/companies accounts, and are owned solely by the investor.  If that helps with my understanding.
Not looked at iweb, do they own their own platform, or is a third parties?

Thrugelmir

All funds are held in nominee form and not by the platform themselves. 
IWEB is part of the Halifax and therefore by default a subsidiary of the Lloyds Bank Group of Companies. 

Albermarle

so my Security concerns would be regarding  the company and any fraudulent activity.

There is up to £85K FSCS cover for this kind of thing but it is almost unheard of with mainstream platforms.

May I ask who your first choice would be?

Picking a platform is largely 'horses for courses', so one persons first choice would not necessarily be another's.

As a generalisation - providers that charge a % fee are more suited to amounts up to £100K and for larger investors , a fixed annual fee is cheaper. However some caveats to that . One particularly is that what seem more expensive providers may offer an all in service , with no charges for Sipp, drawdown etc , whilst others have extra charges .

Also there can be capped charges for certain types of investments . There are a number of comparison tables . Here is one 

https://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/

Linton

Any company providing legitimate platform services will be regulated by the FCA.  That is sufficient for me.  I have experience of Fidelity, BestInvest, Interactive Investors, and AJBell.

Fidelity is a major US financial services company, A J Bell is a medium sized public company in the FTSE 250.  BestInvest are owned by Tilney Smith & Wiliamson, a large wealth management/advice company which I think is privately owned.  ii is very active in taking over smaller financial services companies and I believe is also privately owned.  So all are serious companies.

As a user the platforms are, I would say, 90% the same with much the same facilities and access to the same funds.  The differences are relatively marginal:  charges, support, elegance of the website and in some secondary details of the services.  ii is fixed cost and so is very cheap for large portfolios, less so for small ones.  When I used it Fidelity was funds only but I think it now supports shares.

For me ii is best as I have a large portfolio, very rarely need support and dont need a feature-filled website.  Your needs may well differ which would lead you to another choice.  The best all-rounder I think is AJ Bell - fairly cheap, reasonable website, good support.

Albermarle

When I used it Fidelity was funds only but I think it now supports shares.

Yes now you can buy shares and a reasonably wide range of ETF's and Investment Trusts. It has a very low capped charge for these 'exchange traded products', so can be the platform of choice if you only ( or mainly) hold these as opposed to funds.

[Deleted User]

Starwarsb2b said:

 How do you find iweb?

Hi,

a quick google finds THIS.

ColdIron

OP would do well to tell us the size of portfolio, trading frequency and type of assets, funds, shares etc