Which platform

jae123

Hi
Im thinking of buying a one off stocks n share Isa with approx £15000, what platform would be best for this one off purchase re costs etc.

jimjames

A S&S ISA is a wrapper so you can open one anywhere. The real difference is what you want to buy inside it which will affect the choices.

MX5huggy

What are you going to invest in? Cheap tracker fund or funds, less cheap fund or ETFs, Brazilian Soya Bean futures, or individual stocks. 

Vanguard will charge you 0.15% platform fee but you can only have VG funds or ETFs. If you want more choice you’ll be looking at 0.35 to 0.45, unless you go for someone with a fixed fee. 

ColdIron

Define best

If we ignore ease of use, customer service, range of services and investments etc and focus purely on costs then this usually come down to the combination of: sums involved, frequency of trading and what you invest in

We know the first two so that leaves the what

A cheap platform for Investment Trusts and ETFs could be very expensive for funds and vice versa

What most people would do is identify the best investments to match their objectives and only then decide which platform is best for those investments. It should be your final decision and not your first

Have you dismissed pensions in favour of an ISA?

tebbins

jae123 said:

Hi
Im thinking of buying a one off stocks n share Isa with approx £15000, what platform would be best for this one off purchase re costs etc.

You don't buy an ISA, that's like saying "I'll buy a bank account". Which platform depends entirely on what you want the ISA for (https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/stocks-shares-isas/).

Rollinghome

jae123 said:

Hi
Im thinking of buying a one off stocks n share Isa with approx £15000, what platform would be best for this one off purchase re costs etc.

Forum member SnowMan put together a very useful spreadsheet for calculating the most cost-effective platform based on the investments held.  Details here.  Also links there to other comparison tools at Monevator, etc.

Last updated May 2020, but in any case will demonstrate the point made by others that the choice of platform will largely depend on the choice of investments.

RomfordNavy

For long-term buy and hold of an ISA you probably can't beat iWeb although have just looked and their initial opening charge is now £100, seem to recall it was only £25 when I opened mine.  However don't expect much in the way of customer service from them.

John464

I don't know why you would pay a platform fee when iweb and xo don't charge one
for ETFs 

ColdIron

IWeb charge a £100 opening fee and if the OP wants funds then X-O don't provide them