Different Investing Platform

maxsteam

wmb194 said:

Btw, it isn't named, "Freetrade.io" it's just Freetrade. ".io" is just the trendy domain for technology companies.

The extension .io is intended for "Entities connected with British Indian Ocean Territory". I am unsure about whether there is any connection with the Territory. My guess is that they would not fork out the necessary money to get a better domain.

The domain extensions designated for technology companies include .net and .tech but it is generally accepted that .com is the best domain extension for any business.

maxsteam

GeoffTF said:

The cheapest option for the OP is Invest Engine. 

No. InvestEngine charge an annual fee on top of the annual fees charged by the funds. They are not a member of any stock exchange. There are better places to use.

It will be interesting to see what Dodl brings to the investment market. They are making similar promises about free trading, but they (A J Bell) are a member of the London Stock Exchange.

wmb194

maxsteam said:

wmb194 said:

Btw, it isn't named, "Freetrade.io" it's just Freetrade. ".io" is just the trendy domain for technology companies.

The extension .io is intended for "Entities connected with British Indian Ocean Territory". I am unsure about whether there is any connection with the Territory. My guess is that they would not fork out the necessary money to get a better domain.

The domain extensions designated for technology companies include .net and .tech but it is generally accepted that .com is the best domain extension for any business.

You're not up to date; trust me, it's a trendy domain for tech companies. 'I/o' is input/output, geddit?

From a two second Google: https://www.fastcomet.com/blog/why-io-powerful-domain-choice

Anyway, it's Freetrade, not Freetrade.io. This is the key point.

maxsteam

wmb194 said:

Anyway, it's Freetrade, not Freetrade.io. This is the key point.

IO can stand for many different things in different contexts. In the context of domain extensions, it was assigned as the extension for the British Indian Ocean Territory. This fact cannot be changed by a 2 second blog. The website that is being discussed here is Freetrade.io. The domain Freetrade.com belongs to Charles Schwab although it is just being used to direct traffic to their Ameritrade website at the moment.

Freetrade is just a trading name which is probably also used by other companies. If you are going to be clear about who we are discussing, the company is Freetrade Limited and the website is Freetrade.io

Alexland

maxsteam said:

GeoffTF said:

The cheapest option for the OP is Invest Engine. 

No. InvestEngine charge an annual fee on top of the annual fees charged by the funds.

Investengine only charge for managing a portfolio. They do not charge for the DIY buying and selling of a small selection of ETFs even in ISA accounts. How sustainable that is might be questionable but that's how it is for now.

GeoffTF

maxsteam said:

GeoffTF said:

The cheapest option for the OP is Invest Engine. 

No. InvestEngine charge an annual fee on top of the annual fees charged by the funds. They are not a member of any stock exchange. There are better places to use.

It will be interesting to see what Dodl brings to the investment market. They are making similar promises about free trading, but they (A J Bell) are a member of the London Stock Exchange.

No. Look at their website. Invest Engine charges 0.25% p.a. for the robo-adviser, buy not for DIY. It does not matter two hoots whether they are a member of the stock exchange or not. Invest Engine trades through a broker, not directly with the exchange. Their trades are aggregated with other trades, as for the free ETF trades on Vanguard's own platform. Freetrade, in contrast, offers instant trades.

AJ Bell is imposing a 0.25% platform charge for Dodl, which makes it an expensive option for all but the smallest accounts.

wmb194

maxsteam said:

wmb194 said:

Anyway, it's Freetrade, not Freetrade.io. This is the key point.

IO can stand for many different things in different contexts. In the context of domain extensions, it was assigned as the extension for the British Indian Ocean Territory. This fact cannot be changed by a 2 second blog. The website that is being discussed here is Freetrade.io. The domain Freetrade.com belongs to Charles Schwab although it is just being used to direct traffic to their Ameritrade website at the moment.

Freetrade is just a trading name which is probably also used by other companies. If you are going to be clear about who we are discussing, the company is Freetrade Limited and the website is Freetrade.io

Okay, you don't really understand but that's irrelevant, the point is that its name is Freetrade, not Freetrade.io as you stated.

Alexland

GeoffTF said:
AJ Bell is imposing a 0.25% platform charge for Dodl, which makes it an expensive option for all but the smallest accounts.

Dodl will be 0.15% - it's Youinvest that's 0.25% plus trade fees.

Albermarle

GeoffTF said:

Just for the fun of it, I thought I would compare the cost of using Vanguard's platform to buy an ETF in an ISA each month with that of using Fidelity's platform. Fidelity is Vanguard's old rival. For Fidelity the platform fee is a maximum of £45 p.a. Regular savings or withdrawal costs £1.50 per transaction. That is a total of £45 + 12 * £1.50 = £63 for twelve transactions. Break even with Vanguard's 0.15% is £42,000. For a portfolio of £250,000 Vanguard charges £375, which is nearly 6 times what Fidelity charges. That is bonkers. Nonetheless, it has to be said that Vanguard's platform is growing rapidly, both in terms of its number of users and its AUM.

I have no idea of the actual numbers, but I think the large majority of investors use OEIC funds , so the above calculation does not really apply to them .
Vanguard is probably the cheapest option for small/medium size investors buying popular funds like Life Strategy and the target retirement funds. Also they advertise a lot .
I read an article about that Vanguard strategy is changing ( globally , not just in UK ) . The basic low cost offering that they 'invented' is just not very profitable, and hence the branching out into offering financial advice amongst other developments ( can not remember all the details )

Thrugelmir

Albermarle said:

GeoffTF said:

Just for the fun of it, I thought I would compare the cost of using Vanguard's platform to buy an ETF in an ISA each month with that of using Fidelity's platform. Fidelity is Vanguard's old rival. For Fidelity the platform fee is a maximum of £45 p.a. Regular savings or withdrawal costs £1.50 per transaction. That is a total of £45 + 12 * £1.50 = £63 for twelve transactions. Break even with Vanguard's 0.15% is £42,000. For a portfolio of £250,000 Vanguard charges £375, which is nearly 6 times what Fidelity charges. That is bonkers. Nonetheless, it has to be said that Vanguard's platform is growing rapidly, both in terms of its number of users and its AUM.

The basic low cost offering that they 'invented' is just not very profitable, 

Didn't event it. The idea was copied from an earlier academic research paper on the S&P500. Extending it to other markets without foundation. Left the myth to evolve through word of mouth.  The world has moved on now. Vanguard are no longer trend setters.