Best/cheapest SIPP/ISA providers for monthly ETF investing

GeoffTF

Alexland said:

caldi9 said:

Thanks, find their fixed costs quite high.

Do you mean Vanguard's capping at £375 pa on £250k+? Yes I agree its high so if you have that much in ETF(s) then consider Fidelity who cap at £45 pa and charge £1.50 per trade on a regular investment plan.

Fidelity has a cheap SIPP, and is cheap with accumulating ETFs, which cap both the percentage service fee and avoid an FX charge on USD dividends. The £1.50 does not work for cash in the account. It is £10 for that. The £1.50 is very useful if you are making regular investments or withdrawals though.

GeoffTF

caldi9 said:

Did the maths and for regular (monthly), diversified global ETF investing via an ISA ended up with 5 providers:
- ii
- Freetrade (cheapest)
- iweb
- Vanguard (own products only)
- Invest Engine (not sure about fixed fees yet)

If anyone had a bad experience for the same investing proposition, would be very helpful to understand. Thanks

Transferring accounts into iWeb is slow and uncertain currently. Invest Engine does not have any track record, and the price will certainly go up at some point. You should add Fidelity to your list.

caldi9

Fidelity's fixed costs are too high with 0.35% from what I saw. The other 5 providers are significantly cheaper. Invest Engine and Freetrade are cheapest, Vanguard after that, then ii and iweb. These yearly charges obviously change depending on how many ETFs are bought each month, either through a SIPP or ISA and in what FX.

GeoffTF

caldi9 said:

Fidelity's fixed costs are too high with 0.35% from what I saw. The other 5 providers are significantly cheaper. Invest Engine and Freetrade are cheapest, Vanguard after that, then ii and iweb. These yearly charges obviously change depending on how many ETFs are bought each month, either through a SIPP or ISA and in what FX.

The Fidelity service charge is capped at £45. What we did not know was the size of your account. If it is less than £85K, and you are not going to need the money in a hurry, you do not have anything to lose by going with Invest Engine. If you have less than £250K, Freetrade should be fine. Client assets have to be ring fenced by law, and it is pretty much inconceivable that a third of the assets could go missing before it became evident. Much more than that, go with the big boys. Invest Engine does not offer a SIPP. Freetrade charges £9.99 per month for a SIPP.

caldi9

Thanks, adds another option with Fidelity, what a crowded market it is. Freetrade offers an ISA for £36 per year. Just feel less comfortable with younger providers in the market as to how sustainable their business models may be.

caldi9

If anyone looking into similar investing approach, boiled options down to Fidelity and iweb based on costs and longer established track record. If anyone cannot recommend either for investing into ETFs, please let me know.

GeoffTF

caldi9 said:

If anyone looking into similar investing approach, boiled options down to Fidelity and iweb based on costs and longer established track record. If anyone cannot recommend either for investing into ETFs, please let me know.

Freetrade has been around for five years and claims to have a £ billion Assets Under Management. Fidelity UK and iWeb are both owned by much larger financial services providers, and are therefore likely to be safer. You seem to have decided on an ISA. You have not said whether that will be funded with fresh money or a transfer. iWeb is not good for transfers at the moment. Fidelity customer service is reported to be good. iWeb customer service is acceptable. People use iWeb because it is cheap, and owned by a big bank. Nobody uses it because of great customer service, but the online service is fine.

GeoffTF

IanManc said:

GeoffTF said:

caldi9 said:

If anyone looking into similar investing approach, boiled options down to Fidelity and iweb based on costs and longer established track record. If anyone cannot recommend either for investing into ETFs, please let me know.

Freetrade has been around for five years and claims to have a £ billion Assets Under Management. Fidelity UK and iWeb are both owned by much larger financial services providers, and are therefore likely to be safer. You seem to have decided on an ISA. You have not said whether that will be funded with fresh money or a transfer. iWeb is not good for transfers at the moment. Fidelity customer service is reported to be good. iWeb customer service is acceptable. People use iWeb because it is cheap, and owned by a big bank. Nobody uses it because of great customer service, but the online service is fine.

I use IWeb because it is cheap, reliable and because the customer service has been excellent during the decade I've been a customer on the few occasions I've wanted to contact them.

I have had an account with iWeb for a decade too, and I am not dissatisfied for what I pay. I have not often had to contact customer service. iWeb's customer service has not been bad, but it is not the best that I have experienced. There have been bad reports during the Covid (chat unavailable, long phone waits etc), but I have not had to contact them. Their T&Cs say that they take 3 weeks to log a transfer request. That is an admission of bad customer service in my view. AJ Bell fixed their system to value my index linked gilts correctly when I complained. iWeb refused to fix the same problem. Not a great issue, I can get the correct price from a third party site.

cloud_dog

caldi9 said:

If anyone looking into similar investing approach, boiled options down to Fidelity and iweb based on costs and longer established track record. If anyone cannot recommend either for investing into ETFs, please let me know.

Jarvis X-O.  Zero ISA platform fee, £5.95 for each trade, no regular investment option, and no OEICs.

The reason I mention them is that they were the only provider who were able to offer me (buy) prices during the March 2020 crunch, with my other providers, Fidelity, AJ Bell, and iWeb, all experiencing different issues, e.g. unable to trade, trade price not being returned, etc