Best platform for Vanguard Life Strategy

havingaball74

Hi all,
I've looked at various threads so apologies if this is a repeat...
I have £80,000 that I'd like to invest in VLS 60 in a global fund. 
Am I better drip feeding the £80,000 monthly or investing in one lump sum?
Once it's invested, I'd like to drip feed a few thousand pounds a year (I'm 48 years old).
Is the Vanguard site a good one to use? I've also heard good things about iweb.
Thank you

GeoffTF

iWeb will be cheaper than Vanguard at that level. You do not say how your £80,000 is housed. ISA, SIPP or hard cash? Transferring accounts into iWeb is currently a nightmare. Their T&Cs say that they take 3 weeks to log your request, which speaks for itself. iWeb SIPPs are manged by AJ Bell and are not cheap, but iWeb may still be cheapest for LifeStrategy.

If you can cope with a global tracker and a bond fund, you could use VWRP and VAGS, which will give you a much wider choice of low cost platforms. You can gradually rebalance your percentage of equities by directing new money into the fund that is underweight.

Statistically, you would have best to invest in one go historically, because the markets went up more often than down. Nobody knows what will happen now.

Vanguard and iWeb are both OK to use. Neither would win any prizes for website design though.

dunstonh

I have £80,000 that I'd like to invest in VLS 60 in a global fund. 

That appears to be a typo.  Do you mean you want to invest in VLS60 and a global equity fund?

Am I better drip feeding the £80,000 monthly or investing in one lump sum?

Statistically, lump sum. Not monthly.

Is the Vanguard site a good one to use? 

It's ok if you only want vanguard funds.  It's no use if you want whole of market funds.

squash18

You could also consider interactive investor 

Cheap and I’m happy with the service 

DireEmblem

You'll need a few years to stick that in an ISA, but have you considered spreading it across some of the free trade platforms so you have no platform fees?

havingaball74

DireEmblem said:

You'll need a few years to stick that in an ISA, but have you considered spreading it across some of the free trade platforms so you have no platform fees?

Thank you. The £80,000 is currently in a cash ISA so I presume u can transfer that I one go?
To honest, I know very little about the platforms. I just want simplicity, ease of use, low cost and flexibility. 

Albermarle

havingaball74 said:

DireEmblem said:

You'll need a few years to stick that in an ISA, but have you considered spreading it across some of the free trade platforms so you have no platform fees?

Thank you. The £80,000 is currently in a cash ISA so I presume u can transfer that I one go?
To honest, I know very little about the platforms. I just want simplicity, ease of use, low cost and flexibility. 

Yes you can transfer the whole £80K from a cash ISA to a S&S ISA.
You might be able to do it in stages with partial transfers, if you wanted ( need to check with providers what is possible)
Or when the cash arrives in the S&S ISA , you do not have to invest it all at once , if you do not want to .

You can check out most platforms reasonably well via their websites , without actually investing anything. Personally I would not worry/stress too much about small differences in fees, which might cost you an extra couple of hundred of Pounds pa ( at most and probably less) when your actual investment could gain/lose that in the blink of an eye.

maxsteam

havingaball74 said:

Am I better drip feeding the £80,000 monthly or investing in one lump sum?

If the money is ready to be invested, I don't know the reason why you are considering drip feeding.

It's always possible that you will be better putting the money in next month rather than next week but you will only know this next month. This is something to accept as a fact of life when investing.

GeoffTF

The OP is proposing to invest in LS 60. That holds 40% bonds to soften any equity market fall. If the OP is worried about investing on one go, perhaps he should be considering LS 40 instead. Whenever he is invested, he risks a big fall, and the recovery (and there may not be one) may not be quick. That is the risk you take.

Albermarle

maxsteam said:

havingaball74 said:

Am I better drip feeding the £80,000 monthly or investing in one lump sum?

If the money is ready to be invested, I don't know the reason why you are considering drip feeding.

It's always possible that you will be better putting the money in next month rather than next week but you will only know this next month. This is something to accept as a fact of life when investing.

The reason why people drip feed in these situations , is an emotional one . They are naturally scared that the markets will drop soon after they make an investment.
It's not the rational decision ( as you explained ) but humans are a mixture of rational and emotion.

havingaball74

Thank you. What are your top tips for easy to use economical platforms? I need something very simple!