A J Bell charges confusion

Albermarle

Not sure anybody has actually mentioned this but as well as the £1.50 dealing charge, AJ Bell charge a platform fee of 0.25% on all funds on the platform.
Most platforms do something similar . Some with a higher platform charge, do not charge for buying funds, so swings and roundabouts.
Dodl and Vanguard have low fees and do not charge for buying funds. However they have a restricted range of investments available.

Altior

Vanguard don't currently offer LISA's. 

Sarahspangles

Albermarle said:

Not sure anybody has actually mentioned this but as well as the £1.50 dealing charge, AJ Bell charge a platform fee of 0.25% on all funds on the platform.
Most platforms do something similar . Some with a higher platform charge, do not charge for buying funds, so swings and roundabouts.
Dodl and Vanguard have low fees and do not charge for buying funds. However they have a restricted range of investments available.

I've just noticed that Dodl's charge is 0.15% for the platform fee compared to 0.25% for AJ Bell's

Albermarle

Altior said:

Vanguard don't currently offer LISA's. 

You are correct .

Sarahspangles

EthicsGradient said:

22225 said:

Yes thank u. I will try but I'm on a tight budget plus trying to get the mortgage down as it is partially on a fixed rate due to finish in 2 years. I did try to transfer the aj bell lisa into HL but they dont accept LISA transfers after 40 years of age. Oh well I suppose more incentive to increase the contribution. I don't know why I didn't realise before. I feel so thick. 

If you already have a mortgage, then I presume you must be using the LISA to save for retirement, since you can't withdraw from it without penalty before you're 60, apart from first-time buying. In that case, have you considered if the money would do better in your pension? (Exactly what is available to you as a pension depends on your employer, if you're self-employed, etc., but it can often be a better option).

This is a good point.  @22225 I wonder if you might actually be better off with a Self-Invested Personal Pension than a LISA.  As things currently stand you'd be able to access that from 57 years of age rather than 60.  There are a wider range of providers - including Vanguard if you like their investments.  

Or (those who understand these things) am I missing some other benefit of LISA's I'm not aware of?

If you haven't been paying into a LISA for long I assume on closure you just get back your contributions less any charges and they deduct the Govt bonus, but you get the bonus again (in the form of tax relief) when you pay into a SIPP instead.  

Altior

Sarahspangles said:

Albermarle said:

Not sure anybody has actually mentioned this but as well as the £1.50 dealing charge, AJ Bell charge a platform fee of 0.25% on all funds on the platform.
Most platforms do something similar . Some with a higher platform charge, do not charge for buying funds, so swings and roundabouts.
Dodl and Vanguard have low fees and do not charge for buying funds. However they have a restricted range of investments available.

I've just noticed that Dodl's charge is 0.15% for the platform fee compared to 0.25% for AJ Bell's

Why Dodl is a good platform for casuals in my opinion is that for the lower level investments, it's a very simple £1 pcm. No semi hidden fees or charges. The negative is the limited fund range, however there is enough variety there for the modest investor. I guess this is the differentiator to the full phat platform, or else everyone would just migrate across from the main platform.  

Novice_investor101

I took my LISA with AJ Bell back in 2018. Weighed up whether there or HL & decided long term I’d be better off with AJBell as I’ll contribute for 10 years (so £18 a year for 10 years dealing charges) but after age 50 it’ll have the lower platform charge. 

Now I’m over 40 I can’t transfer to Dodl. The only decent Stocks LISA’s around back then were AJ Bell & HL. 

masonic

Novice_investor101 said:

Now I’m over 40 I can’t transfer to Dodl.

You should now be able to as both AJ Bell brands will accept transfers from over 40s.

masonic

22225 said:

Yes thank u. I will try but I'm on a tight budget plus trying to get the mortgage down as it is partially on a fixed rate due to finish in 2 years. I did try to transfer the aj bell lisa into HL but they dont accept LISA transfers after 40 years of age. Oh well I suppose more incentive to increase the contribution. I don't know why I didn't realise before. I feel so thick. 

You don't need to increase your contributions if you don't want to. Instead, you could start saving the money into a Regular Saver account (e.g. First Direct at 7%), then after 12 months you'll have £300 to invest, which makes the £1.50 dealing fee just 0.5%, which is much better than 6%! You could even put that £300 right back into a new regular saver and invest the proceeds after 2 years. Investing into a LISA should be pretty low on the financial priorities list, so as others have pointed out, it might not be worth bothering with at all in your circumstances.

Sarahspangles

22225 said:

Yes thank u. I will try but I'm on a tight budget plus trying to get the mortgage down as it is partially on a fixed rate due to finish in 2 years. I did try to transfer the aj bell lisa into HL but they dont accept LISA transfers after 40 years of age. Oh well I suppose more incentive to increase the contribution. I don't know why I didn't realise before. I feel so thick. 

I don't think you're thick - there have been a lot of changes over the last few years!