Curiosity: why go with (example...) H/Lansdown, St James' Place?

Bostonerimus1

B0bbyEwing said:

Something I wondered recently after seeing someone here be with Hargreaves Lansdown.

What makes you be with costlier providers like them and St James' Place rather than go elsewhere?

Marketing, ignorance and poor advice from other chumps.

LHW99

Bostonerimus1 said:

B0bbyEwing said:

Something I wondered recently after seeing someone here be with Hargreaves Lansdown.

What makes you be with costlier providers like them and St James' Place rather than go elsewhere?

Marketing, ignorance and poor advice from other chumps.

That's harsh Bostonerimus (even if true in some cases).

HL is certainly good for a novice, early in the journey - if you only have a couple of £k, the % charge will be lower than eg II's fixed charge. HL also do good "hand-holding" and have usable research tools.

SJP? well I believe they are also good at hand-holding, and at least someone who goes to them is thinking about their investment future, which all too many don't.

DiamondLil

Bostonerimus1 said:

Marketing, ignorance and poor advice from other chumps.

OK - I have grandchildren and I save into fund and share accounts with HL.

Each account is designated to a particular grandchild, a service which I have found only one other platform will provide.

I contribute by monthly direct debit into each of these accounts, using the HL Monthly investing service which is free of charge.

The monies are invested in Investment Trusts for which there are no charges for holding.

From the HL website:

• Free share trading – there’s now no charge when you invest in shares, investment trusts and ETFs by Direct Debit. You’ll only pay our dealing commission when you sell. See our dealing charges
• It’s currently free to hold shares in a Fund and Share Account.

I take exception to being labeled "ignorant" for making use of this very good service.

Bostonerimus1

DiamondLil said:

Bostonerimus1 said:

Marketing, ignorance and poor advice from other chumps.

OK - I have grandchildren and I save into fund and share accounts with HL.

Each account is designated to a particular grandchild, a service which I have found only one other platform will provide.

I contribute by monthly direct debit into each of these accounts, using the HL Monthly investing service which is free of charge.

The monies are invested in Investment Trusts for which there are no charges for holding.

From the HL website:

• Free share trading – there’s now no charge when you invest in shares, investment trusts and ETFs by Direct Debit. You’ll only pay our dealing commission when you sell. See our dealing charges
• It’s currently free to hold shares in a Fund and Share Account.

I take exception to being labeled "ignorant" for making use of this very good service.

I used "ignorance" because when it comes to financial things it's often a lack of experience and credulity that gets people into trouble rather than a lack of intelligence. Of course that is a vast generalization and won't apply to everyone.

Bostonerimus1

LHW99 said:

Bostonerimus1 said:

B0bbyEwing said:

Something I wondered recently after seeing someone here be with Hargreaves Lansdown.

What makes you be with costlier providers like them and St James' Place rather than go elsewhere?

Marketing, ignorance and poor advice from other chumps.

That's harsh Bostonerimus (even if true in some cases).

HL is certainly good for a novice, early in the journey - if you only have a couple of £k, the % charge will be lower than eg II's fixed charge. HL also do good "hand-holding" and have usable research tools.

SJP? well I believe they are also good at hand-holding, and at least someone who goes to them is thinking about their investment future, which all too many don't.

Yes it was a very "pithy" comment and won't apply in all cases...but it was mean to express a truism and maybe get people thinking.

Hoenir

If you require professional advice regarding your personal financial affairs. A cheap trading platform alone is of no use. Horses for courses.

How many retail investors actually understand the true cost of trading ETF's ?  I suspect very few. With the attraction being the low headline management fee. 

Cus

I use AJ Bell for my ISA's and JISA's, and the app is great, no issues with selection, and don't really care that I could possibly save a few quid moving, can't be bothered tbh

Edit: I'm probably on the wrong forum lol

talexuser

I started investing in the early 90s, and went with a 0.25% platform which was the best you could do in those days, and much better than the alternatives. Learnt quickly about funds and managed to stay with some good ones. A new invention that came along then was tracker funds, and Virgin made a lot of money with a FTSE tracker fund costing 1% a year in fees!!.... I passed.
Many years ago I went to iWeb and literally saved a fortune on fees with a 6 figure ISA and 6 figure GIA. I probably spend a hundred pounds a year on reinvestment/rebalancing for £5 a pop which is chicken feed in comparison. BestInvest had a good deal on SIPP because of the cashback and a guaranteed lower fee than Fidelity, I would never have considered them for funds otherwise, but the SIPP is 5 figures because I can only put in £2k8 a year. If I ever get to drawdown will have to look around again at the best deal.

Fees are very important in the long term.

george4064

I’m currently with AJ Bell (ISA, LISA and SIPP), all in ETFs and ITs, and would consider moving to another platform for lower fees.

However, the iWeb login process does seem a bit lax compared to AJ Bell. Does anyone know if there is a way to add 2 factor authentication (2FA) to the login process?

Welcome any thoughts or people’s experience with iWeb’s security (I’m aware their website is very basic and stripped back).

GeoffTF

george4064 said:

However, the iWeb login process does seem a bit lax compared to AJ Bell. Does anyone know if there is a way to add 2 factor authentication (2FA) to the login process?

Welcome any thoughts or people’s experience with iWeb’s security (I’m aware their website is very basic and stripped back).

No, there is no 2FA. You get emails whenever a transaction is made, and withdrawals can only be made to your nominated account. I have not had any security issues in over ten years. iWeb's website is fine. I am sure that Lloyds would demand security improvements if HSDL was having problems.