Cheapest Platform to Buy Gilt

MoneyMan01

Looking into putting money into a gilt, and want to ensure I am using the most cost efficient platform.

What is the cheapest platform to buy a gilt?

Is there a platform with a sign up incentive?

Does it depend on how much you are putting in?

Does it depend on what Gilt you are selecting?

If it helps, I will be going for a Gilt that is the most tax efficient, rather than coupon value.

Thank you

wmb194

iWeb, £5 per trade. You might need to do it over the phone, though. Value of the trade etc. doesn't matter.

MoneyMan01

Thanks!

So that £5 trade is a one off, no other platform fees involved? It seems there is a £100 opening fee? Is there any sign up incentive?

I saw for example Interactive Investor has a £50 sign up incentive, but then has a £4.99 per month account fee, plus £3.99 trade fee. I would only be buying 1 trade of TN25, and that matures on 31/01/2025, so in theory, if I am understanding this correctly, that would cost me 11 months? So £45, plus the £3.99 trade fee (I imagine when it matures, that does not count as a trade, they just credit my account?), so £49 total, minus the £50 sign up bonus, so gaining a pound from the sign up.

Would what I have said be correct?

wmb194

TheDarkKnight93 said:

Thanks!

So that £5 trade is a one off, no other platform fees involved? It seems there is a £100 opening fee? Is there any sign up incentive?

I saw for example Interactive Investor has a £50 sign up incentive, but then has a £4.99 per month account fee, plus £3.99 trade fee. I would only be buying 1 trade of TN25, and that matures on 31/01/2024, so in theory, if I am understanding this correctly, that would cost me 11 months? So £45, plus the £3.99 trade fee (I imagine when it matures, that does not count as a trade, they just credit my account?), so £49 total, minus the £50 sign up bonus, so gaining a pound from the sign up.

Would what I have said be correct?

I don't know of any incentives for iWeb but at the moment it's free to open an account and there are no account fees. It's a brand of Halifax Share Dealing and ultimately owned by Lloyds Banking Group. If you're not going to use it for anything else ii doesn't sound like it's worth the aggravation.

https://www.iweb-sharedealing.co.uk/

MoneyMan01

Thank you. I didn't realise they had that offer running. So, it's free to open, no account fees, just the £5 trade fee.

Makes sense to open one and see what I can do inside, given that it's free.

No other platform cheaper than the one off £5 trade fee?

j_netprofit

It’s hard to believe isn’t it!

Great for lump sum, once a year investors not so for monthly.

AndyW79

TheDarkKnight93 said:

Looking into putting money into a gilt, and want to ensure I am using the most cost efficient platform.

What is the cheapest platform to buy a gilt?

Is there a platform with a sign up incentive?

Does it depend on how much you are putting in?

Does it depend on what Gilt you are selecting?

If it helps, I will be going for a Gilt that is the most tax efficient, rather than coupon value.

Thank you

Just out of curiosity what expected return and time frame are you looking for?

I was going to invest a couple months ago but having 5.2 yields in easy access didn’t make the guilt attractive.

It would be great if you could share your rational.

Thanks,
Andy

wmb194

AndyW79 said:

TheDarkKnight93 said:

Looking into putting money into a gilt, and want to ensure I am using the most cost efficient platform.

What is the cheapest platform to buy a gilt?

Is there a platform with a sign up incentive?

Does it depend on how much you are putting in?

Does it depend on what Gilt you are selecting?

If it helps, I will be going for a Gilt that is the most tax efficient, rather than coupon value.

Thank you

Just out of curiosity what expected return and time frame are you looking for?

I was going to invest a couple months ago but having 5.2 yields in easy access didn’t make the guilt attractive.

It would be great if you could share your rational.

Thanks,
Andy

See DarkKnight's other recent thread on gilts i.e. it's to minimise tax on savings income.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6515617/most-tax-efficient-gilt-today/p1

cwep2

As with premium bonds these only make sense because of the tax treatment of these. In the case of PBs you don’t pay tax on prizes, and gilts don’t pay tax on gains so for low coupon gilts most of the interest like return is (untaxed) capital gain. 

If you don’t pay tax on interest the returns are worse than top savings accounts, but 4.6% net yields achievable with TN25 would beat any standard or fixed rate savings account available after 40% tax. 

At the 20% tax rate these tend to be similar. So really these are a no brainer for higher rate tax payers, especially since they also have a lower savings allowance.