Investing 300k GBP in active GIA

aroominyork

InvestSquirrel said:

From what I can see the fees are in the range of 2-3% but that includes investment cost and transaction costs. This obviously feels high but I don't have the time for actively managing my funds and most of the advice I've received includes some sort of bespoke active discretionary managed account. What are some of you doing with your investments? ( especially those who are not DIYing this). I potentially have the skills to invest on my own but I don't have the time to actively manage it and hence I don't mind paying someone( albeit a reasonable amount) for this to be managed for me. Happy to hear your thoughts and views!

You received this advice because you asked people whose livelihoods depend on getting an ongoing income for managing your funds. If you go into a butcher and ask what to have for dinner, they are unlikely to answer 'cod'.

You really need to challenge your preference for active fund management. Not having time to actively manage your funds is actually good for you - you are less likely to sell under-performing funds before they recover, or buy high performing funds when you have already missed the boat.

I have been DIYing for about seven years. I started with 100% active funds and gradually moved to passive which now account for about 70% of my investments. I got bored with the one-trick pony Bostonerimus saying "just buy a low cost tracker", but you know what? - he is right for most people. You could invest your £300k in a low cost tracker for 0.10%-0.15%, probably beat an actively managed fund on performance, and almost certainly beat active after accounting for 2% fees.

dunstonh

 I went through unbiased and comparewealthmanagers.com.

unbiased is no longer an IFA directory and their current pricing has forced most independent IFAs off it.   Its now a lead generation site for national and regional salesforces.

Never heard of the other, but a quick look suggests it is a lead generation site for reps of Strata Global Limited.  So, not independent firms.  A random check of several of the firms seems to focus on crypto.
https://register.fca.org.uk/s/firm?id=001b000000NMUGvAAP

It looks like you have been searching for wealth management firms rather than IFAs.   (apologies to the IFAs that have wealth management in their name historically from before it was considered tainted by the WMs whose sole purpose is to hoover up funds).

Bostonerimus1

aroominyork said:

InvestSquirrel said:

From what I can see the fees are in the range of 2-3% but that includes investment cost and transaction costs. This obviously feels high but I don't have the time for actively managing my funds and most of the advice I've received includes some sort of bespoke active discretionary managed account. What are some of you doing with your investments? ( especially those who are not DIYing this). I potentially have the skills to invest on my own but I don't have the time to actively manage it and hence I don't mind paying someone( albeit a reasonable amount) for this to be managed for me. Happy to hear your thoughts and views!

You received this advice because you asked people whose livelihoods depend on getting an ongoing income for managing your funds. If you go into a butcher and ask what to have for dinner, they are unlikely to answer 'cod'.

You really need to challenge your preference for active fund management. Not having time to actively manage your funds is actually good for you - you are less likely to sell under-performing funds before they recover, or buy high performing funds when you have already missed the boat.

I have been DIYing for about seven years. I started with 100% active funds and gradually moved to passive which now account for about 70% of my investments. I got bored with the one-trick pony Bostonerimus saying "just buy a low cost tracker", but you know what? - he is right for most people. You could invest your £300k in a low cost tracker for 0.10%-0.15%, probably beat an actively managed fund on performance, and almost certainly beat active after accounting for 2% fees.

Yes, I apologize. I have very little imagination when it comes to investing, but I've found that to be an advantage over the long term. I don't think that using a financial advisor, preferably an IFA, has any financial benefit for most people, but it can provide a psychological benefit for some people.

eskbanker

Bostonerimus1 said:

aroominyork said:

InvestSquirrel said:

From what I can see the fees are in the range of 2-3% but that includes investment cost and transaction costs. This obviously feels high but I don't have the time for actively managing my funds and most of the advice I've received includes some sort of bespoke active discretionary managed account. What are some of you doing with your investments? ( especially those who are not DIYing this). I potentially have the skills to invest on my own but I don't have the time to actively manage it and hence I don't mind paying someone( albeit a reasonable amount) for this to be managed for me. Happy to hear your thoughts and views!

You received this advice because you asked people whose livelihoods depend on getting an ongoing income for managing your funds. If you go into a butcher and ask what to have for dinner, they are unlikely to answer 'cod'.

You really need to challenge your preference for active fund management. Not having time to actively manage your funds is actually good for you - you are less likely to sell under-performing funds before they recover, or buy high performing funds when you have already missed the boat.

I have been DIYing for about seven years. I started with 100% active funds and gradually moved to passive which now account for about 70% of my investments. I got bored with the one-trick pony Bostonerimus saying "just buy a low cost tracker", but you know what? - he is right for most people. You could invest your £300k in a low cost tracker for 0.10%-0.15%, probably beat an actively managed fund on performance, and almost certainly beat active after accounting for 2% fees.

Yes, I apologize. I have very little imagination when it comes to investing, but I've found that to be an advantage over the long term.

To be fair, you're far from alone, in that many (most?) regulars on here will suggest (fully or largely) passive funds such as multi-asset or trackers to newbie investors - my view is that most for whom they're not a sensible answer will typically have the wherewithal to research options that are more suited to their specific requirements, rather than asking open questions on forums.

aroominyork

Bostonerimus1 said:

aroominyork said:

InvestSquirrel said:

From what I can see the fees are in the range of 2-3% but that includes investment cost and transaction costs. This obviously feels high but I don't have the time for actively managing my funds and most of the advice I've received includes some sort of bespoke active discretionary managed account. What are some of you doing with your investments? ( especially those who are not DIYing this). I potentially have the skills to invest on my own but I don't have the time to actively manage it and hence I don't mind paying someone( albeit a reasonable amount) for this to be managed for me. Happy to hear your thoughts and views!

You received this advice because you asked people whose livelihoods depend on getting an ongoing income for managing your funds. If you go into a butcher and ask what to have for dinner, they are unlikely to answer 'cod'.

You really need to challenge your preference for active fund management. Not having time to actively manage your funds is actually good for you - you are less likely to sell under-performing funds before they recover, or buy high performing funds when you have already missed the boat.

I have been DIYing for about seven years. I started with 100% active funds and gradually moved to passive which now account for about 70% of my investments. I got bored with the one-trick pony Bostonerimus saying "just buy a low cost tracker", but you know what? - he is right for most people. You could invest your £300k in a low cost tracker for 0.10%-0.15%, probably beat an actively managed fund on performance, and almost certainly beat active after accounting for 2% fees.

Yes, I apologize. I have very little imagination when it comes to investing, but I've found that to be an advantage over the long term. I don't think that using a financial advisor, preferably an IFA, has any financial benefit for most people, but it can provide a psychological benefit for some people.

Rather than a poverty of imagination, a lack of imagination is a route to the avoidance of poverty.

EthicsGradient

Bostonerimus1 said:

Put it in a low cost global equity fund and move 20k each year into an ISA. No need for active management.

That's good for simplicity and overall fund performance; there might be ways of saving a bit of tax (and perhaps management fees) by using a mix of regional index funds, and then selectively Bed-and-ISA-ing a part of them each year according to what is tax-efficient (using the max £3k CG allowance every year, if possible) to fund the 20k (after using any distributions as part of the ISA contribution). But this involves more DIY.

InvestSquirrel

Thanks all for your advice. It's clear that there's a stronger tilt towards going the way of low cost indices and funds. I'm not against that at all and with the fees, I agree it can definitely work in my favour.

And I'm not a newbie Investor in that I already manage my stocks and shares ISA with Free trade  and I have hand picked some key stocks but most of it is spread around trackers like VUSA, VWRP and EQQQ along with some exposure to AI funds as well. But this is about £ 20k. My thought process was that with a bigger amount I could do something different. But maybe the advice is to continue doing more of the same. And I can see vanguard investor platform has very attractive fees overall. So is that the suggestion then effectively? Are there any other trackers you'd suggest ( perhaps exposure to Asia and the far east)? 

InvestSquirrel

dunstonh said:

 I went through unbiased and comparewealthmanagers.com.

unbiased is no longer an IFA directory and their current pricing has forced most independent IFAs off it.   Its now a lead generation site for national and regional Salesforce 

It looks like you have been searching for wealth management firms rather than IFAs.   (apologies to the IFAs that have wealth management in their name historically from before it was considered tainted by the WMs whose sole purpose is to hoover up funds).

Thanks for that. Is there another directory or place where I can find IFA. I just came across these 2 options through Google. Happy to be pointed elsewhere just to make sure I at least do my due diligence and find out the more attractively priced IFAs out there, if nothing else! 

Eventually I may land on DIYing the whole thing and I think you guys may have already forced a rethink of my initial thought process, so thank you for the advice! 

Alexland

If all you want is GIA exposure to global equities you could go with iWeb and spend a £5 trade buying an accumulating fund such as Fidelity Index World (for Developed World only) or HSBC FTSE All World (if you also want to include some Emerging Markets). Then you would have no ongoing platform fees and fund management costs of between 0.12% to 0.13% pa. Be prepared to see the value drop around 50% when markets crash. If you are not comfortable with such a big drop then look at multi asset funds such as VLS 60/80 or HSBC GS Balanced or Dynamic which mix in bonds for reduced volatility. Just be prepared for the tax implications of holding unwrapped investment(s).

aroominyork

Alexland said:

If all you want is GIA exposure to global equities you could go with iWeb and spend a £5 trade buying an accumulating fund such as Fidelity Index World (for Developed World only) or HSBC FTSE All World (if you also want to include some Emerging Markets). Then you would have no ongoing platform fees and fund management costs of between 0.12% to 0.13% pa. Be prepared to see the value drop around 50% when markets crash. If you are not comfortable with such a big drop then look at multi asset funds such as VLS 60/80 or HSBC GS Balanced or Dynamic which mix in bonds for reduced volatility. Just be prepared for the tax implications of holding unwrapped investment(s).

Why do you suggest an Acc fund? In a GIA an Inc version is much easier for recording dividends and capital gain.