Vanguard: New Minimum Monthly Account charge

madlyn

MeteredOut said

Have a look at the options on this page

https://investengine.com/portfolios/

The Do It Yourself section covers the free investment option but still has ETFs that can, for example, follow an index, so are low maintenance. The LifePlans are similar to the VG LS ETFs, and the Manage For You option is where they manage the investments for you. The latter 2 have a 0.25% fee structure.

Thanks for this, I'll take a closer look.

AlanP_2

Vanguard Life Strategy range are fund of funds not ETFs as they have been referred to above.

What the comparable options from T212 and Freetrade are I don't know.

Aidanmc

AlanP_2 said:

Vanguard Life Strategy range are fund of funds not ETFs as they have been referred to above.

What the comparable options from T212 and Freetrade are I don't know.

Trading 212 does seem to offer a Vanguard Lifestrategy ETF

example-

https://www.trading212.com/trading-instruments/invest/V60A.DE

but seemingly only available in Euro

ColdIron

A cursory look shows that apart from sharing the 'LifeStrategy' branding it's a very different offering to the UK OEIC

For instance the UK allocation is less than 3% unlike closer to 25% here. Hardly a replacement

https://markets.ft.com/data/etfs/tearsheet/holdings?s=V60A:AEX:EUR
https://www.justetf.com/en/etf-profile.html?isin=IE00BMVB5P51#overview

B0bbyEwing

Only just discovered this today. Glad I did. Had a lowly amount S&S ISA with Vanguard. Really should've moved it elsewhere but as it wasn't really costing anything I just never bothered to get round to it.

Will be doing now though.

EdSwippet

ColdIron said:

A cursory look shows that apart from sharing the 'LifeStrategy' branding it's a very different offering to the UK OEIC

For instance the UK allocation is less than 3% unlike closer to 25% here. Hardly a replacement

https://markets.ft.com/data/etfs/tearsheet/holdings?s=V60A:AEX:EUR
https://www.justetf.com/en/etf-profile.html?isin=IE00BMVB5P51#overview

Also, "... the bonds are either denominated in or currency hedged to Euro." Not really at all suitable for the average UK investor, then. (Although, it's arguable that the 3% allocation to the UK is more representative of the UK's market cap than the 25% in Vanguard's LifeStrategy OEIC.)

etienneg

I've never transferred a SIPP before. I'm considering moving a small Vanguard SIPP. This will need to be done in cash as the recipient platform doesn't accept Vanguard funds. Should I initiate the sale of these funds myself, and then initiate the transfer when the money is in cash, or would this be done automatically as part of a transfer?

jimjames

B0bbyEwing said:

Only just discovered this today. Glad I did. Had a lowly amount S&S ISA with Vanguard. Really should've moved it elsewhere but as it wasn't really costing anything I just never bothered to get round to it.

If that's the case then I'd check your email address as they have emailed out to all customers last week. If you didnt receive it they may have the wrong email or it's in spam.
BTW it was already costing you, just a bit less than the new charges if it's under £32k you have

Alexland

honeststeveo said:

Previously I got bogged down with whether the VG scheme has an "unqualified right". I think it does. I've reread the scheme wording. Sadly though this unqualified right is to take benefits at NMPA not at age 55 explicitly. This was the subtlety I overlooked and it seems the gov clarified this point.

Yes its annoying and unfair because most SIPP customers would have been unaware of how their rules were drafted and most of the marketing and information sheets for schemes would have simply said age 55.  So there will be some people who thought (and may still think) they were being offered age 55 access and won't get it and others who may not have given it much thought and may be surprised to find they end up with the unqualified right at age 55.

No wonder people are reluctant to lock money away in pensions when the rules change every year.

honeststeveo said:

Anyway, thanks Alexland for helping me understand this point and I'm glad you managed to get on board the fidelity train with your kids!

I'm certainly hoping to use the age 55 protection but I don't know if my kids will be able to explain this quirky stuff to the scheme in 40-50 years time. I probably need to leave good paper records and notes around this in a file!

Alexland

etienneg said:

I've never transferred a SIPP before. I'm considering moving a small Vanguard SIPP. This will need to be done in cash as the recipient platform doesn't accept Vanguard funds. Should I initiate the sale of these funds myself, and then initiate the transfer when the money is in cash, or would this be done automatically as part of a transfer?

If you are happy with the current market price then I would sell now otherwise you are selling at whatever the price might be when they force sell in preparation for the cash transfer. Force selling might even delay the transfer as they might ask you for confirmation, wait for settlement, etc. In the most extreme example they might force sell at the bottom of a sudden stock market crash and you miss the recovery.

Are there any similar investment(s) you could switch to eg ETFs in advance of the transfer that are also available on the target platform to reduce the time out the market? Still if it's small it might not matter and cash might be fine.