Vanguard: New Minimum Monthly Account charge

ColdIron

Alexland said:

The ninja method involves an in-specie transfer (re-regstration) of assets already invested between platforms without trading to arbitrage their fee models without time out of the market or incurring additional spread. It's for people that would want to hold the Vanguard fund/etf anyway.

I imagine this is the sort of thing they wish to discourage, it must be apparent to them and would cost them more than (10, 20, 100?) low value or dormant accounts would

Their customers will change their behaviour to match the charging structure, it's not a surprise that they would change their charging structure in reaction to their customer's behaviour

£4 pm, the cost of a couple of coffees, is still a decent enough deal for many, especially those that trade frequently

boingy

InvesterJones said:

It's a shame. I'm thinking of the person who really needs something nice and simple, set once and forget

The trouble is "set and forget" doesn't work for more than a few years. The industry has always been one of changes, mergers and acquisitions and, particularly in the case of pensions, one of the govt messing about with the rules. So you have to be prepared to make changes to make the most of your money.

I'm still mildly miffed that when I started a personal pension in the 80's the deal was that you could take your pension at age 50. Somewhere along the line that changed to 55. In reality I couldn't have afforded to take any pension at 50 but it still feels a bit unfair that they can change the rules like that. Don't get me wrong. I have benefitted hugely from throwing money into a pension at the start of my career, even though I had other money pressures at the time, so it's only a very minor gripe.

22225

Hello. I think that I will transfer my small ISA with vanguard which is only about £1k out to dodl where I already have an account. Dodl is 0.15 per cent. With my ISA with Vanguard I have LS 100 and Global All Caps. I believe the closest Dodl have is FTSE World Index tracker. So that's the most similar thing to sell up and then transfer them to?
Is Dodl the best/cheapest option? It is 0.15 per cent with a minimum of £12 a year. It doesn't have all the options of some other platforms but do you think the global tracker will do a similar job to what I've got now (I know it will have less home bias). I only do £25 a month in although I do want to increase this some day.

I haven't seen Dodl mentioned as an alternative so I wanted to check if I was missing something.

Thanks a lot!.

Jami74

InvesterJones said:

It's a shame. I'm thinking of the person who really needs something nice and simple, set once and forget - vanguard was a great option for them and the low fees meant the barrier to investing for the first time compared to savings accounts was low - which is precisely how many started out with tiny amounts just to dip their toes in the water.

This is pretty much me. The S&S ISA was a simple way to try investing for the first time and gave me the confidence to open a SIPP too. I have a tiny amount invested, think it's cost me about a fiver over the last year. I was planning to make regular deposits in 2025.

Although as ColdIron said, it's only £4 a month. I could open another Halifax reward account to cover it.

22225

Also, as I only have a grand in it, should I just cash out and put it in a new ISA with Dodl rather than transfer it as transfers are taking a long time?

ColdIron

22225 said:

With my ISA with Vanguard I have LS 100 and Global All Caps. I believe the closest Dodl have is FTSE World Index tracker. So that's the most similar thing to sell up and then transfer them to?

Do you mean the FTSE All World Index? FTSE Russel don't do a World Index (although MSCI do). The All World Index doesn't include small caps like your All Cap Vanguard fund but other than that it's pretty close. HSBC do one which is probably available via AJ Bell. Cheaper as well at 0.13% OCF rather than your current 0.23%

VLS is different matter, there isn't much out there that is close. You could take the opportunity to ditch, it at £25 per month is there any point in using it as well?

I haven't seen Dodl mentioned as an alternative so I wanted to check if I was missing something.

I think Dodl would work out well for you. App only if that's an issue

22225 said:

Also, as I only have a grand in it, should I just cash out and put it in a new ISA with Dodl rather than transfer it as transfers are taking a long time?

Probably if you won't be anywhere close to the ISA limit (including cash ISAs)

22225

Thank you. Yes HSBC All World Index.

incus432

I opened accounts with Vanguard back in 2020 with great hopes. I quickly found their website to be awful with terrible functionality - even adding to a holding is a roundabout of clicks and selections and much more complicated than it needs be. There are bugs that tell you login has failed but then you find you are in fact logged in. And the customer service and responses to secure messages is slow.  They paid me 550 compensation for 'forgetting' about two transfers out for months.

Today's news may be disappointing but it's not surprising.

Eco_Miser

GeoffTF said:

equitydealer said:

eskbanker said:

equitydealer said:

Hoenir said:

equitydealer said:

Funny, for a company that used to champion lower fees they are going in the wrong direction  

Why should larger accounts subsidise smaller ones. The base cost of an operational account is the same across the board. Both Employers National Insurance and increased National Minimum Wage costs for example need to be recouped. 

Don’t think you quite understand. Vanguard was established to bring savings to the masses, read about Bogle who founded the company. I’m in the process of moving my six figure ISA and SIPP away regardless of this announcement as there are cheaper fixed rate providers, as are others I know. Now they will start losing customers with smaller holdings too. After today’s announcement I’m moving my wife’s ISA out too. Remember today’s smaller investors are likely to be tomorrow’s larger investors. They have shot themselves in the foot. 

If anything Vanguard was established to bring investing to the masses, but that's really the fund manager you're referring to, rather than the much later introduction of the UK platform.

They've only shot themselves in the foot if they haven't modelled the impact of such a decision - any large organisation making such changes will do so in the full knowledge that some of its customers won't be happy (especially smaller ones) and will take their business elsewhere, so they will have crunched the numbers rather than this being some sort of surprise to them.

Looking around at other sites such as Reddit there’s a huge backlash to this fee change, as it goes against the principles that Vangaurd was founded on. I know they are a business and need to make profits but they marketed themselves as something a bit different to the other platforms. I’m sure they have crunched the numbers but they may have underestimated the upcoming loss in customers. They will also be in hot water with transfers out, their back office is terrible in processing these and given that the fees kick in end of January lots of people will be caught out even if they start transfers today. Disappointing. 

Vanguard is "not for profit". It is owned by its US investors.

They still need to at least break even and preferably produce a small surplus.

Alexland

ColdIron said:

Do you mean the FTSE All World Index? FTSE Russel don't do a World Index (although MSCI do).

I was kinda hoping that my Vanguard VEVE had been tracking their FTSE (Developed) World index!
FTSE Russell have datasheets for their (Developed) World index on their website.
Although I agree the fund Dodl offer is the HSBC FTSE All-World index.
Personally on a small S&S ISA account I wouldn't want the EM exposure with that fund on Dodl not that it matters much but would prefer to hold a World ETF for free on T212 on InvestEngine. Or maybe for more protection use iWeb to hold a fund like Fidelity Index World if trading infrequently. Although for a small LISA then I would be OK with the HSBC fund on Dodl. It's always a balance between cost and getting what you really want trying to avoid the tail excessively wagging the dog.