AJ Bell vs. Dodl investing in a LISA

TheLondoner

Hi, 

I was looking into alternative LISA providers and I came across Dodl, which is part of AJ Bell. I had a look at the fees and although on paper it seems dodl is cheaper, this is only true up to a point as the fee struture is a big weird. 

For AJ bell the fee is 0.25% annually (capped at £3.50/month), whereas for AJ Bell Dodl LISA, the fee is 0.15% or min £1/month. Note there is no max figure. Due to this, the cutoff point of £28k exists. At this point the AJ bell fee = AJ Bell dodl fees (at least the montly ongoing ones). 

Note there are trading fees for AJ bell too, but none for Dodl (according to mse page anyway). 

I was going to move to dodl, but after my £4k contribution in april + £1k government bonus, i'll be above the magic £28k number, meaning it's cheaper for me to stay with AJ Bell. 

Couldn't find this info so thought i'd make this post for anyone else considering switching to AJ Bell dodl, from AJ Bell normal.

masonic

It is worth noting that the cap only applies if you restrict your investments to exchange traded ones. The 0.25% is uncapped for open ended funds. If someone were to hold something like Vanguard Lifestrategy or another multi-asset fund, then Dodl would remain cheaper above £28k.

I hold my LISA with AJ Bell itself. It is good value. I hold ETFs only, so I benefit from the cap. The regular investing service is good too, as you can use it for uninvested cash on account, not just new contributions.

TheLondoner

masonic said:

It is worth noting that the cap only applies if you restrict your investments to exchange traded ones. The 0.25% is uncapped for open ended funds. If someone were to hold something like Vanguard Lifestrategy or another multi-asset fund, then Dodl would remain cheaper above £28k.

I hold my LISA with AJ Bell itself. It is good value. I hold ETFs only, so I benefit from the cap. The regular investing service is good too, as you can use it for uninvested cash on account, not just new contributions.

I find the UI pants compared to T212. I really hope they sort it out and make it more intuitive in the future. doing something simple like finding out how many shares you have in a company and what avg price you paid for them is extremely cumbersome on AJ Bell. That said, they seem to be one of a handful of providers that let you invest inside a LISA. When and if T212 open a LISA, i'll probs move to them. 

Also, when you said you hold your LISA with AJ Bell, do you mean AJ Bell dodl? 

Also, that's good to know about funds - I don't invest in funds but if I do i'll keep that in mind. Thanks!

masonic

No, I don't use Dodl, just the regular AJ Bell platform.