AJ Bell or Hargreaves Lansdown (or elsewhere)?

B0bbyEwing

I'm very much a set it and forget it with the investing. Every so often I'll have a look - am I paying over the odds, should I invest in anything else/instead of etc.

My Lifetime ISA is with AJ Bell. I can't remember exactly why I went with them years ago but it must've been to do with cost & availability. I could invest in what I chose, cheaply, and AJ Bell themselves I think were fairly cheap at the time. Hargreaves Lansdown weren't.

I had a look around the other day & I noticed it seems HL charge the exact same annual fee as AJ except HL don't charge the £1.50 fee. It's free?

I only put money in to my L-ISA once per year so it only ever costs me £1.50 per year but another family member is looking to open one & pay in monthly, after using their L-ISA last tax year to buy a house so I'm asking the question for both situations really.

It seems to me that I'd just be better off with HL these days. It'd be the same for cheaper?

But I prefer to ask stupid questions & check than not ask & misunderstand something ... which I've done more than once.

rjmachin

I have a LISA with AJ Bell.

AJ Bell
If you have Shares or ETFs, then the account charge is 0.25% capped at £3.50 per month, this involves at £5 dealing fee per transaction (so £10 for the £4k plus the £1k bonus)
If you have Funds, then the account charge is 0.25% uncapped, but the dealing fee per transaction is £1.50 (so £3 for the £4k plus the £1k bonus)

Hargreaves Lansdown
If you have Shares or ETFs, then the account charge is 0.25% capped at £45 per year (£3.75 per month), but £11.95 per transaction (£23.90 for the £4k plus the £1k bonus).
If you have Funds, then the account charge is 0.25% uncapped, but no dealing fees


So it depends if you intend to use Shares/ETFs or Funds.

If you use Shares/ETFs, then AJ Bell is cheaper
If you use Funds, then Hargreaves Lansdown is cheaper

El_Torro

I  was going to correct you about HL but it seems that their LISA is in fact a 0.25% fee. Their other investments start at 0.45%, which makes them more expensive than many similar providers, so their reputation is well deserved.

I use both AJ Bell and HL (not for LISAs, I haven't got any). Personally I prefer HL for its website which is easy to use. I don't invest solely in HL because AJ Bell is cheaper for what I want. Looking at their LISA offering I agree that it makes sense to just stick with HL. 

There are other providers out there too. The ones that don't charge a percentage fee could be cheaper for what you want.

B0bbyEwing

Yeah I was aware of the 0.45%. This was the case the last time I looked but I guess things have changed.

I don't fully understand ETFs and I don't do shares so it's funds only that I invest in.

Although I'd have to see if one gives higher discount on the funds I hold than the other to see whether this makes a difference or not. 

legasov

Damien Talks Money made a pretty comprehensive video on ISA providers. AJ Bell is in his "sucks" category, an opinion that I share.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfMfvIieuj0

sausage_time

For funds and infrequent trading iWeb could be worth looking at.

gascar

I haven't used iWeb, but I have used/am using a few, for historical reasons in some cases.

"AJ Bell sucks"?? That's not what Which? thinks. Nor I, as it happens. Why so??

That video is biased to the best affiliate link payer, perhaps.

With my wife, we have ISAs at Trading 212, AJBell, Interactive Investor, HSBC, Hargreaves Lansdown, and SIPPs which behave much the same, at other places.. I do do some day trading, my wife is more dump and forget. For most folk, I would say FORGET Trading 212, unless you want a very limited set of features for free. They have NONE of the Managed Funds which I and my wife use and do very well from. T212 is bargain basement, ZERO help, or zero screener, run from Bulgaria, though they have an office in London. Their staff don't even know how their own platform works and are only interested in saving face when the site doesn't work. It's a crappy site.. Their platform also gives no analysis or breakdowns and you have to keep tweaking the text size so you can even read the charts. . No phone contact, only delayed dumb answers on anything. They string you along with nonsense until you give up.

(They make a big noise about their uninvested cash interest rate, but you can just stick it on the money market , eg at one called CSH2, and get the same rate. Most brokers have M&G, L&G etc etc bonds handy which beat that, but T212 doesn't.)

Trading 212 site does not even give you the "spread" when you're buying in an ISA. Unsurprisingly they are wide spreads. They way they manipulate showing of the prices (my opinion) is misleading. You don't know what price you're going to get until you've bought something. It's Horrible, it can be miles from the price they show. They do have an excuse, which presumably is legal.

One Fund eg - If you want to "dump and forget' look for the fund : " MAN Dynamic Income I H " You find a fund which has beaten the SPY500 with a smooth curve, for years now. Only a couple of percent Trump wiggle. When India was booming for a couple of years, Jupiter India outpaced everything. No similar thing at Trading 212. Over a couple of years iirc, not exactly transient.
We adjust between funds a couple of times a year. You will find that MAN fund at most platforms. Not Invest Engine though as it's not an ETF.

Short advice, use AJ Bell . Look at their excellent Fund Screener, starting with Risk Rating "Filter" set to 1-5 or 6, excluding 7.

Hargreaves Lansdown are also very good, but fewer Funds to pick from , and a 0.45%(or less) overall fee., though switching between funds is free.

AJ Bell is , 0.25%(or less) with swapping funds usually £1.50. Frankly irrelevant if you have a few £k working for you and you clear 30% every year, which we do easliy. (some years are more work than others!)..

Interactive Investor would be ok if they had a useful screener and their site wasn't full of bugs, and some other things I don't prefer to have to deal with.

One final thing - if you think CFD is "like a casino" you don't have a clue. Stay quiet on that, and don't try to frighten people!

For ISAs I looked at IKBR, eToro (aargh), Fidelity too.

Edit - had a quick look at iWeb. Not bad, sensible fees

It has some managed funds, such as the Jupiter India I mentioned, but NOT the MAN group's Dynamic Income  I H, so that would stop me going there. Same as HSBC, by the way.

perfectlegend94

Trading 212 site does not even give you the "spread" when you're buying in an ISA. Unsurprisingly they are wide spreads. They way they manipulate showing of the prices (my opinion) is misleading. You don't know what price you're going to get until you've bought something. It's Horrible, it can be miles from the price they show. They do have an excuse, which presumably is legal.

You know that it's illegal in the U.K./EU to inflate spreads? I see no difference between the spreads I get on T212 and the ones on AJ Bell. 

InvesterJones

gascar said:

Edit - had a quick look at iWeb. Not bad, sensible fees

It has some managed funds, such as the Jupiter India I mentioned, but NOT the MAN group's Dynamic Income  I H, so that would stop me going there. Same as HSBC, by the way.

Interesting thread revival, but to correct at least one of the points, MAN Dynamic Income I H is available on iWeb: https://www.markets.iweb-sharedealing.co.uk/funds-centre/fund-supermarket/detail/IE000RA2ZI45

It is however a risky bond fund, so a bit of an odd choice for a set and forget. A global equities tracker is far cheaper and probably more suitable for the long run.

If the OP is still looking then my recommended set and forget for monthly investments (for a global equities tracker) is dodl (from AJ Bell) at 0.15% holding and no dealing charge for funds. For lump sum into a fund then iWeb at £5 a trade, no holding fee. Or for ETFs then trading212 or investEngine perhaps.

legasov

perfectlegend94 said:

Trading 212 site does not even give you the "spread" when you're buying in an ISA. Unsurprisingly they are wide spreads. They way they manipulate showing of the prices (my opinion) is misleading. You don't know what price you're going to get until you've bought something. It's Horrible, it can be miles from the price they show. They do have an excuse, which presumably is legal.

You know that it's illegal in the U.K./EU to inflate spreads? I see no difference between the spreads I get on T212 and the ones on AJ Bell. 

Spot on. You get the raw spread, and the FCA would clamp down hard on any platform that tried to widen it.

Being the nerd I am, I did a few like-for-like trades a while back: identical orders, seconds apart, on Trading 212, HL and ii. T212 filled at the same price or a touch better. Haven’t repeated it on AJ Bell as I don't use them. If you’re after the best prices, why don't you use Limit orders?

On cash, I disagree: T212 currently pays 4.6% AER on ISA balances, which CSH2 doesn’t match. CSH2’s price moves with gilt yields, and you lose a bit to stamp duty and the spread.

I’m no advocate for T212, I’ve been nagging them for years to add managed funds - all I got was more stocks & ETFs. But the truth is, switching my ISA to them has saved me thousands in dealing and platform fees.

wmb194

legasov said:

perfectlegend94 said:

Trading 212 site does not even give you the "spread" when you're buying in an ISA. Unsurprisingly they are wide spreads. They way they manipulate showing of the prices (my opinion) is misleading. You don't know what price you're going to get until you've bought something. It's Horrible, it can be miles from the price they show. They do have an excuse, which presumably is legal.

You know that it's illegal in the U.K./EU to inflate spreads? I see no difference between the spreads I get on T212 and the ones on AJ Bell. 

Spot on. You get the raw spread, and the FCA would clamp down hard on any platform that tried to widen it.

Being the nerd I am, I did a few like-for-like trades a while back: identical orders, seconds apart, on Trading 212, HL and ii. T212 filled at the same price or a touch better. Haven’t repeated it on AJ Bell as I don't use them. If you’re after the best prices, why don't you use Limit orders?

On cash, I disagree: T212 currently pays 4.6% AER on ISA balances, which CSH2 doesn’t match. CSH2’s price moves with gilt yields, and you lose a bit to stamp duty and the spread.

I’m no advocate for T212, I’ve been nagging them for years to add managed funds - all I got was more stocks & ETFs. But the truth is, switching my ISA to them has saved me thousands in dealing and platform fees.

Plus T212's cash balance is instantly available for investment or withdrawal and there's no mucking around buying and selling units in CSH2 or any other MMF. CSH2 doesn't move in a perfectly straight line anyway and its bid/offer spread can vary during the day. T212's implementation doesn't have these aggravations.

Re bid/offer spreads, I found the same.