AJ Bell Dodl S&S ISA

Darnhall123

I have a soon to mature cash ISA with Kent Reliance (£22,700), that I’m considering transferring over to a Dodl S&S ISA. 
I’m a complete novice to investing and I know the products Dodl offer are somewhat limited compared to other platforms, but to a newbie this is maybe not a bad thing?

I’m steering clear of company shares, thinking that ETFs will be better for my level of knowledge and happy to leave it invested for a minimum of 5 years. 

Grateful for any feedback, especially from Dodl personal experience. 

Albermarle

, but to a newbie this is maybe not a bad thing?

You are probably right .

The starting point with investing is to assess your risk tolerance. Many people are uncomfortable with the volatility of 100% equity investments, even though they are likely to grow the most in the long term. How would you feel if your investment dropped 40% and the media headlines were screaming about financial Armageddon?
Would you panic and pull out ( not recommended but people do that) or shrug your shoulders and think well it will recover one day?

The next point is the time scale. Five years is a minimum, ten years is better. With the longer time frame it is less dangerous to take more risk.

Probably 5 years is too short for a 100% equity investment.

So you have to decide whether a multi asset fund might be more suitable ( they are popular) with an equity % of say 60 %.

For example
Investing in funds: Browse our selection | AJ Bell Dodl

El_Torro

I have no experience with Dodl, though I do have some investments with AJ Bell. When it comes to charges Dodl seems to charge 0.15% as a platform charge. This compares favourably with other platforms, including AJ Bell. AJ Bell is 0.25%. 

What I'm having more trouble finding (admittedly I haven't looked very hard) is the fund charges with Dodl. Seems to be somewhere between 0.05% and 0.45%. The low end of that range is great, the higher end not so great, if you're just looking to invest in a multi asset fund. AJ Bell have a £1.50 trading charge as well, which Dodl don't seem to have. 

Overall Dodl doesn't seem too bad, if you're happy with a limited range of choices. A percentage charge for the platform charge is fine if your investments aren't huge, might be worth moving to a fixed fee platform when the investments get beyond a certain size.

As a low cost no nonsense platform Dodl seems fine to me. The charges seem to compare favourably to other platforms that do the same thing.

Eyeful

1. Use tax shelters where possible  (a) Pensions (b) ISA's

2. Any money you know you needed within 5 years should be in a Bank/Building Society account covered by the FSCS Savings Protection up to £85K

3. Before investing:

(a) Clear all expensive debt first (except for mortgage)
(b) Have a "Rainy Day" account for emergencies (6 months of house hold bills, is often quoted).

4.  INVESTING means putting your money at risk.
     You hope to get more out than you put in, but this this not guaranteed

5. You can make investing as simple or as complicated as you like.

6. Academic research repeatedly shows that most "active fund managers" after charges and fees are applied,
do not beat a MAJOR  GLOBAL WORLD INDEX (like the FTSE All WORLD Index or ACWI)

7. The Simple method of investing boils down to this:

(a) Low Cost Multi Asset Funds (for Cautious types & those that want more Control)

     A ready made portfolio, where you pick the share/bond split, you are most comfortable with.

Example:  https://www.hsbc.co.uk/investments/products/hsbc-global-strategy-portfolios/#balanced

(b) Passive Low Cost Global Index Tracking Fund or ETF (for the Adventurous with a very long time frame) 

     Here its shares = 100%. It may produce the highest return but is the most risky.

Example: https://www.trustnet.com/factsheets/o/kldq/hsbc-ftse-all-world-ind


8. SIMPLE INVESTING IN DETAIL  (advantages, easy to understand  & implement)

(a) First watch this: https://www.kroijer.com/

(b) Then read these

     https://monevator.com/passive-fund-of-funds-the-rivals/

     https://monevator.com/best-global-tracker-funds/

9.  Stock Market Crashes come with the territory & are to be expected.

10. Typical newbie mistakes are:
Trying to time the market
Jumping out when a market crashes (sometimes never to return).

Hope the above has been of some  help to you,

Darnhall123

Eyeful said:

1. Use tax shelters where possible  (a) Pensions (b) ISA's

2. Any money you know you needed within 5 years should be in a Bank/Building Society account covered by the FSCS Savings Protection up to £85K

3. Before investing:

(a) Clear all expensive debt first (except for mortgage)
(b) Have a "Rainy Day" account for emergencies (6 months of house hold bills, is often quoted).

4.  INVESTING means putting your money at risk.
     You hope to get more out than you put in, but this this not guaranteed

5. You can make investing as simple or as complicated as you like.

6. Academic research repeatedly shows that most "active fund managers" after charges and fees are applied,
do not beat a MAJOR  GLOBAL WORLD INDEX (like the FTSE All WORLD Index or ACWI)

7. The Simple method of investing boils down to this:

(a) Low Cost Multi Asset Funds (for Cautious types & those that want more Control)

     A ready made portfolio, where you pick the share/bond split, you are most comfortable with.

Example:  https://www.hsbc.co.uk/investments/products/hsbc-global-strategy-portfolios/#balanced

(b) Passive Low Cost Global Index Tracking Fund or ETF (for the Adventurous with a very long time frame) 

     Here its shares = 100%. It may produce the highest return but is the most risky.

Example: https://www.trustnet.com/factsheets/o/kldq/hsbc-ftse-all-world-ind


8. SIMPLE INVESTING IN DETAIL  (advantages, easy to understand  & implement)

(a) First watch this: https://www.kroijer.com/

(b) Then read these

     https://monevator.com/passive-fund-of-funds-the-rivals/

     https://monevator.com/best-global-tracker-funds/

9.  Stock Market Crashes come with the territory & are to be expected.

10. Typical newbie mistakes are:
Trying to time the market
Jumping out when a market crashes (sometimes never to return).

Hope the above has been of some  help to you,

Thank you SO much. Plenty there to mull over. 👍👍

Darnhall123

El_Torro said:

I have no experience with Dodl, though I do have some investments with AJ Bell. When it comes to charges Dodl seems to charge 0.15% as a platform charge. This compares favourably with other platforms, including AJ Bell. AJ Bell is 0.25%. 

What I'm having more trouble finding (admittedly I haven't looked very hard) is the fund charges with Dodl. Seems to be somewhere between 0.05% and 0.45%. The low end of that range is great, the higher end not so great, if you're just looking to invest in a multi asset fund. AJ Bell have a £1.50 trading charge as well, which Dodl don't seem to have. 

Overall Dodl doesn't seem too bad, if you're happy with a limited range of choices. A percentage charge for the platform charge is fine if your investments aren't huge, might be worth moving to a fixed fee platform when the investments get beyond a certain size.

As a low cost no nonsense platform Dodl seems fine to me. The charges seem to compare favourably to other platforms that do the same thing.

Really helpful advice. Thank you 🤝

Darnhall123

Albermarle said:

, but to a newbie this is maybe not a bad thing?

You are probably right .

The starting point with investing is to assess your risk tolerance. Many people are uncomfortable with the volatility of 100% equity investments, even though they are likely to grow the most in the long term. How would you feel if your investment dropped 40% and the media headlines were screaming about financial Armageddon?
Would you panic and pull out ( not recommended but people do that) or shrug your shoulders and think well it will recover one day?

The next point is the time scale. Five years is a minimum, ten years is better. With the longer time frame it is less dangerous to take more risk.

Probably 5 years is too short for a 100% equity investment.

So you have to decide whether a multi asset fund might be more suitable ( they are popular) with an equity % of say 60 %.

For example
Investing in funds: Browse our selection | AJ Bell Dodl

Again, great advice. Thank you for taking time to reply 🤝

InvesterJones

Once you've decided you want to invest in equities, and have some idea of the kind of fund you're interested in, I think Dodl are great, especially for regular investing as they have very low fees for funds. Someone I knew was looking for a replacement to their vanguard lifestrategy 80 fund that they held with Vanguard directly but wanted to move to avoid the new minimum fee, and the same fund was available on Dodl with a lower platform fee.

For a single lump sum investment they're fine, though depending on length of time you're holding the investment there are some platforms that will work out even cheaper on a pay-per-transaction basis if they have no fee for holding.