Having more than one S&S ISA

CaptainWales

I currently have two S&S ISA's with two different providers (Trading 212 and iWeb - majority of money is in iWeb). 

Is there any benefit to having more than one S&S ISA? I am thinking of consolidating my T212 into iWeb for ease. I don't mean in terms of fees paid etc, just the principle of having more than one S&S ISA.

Exodi

I guess technically you could suggest it is diversifying the risk of one of the investment platforms failing (though you wouldn't lose your investments, there may be a delay in administering the shares to an alternate platform).

Also different platforms can offer different investments. Someone with a S&S ISA with Vanguard may want to open a S&S ISA elsewhere if they want to invest in more niche funds.

I know you mentioned not being interested in fees, but some also buy shares on platforms which charge no dealing fee, then transfer to platforms with no platform fee (though T212 features neither).

Generally though, I'd say there is very little reason to hold across multiple platforms if it's possible not to.

SVaz

I just like different accounts for different things.
My original S&S ISA is destined for my Grandson in 10 or so years.  I don’t want it mixing up in other things. 

Aylesbury_Duck

I use Vanguard to build the year's allowance because their platform fee is reasonable and they don't charge transaction fees, then once I've finished for the year it gets transferred to iweb because there's no platform fee at all.  Rinse and repeat.

Alexland

Exodi said:

I guess technically you could suggest it is diversifying the risk of one of the investment platforms failing (though you wouldn't lose your investments, there may be a delay in administering the shares to an alternate platform)..

You might lose investments if you are holding above the FSCS coverage and the assets go missing.

Whenever a platform fails there is that nervous period waiting for the administrators to reconcile the individual customer accounts with the assets that are under control in the nominee account hoping that they match.

I like the security of spreading my assets across a few unrelated platforms to average down the risk although keeping within the FSCS limits is impractical when dealing with larger valuations.

Also if you are holding investments that you might need access to at short notice such as money market funds etc then having multiple ISA providers covers the risk that one suffers a business continuity event that could prevent access for weeks or even months.

Albermarle

I have a second S&S ISA, as the provider gave me a £150 Amazon gift card for opening it 🙂