Spreading investments between platforms

noclaf

I have what is to me a significant proportion of investments on a single platform all invested in ETF's to take advantage of capped platform fees (excluding the JISA which is in an OEIC fund). SIPP is 100% equities (same for work pension and LISA) and ISA is around 75/25 equities/bonds. I held SGLN for a year and a bit circa 5%..it did well but sold out recently to simplify...I may or may not go back in at some point.

For this year I want to diversify platforms for the 26/27 ISA allowance as think it's sensible but also allows me to select from a wider range of OEIC funds as I am leaning towards one or two max multi asset funds...something like VLS 80 standalone or possibly and AJ BELL or Abdrn fund..I like their offerings with the lower US allocations but also accept I can't predict what markets will do going forward.

So the above approach will likely cost me a bit more in fees, more admin but may sleep a bit better. Does this seem a reasonable approach? Any major flaws? Assuming £20k to be invested upfront in a single transaction and then left alone and not planning to trade much would the likes of AJ BELL or II be good choices? I am leaning towards VLS 80 as less likely to tinker later but must admit I like the Abrdn myfolio and AJ Bell Adventurous funds however latter is more expensive than Vanguard. L&G have some decent multi asset offerings.

Sorry long post but somewhat of a brain dump.

dunstonh

Does this seem a reasonable approach?

If you are using niche, new players or unprofitable platforms, then yes. If you are using a profitable mainstream option, then its unnecessary.

leosayer

If it's a mainstream platform (like Vanguard, AJ Bell, HL, II etc) then I wouldn't worry too much, particularly as you already have a separate work pension.

I am on a different platform to my wife which should make things easier if one platform goes down for a period of time eg. due to a cyber attack.

kempiejon

I have my ISAs and SIPPs with different online providers. It sort of accumulated that way rather than a specific plan but I tell myself that any company specific tech upset to my flow of income would be mitigated by having several platforms.

As to product choice, Abdn myfolio, AJ bell adventurous, VS80 if you're confident they're better places for your money than for example a global cap weighted tracker, government fixed interest allocation. If you want to tilt away from US and trust to a fund manager crack on, I don't have that point of view, if you find that helps you sleep at night which is a worthy objective.

noclaf

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81957440#Comment_81957440

Similar thought process here re tech/platform access issues...I see cyber attacks becoming more of a problem given the trajectory of the world today.

Re fund choice....VLS 80 is one that springs to mind but I haven't a clue really where the markets heading. I tilted towards the UK and away from the US for the best part of last year using an ex-US MSCI global etf coupled with a FTSE100 ETF and less than 40% allocated to the US. That plus a gold ETC and some bonds worked well but no idea what the future holds. My pension and SIPP funds are broadly following market cap weightings as figure even if I took a hit from a potential correction or crash that impacts US markets I have time on my side to ride out the peaks and troughs (am approaching mid 40s). If sticking to global market cap weighted then assume something like FTSE Global All CAP or HSBC FTSE All World would do the job.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81957691#Comment_81957691

 but I haven't a clue really where the markets heading.

Neither has anyone else, including those who say they know.

noclaf

Revisiting this thread again....so I have decided to add to my existing S&SISA account to keep admin overhead to a minimum.

However the next challenge is deciding what to invest in, I value simplicity and am less likely to unnecessarily tinker however in an ETF portfolio that generally involves 100% Equities as multi-asset ETF options on major UK platforms are not great Vs OEIC funds where you are spoilt for choice.

This is my current portfolio, allocations have drifted hence will need to rebalance when I add funds but part of me is questioning when a single global ETF would make life easier albeit comes with the higher risk of 100% equities. I find pensions and my SIPP much easier as 100% equities makes sense due to my timeframe....am struggling how to strike a balance with the S&SISA where some of the equities risk is taken off the table but keeping the number of ETF's manageable.

Any thoughts? Is an 80/20 equities/bonds likely to provide much volatility dampening Vs 100% equities?

IGLS 8.17 % Gilts

AGBP 10.76% Agg bonds

FEMP 5.97% EM bonds

CSP1 32.75% S&P

Emim 7.77% EM

XMWX 34.57% ex US

AlanP_2

Is that what you have or what you are moving towards?

Personally I see little point in having US and Ex-US in a roughly 50/50 split when you could go for a global equity ETF and fiddle with whatever tilt you are trying to achieve to a region / country (UK?) if that's what you are after.

At least that would be more focused than just US and not-the-US.

Also, I assume this is your ISA allocation - why look at this on it's own and ignore your other investments/ assets?

What I do is look at the entire allocation across SIPPs, ISAs, GIA and uninvested savings like PBs and Cash ISAs. This goes across my accounts and my wife's.

Looking at each wrapper on it's own would give me a false picture of where we are positioned against where we want to be.

For us, we can access our SIPPs now, so whether the investment is in a SIPP or an ISA makes no difference apart from making an allowance for income tax on taxable cash from the SIPPs at the cash-flow level.

Your situation is different I knowbut the principles stand.

Final thought - why do you want to take equity risk off the table in the ISA? Your reason may be sensible and valid or it may just be nervousness about "events", you haven't said.

gm0

Should always consider overall asset allocation - across all investible and any non-invested cash (be it emergency fund, sequence risk buffer - whatever).

Hedging against platform outage has nothing to do with investment choices/asset allocation. It's something you do - because you like it. Or you don't bother and you carry the (small) risks of all eggs in one basket

Another argument for holding more than one platform and fund types and tax wrappers is the usual - regulatory risk issue. As consumers we rarely understand all the nuances of international tax law and the wrappers and fund structures and domiciles as they relate to withholding, fx and other "sticky fingers" moments. Fund management houses have a long history of finding creative ways to report compliant and yet snag some of our money. As occasionally do governments around the world.

My own view is I don't know what I don't know. And I have a selection of ETFs an OEICs from different providers, some with overlapping assets. Yes I am more likely to be caught (a tiny amount) by a single given regulatory change or an issue arising. And yet I am also not 100% in on any one thing. So my risk impact is lowered if I am caught out.

These aspects are just facts of choosing the more complex setup. As is a small opportunity cost offered by consolidation onto one rather than more than one capped platform fee. (Fund management fees being largely a wash).

The subjective interpretation of them as to whether it matters and is a harmful / harmless / helpful idea - is highly subjective as can be seen on this thread already.

noclaf

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81980409#Comment_81980409

Thanks for the input. I don't know how to quote in line so will try to address each qu here:

That's my current ISA portfolio. I am approaching mid-40's, about 2 years back I was 100% equities across all investment accounts. I take the point re looking at all accounts rather than focussing on just the ISA, I think the reason is am very comfortable with 100% Equities in the longer term accounts such as my work pension, LISA and SIPP is I can't access them for quite a while and with the work pension in particular can take advantage of £ cost averaging as I buy units every month. Last few years I have been adding lump sums to the ISA rather than drip feeding and the I guess there is a sense of nervousness as Equity markets (especially the US large cap) have generally done quite well last few years. However by adding bond funds and trying to tilt away from the US, it adds admin overhead and more 'thinking' and ongoing maintenance e.g: rebalancing etc

Part of me thinks if I move back to 100% equities using a single ETF I am more likely to 'fire and forget' however that dials the risk right back up and given the state of the world today markets could be even more volatile..there could be bigger drops...on the other hand they may just keep going up albeit with a bumpier ride. I do think that when I moved from 100% equities to equities/bonds/gold this seemed to strike a better balance for diversification and I didn't feel as much of the peaks and troughs however as mentioned earlier this involves more ongoing maintenance so trying to find the middle ground. It feels (for me anyway) far too easy to start tinkering when there is more than one fund/etf. There are so many different tilts you can add though also aware it's very difficult to fully cover your bases with a single fund e.g: you might be missing EM or small cap depending on your core fund choice.