Transferring a S&S ISA (to Trading 212)

efunc

Hi all, i suspect I know the answer to this, but have never done it before so wanted to check. I have a small Santander S&S ISA with approx £7k currently invested in:

SANTANDER GO GLOBAL EQUITY "RKP" (GBP) ACC

Santander MyWealth Progressive Fund R

and

Santander MyWealth Balanced Fund R

I would like to open a Trading 212 cash ISA for new money and also a Trading 212 S&S ISA into which I will transfer an old cash ISA of about £100k as well as my entire Santander ISA holdings. The FAQ on Trading 212 states:

Can I transfer my existing stocks, or do I have to sell them and transfer cash?

Depending on the provider from which you wish to transfer, you'd have both options.

Am I to understand that I would first need to cash in my Santander funds, since they are unique to the platform? If I do not, presumably they will be sold and converted to cash anyway, prior to transfer? Just curious about the process. The fee for buying and selling is quite high on Santander, so eitherway this'll no doubt come at a cost.

——

My other question is regarding Trading 212. I've read that it has fewer funds and investment choices than ii or some other platforms. I tried to see if there was a list or if I could search for the stocks I want to buy and see if that listed them, but I couldn't find anything on the website. Anyone know where this is a list? n. n

Thank you

wmb194

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6663696/transferring-a-s-s-isa-to-trading-212

Trading212 doesn't offer OEICs so they'll have to be sold and the money transferred. You can either sell them beforehand or let Santander do it, that's how it usually works with transfers anyway.

It offers lots of company shares and ETFs:

https://www.trading212.com/trading-instruments/invest

Ayr_Rage

This may help you, be aware that T212 limits the number of shares that can be traded or held in a particular stock.

https://www.trading212.com/trading-instruments/isa

efunc

Thanks both, looks fairly comprehensive for my needs.

Albermarle

Regardless of T212 offering/transfer , why now do you want to transfer a £100K cash ISA to a S&S ISA ?

Unless £100K is only a small part of your finances, that is quite a significant move to make.

Not saying it is wrong, but just wondering about the motivation behind it.

efunc

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81958990#Comment_81958990

It's a little bit complicated. For a while I've been concerned that my savings were very cash-heavy. This is actually quite a small part of my ISA holdings. A year ago I started looking seriously at a slow transfer of a proportion of it into equities, etc.

However I also have a strong conviction that we are pivoting to a once in a lifetime macro economic shift and it now would be a very good time to remain liquid, at least for 6 months to a year. That said, I don't like having too much of one thing so, for now, I was going to move about £250k into a broad defensive portfolio positioned for capital preservation and diverse by sector and jurisdiction as a small hedge. I'll then reassess as there may be good opportunities in the next year.

Albermarle

However I also have a strong conviction that we are pivoting to a once in a lifetime macro economic shift and it now would be a very good time to remain liquid, at least for 6 months to a year

In other words, you are trying to time the market, which is notoriously difficult.

efunc

liquidity in a time of severe volitility is a sensible approach rther than being poorly positioned on the wrong side of speculation. Ask any investor in 1929 what they wished they'd done. So I loose a few months, hardly a disaster.

Sam_666

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81958861#Comment_81958861

Very interesting point, as I wasnt aware of it. Thanks.

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81959605#Comment_81959605

It's always easy to make investment decisions with the benefit of hindsight!

Not sure what your definition of severe volatility is, but there hasn't been anything that could reasonably be categorised as that for a while now, and if you look back through previous threads on here over many years there have been plenty of doom and gloom forecasts about imminent crashes and so on, which turned out to be wrong, so anyone choosing to believe them would have missed substantial growth.

Of course, you might be right, but the point is that nobody knows what the future brings, and hence the adage of 'time in the market not timing the market'…

Newbie_John

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81959605#Comment_81959605

You could be right, but people had similar worries every year since.