Should I use Aegon or Hargreaves Lansdown

CautiousMrG

My first thread, so hope you can offer some advice.

I've recently retired due to a medical condition at the age of 62. I've also sold my company and have a reasonable amount of funds to keep me going until my pensions kick in. Whilst I have a basic understanding of investments such as stocks and shares and have dabbled a little in the past. I am looking to invest initially £100K using a fund manager with a plan to keep that investment for a minimum of 5 years, reinvesting the returns on a medium/high risk strategy.

I banked with Nationwide (though my recent experiences with them have been less than impressive) and they referred me to Aegon. I have had on line meetings with an Aegon rep and have felt comfortable that the rep is knowledgeable and as Aegon are a very large company feel secure that my monies should be reasonably safe.

However, whilst trying to research Aegon on line, via Trustpilot etc it seems there are a number of complaints about accessing funds, particularly related to pensions. Whilst this doesn't unduly worry me and I don't have any of my pension schemes with them, I have not been able to find out much about how their investment products perform.

I've had an account with H-L for many years, including a Stocks & Shares ISA, I like their platform and my other option is to consider using one of their funds managers to invest my £100k. I appreciate charges may differ and these of course eat into your returns, however, that is not an essential issue as this will just be part of my portfolio.

Anyone who has investments with Aegon in the last 10 and is able to comment on their performance would certainly help or any other advice.

dunstonh

I have had on line meetings with an Aegon rep and have felt comfortable that the rep is knowledgeable and as Aegon are a very large company feel secure that my monies should be reasonably safe.

The general rule of thumb is either to use an IFA or DIY. Not to use an FA or a sales rep.

However, whilst trying to research Aegon on line, via Trustpilot etc it seems there are a number of complaints about accessing funds, particularly related to pensions. 

Ignore Trustpilot. It's a really bad resource for financial services reviews. There are no problems accessing pensions from any of the Aegons (Aegon operate multiple distribution channels). What you're probably seeing are people that have legacy contracts from the old Scottish Equitable days with GMPs or GARs or plans too old to offer flexible drawdown.

 I have not been able to find out much about how their investment products perform.

Aegon operates a fund supermarket. It's not the product that has returns. It's the investments that you put in it. It will have a smaller investment range than HL and a number of other platforms. Nationwide's version, I believe, is further restricted.

Anyone who has investments with Aegon in the last 10 and is able to comment on their performance would certainly help or any other advice.

That isn't the right question to ask, as mentioned above.

You need to be focused on servicing. How easy is it to buy an ISA, do funds switch to utilised CGT allowances, how easy it is to get CGT reports so you know how much you need to sell each year and so on. For most people, it's about the software and the functionality.

Investment returns don't matter when you're dealing with whole-of-market platforms or even from supermarkets. The only issue you have is if the Aegon product is still restricted via Nationwide, as it used to be.

PractisingIFA

Personally, I'd be looking to find a platform that could switch the funds from the general investment account into your stocks and shares isa easily. There's something called "Bed & ISA", which means your GIA holdings are sold and immediately (well, quickly anyway) sold and repurchased inside the ISA wrapper. The aim being to get the holdings out of a taxable environment and into a tax wrapper. Depending on what the market does, that's likely to take 5-7 years with £100k and a highish risk profile.

That points to using HL if your S&S ISA is already with them and you like/are familiar with the platform. There will be cheaper platforms out there who can do the same stuff however. But it's not a bad option. Just remember to fund the ISA from the GIA to keep as much as possible tax efficiently and stay invested.

DRS1

I can't comment on Aegon - I associate them with pensions only. But are you planning to stay with HL? They have put up their charges so they are losing some customers to other platforms (there is a thread or two on the subject on here somewhere). They have also changed the layout of their webpages and the information shown. Personally I preferred the old version.

You seem to be thinking that you will ask someone else to manage your money instead of doing it yourself. Yet you have presumably been managing your ISA yourself for some time. Why do you think you can't manage this other money as well? If you get someone else in to do it they will want to charge you money for the privilege.

CautiousMrG

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82099942#Comment_82099942

Thank you, that's a good point and I have considered whether I should just manage the funds myself and I will be investing additional monies into funds directly, probably through my HL account. However, my previous ISA allowances I have mainly invested into cash ISA's over the years…hence Mr Cautious. I am working on the assumption that with a fund manager, through a company like Aegon they may produce a better return than the investment choices I make and also I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket.

dunstonh

I can't comment on Aegon - I associate them with pensions only.

Just for a bit of background, CoFunds was one of the earliest investment platforms in the UK. Aegon bought CoFunds and rebranded it. Although they've made a right mess of it, in my opinion.

I am working on the assumption that with a fund manager, through a company like Aegon they may produce a better return than the investment choices I make and also I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket.

Aegon is just an administration platform, as are all other platforms. They don't impact on returns other than the level of charges they take. Although some platforms heavily restrict investment choice, that could lead to compromises.

The biggest influence is your advisor, as they are the one that picks the investments. Whilst the advisor doesn't influence the returns on the investments selected, it is their job to match you to the investments.

A sales agent will be restricted on the investments they can use. An IFA is whole of market as they are independent. If you DIY, then you're the one making the choices, and your only limitation is the investment platform you choose.

and also I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket.

But you wouldn't be. HL don't manage your investments. They don't have access to your investments. Diversification comes from the investment funds you select.

kempiejon

I am working on the assumption that with a fund manager, through a company like Aegon they may produce a better return than the investment choices I make and also I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket.

Aegon will be delighted with that view.

I work on the assumption that, long term, after costs most fund managers do not better a global cap weighted index. I can buy a product to track such an index very cheaply. Such a product might have 3000 or more holdings, lots of eggs there.

GeoffTF

I am working on the assumption that with a fund manager, through a
company like Aegon they may produce a better return than the investment
choices I make and also I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket.

Try asking Aegon for a written guarantee that they will beat a global market capitalisation weighted tracker and you will find out what that assumption is worth.

Middle_of_the_Road

"Whilst I have a basic understanding of investments such as stocks and shares and have dabbled a little in the past. I am looking to invest initially £100K using a fund manager"

Actively managed investments rarely produce better results than investigating in a passive fund.

https://www.ajbell.co.uk/learn/active-vs-passive-investing

You can buy an appropriate passive fund with no need to pay ongoing fees to a fund manager.

poseidon1

I am an active investor, investing in a cross section of unit trusts, investment trusts, bonds, shares etfs etc. Therefore a lot of eggs in a lot of different baskets.

I know Aegon as a provider of actively managed unit trust funds across a number of different mandates and objectives. I know nothing about their pension admin platform.

I selected and invested in one of Aegon's unit trusts over the last 10 years to deliver a high monthly income ( 6.5%). Capital growth had been historically anaemic from the unit trust, but it has consistently met its high income brief and coupled with its growth spurt in the last 3 years justified its continued retention in my portfolio.

I purchased it via HL originally but subsequently transferred to II platform for the lower fixed fee platform charges.

I cannot comment whether delegating to Aegon's in-house managed portfolio service would achieve a 'better' outcome compared to HL's restricted multi manager/ index funds service.

However, of the two HL is a whole of market broker so gives you a pathway to select from the 'best' funds from a multitude of managers as well as low cost index tracking etfs.

They also give you tools to bed and breakfast your investments into your ISAs, so would be my choice of a platform bearing in mind you can buy all Aegon unit trusts ( if you wish) therein.

DRS1

I am working on the assumption that with a fund manager, through a company like Aegon they may produce a better return than the investment choices I make and also I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket.

That is a fair assumption to make. Someone who picks investments for a living ought to outperform us amateurs.

But you will find a lot of people who reckon investment is very simple and you don't need someone to select your investments. Just stick it all in a global equity vehicle like VWRP or ACWI and leave it there for 30 years. Yes it is all in one basket but it is a very big basket. If one company goes to the wall there are still thousands of others who haven't and may profit from it.

You may have different goals though. You might want to get an income from your investments. Then you might be looking at say a basket of investment trusts geared to generate an income and they will be much more UK oriented which may mean you miss out on some performance. Even for that you may not need someone to pick your basket (there used to be something called the basket of seven on Motley Fool and later on Lemonfool but I am not sure if it is still going). Be warned that pursuing income for income's sake can get you in trouble, especially if you look at individual shares (which you probably shouldn't). I bought shares in RBS when they were yielding 6% and that was a disaster. @poseidon1 bought a fund yielding 6.5% and that seems to have done its job nicely.

One thing about not doing it yourself is that there is always someone else to blame if it all goes wrong!