Discount Brokers Discussion Area

dunstonh

mango100 wrote: »

We bought L&G Property, Ethical and UK top100 shares, appreciate that its always a risk but didnt expect to see such a drop so quickly.

property is low/medium
Ethical is medium/high
UK 100 is medium/high

It sounds like you invested above your risk profile and the spread isnt great as the ethical fund and UK100 fund are higher risk than a general all share fund.

mango100

Cheers for this, rightly or wrongly we just went ahead with the advisor and eventhough we understood there was a risk didn't think they would suffer as much as they have. Just have to hang in there and see if they recover, thanks again.

dunstonh

mango100 wrote: »

Cheers for this, rightly or wrongly we just went ahead with the advisor and eventhough we understood there was a risk didn't think they would suffer as much as they have. Just have to hang in there and see if they recover, thanks again.

I take it that it wasnt an IFA given the provider used. Tied agents cant portfolio plan so you end up with a random selection of funds if you use them. They are meant to match risk profile but its usually either a hit and hope effort or 100% into one fund. Never use tied agents for advice. Its basic and expensive.

davie

Hi. I'm looking for a cheap way to buy investment trusts on a monthly basis to build up a portfolio. Can anyone recommend a good execution only broker offering an ISA wrapper to use ? I'm thinking of going with https://www.iii.co.uk who are offering Portfolio Builder - free till end of June 2010 then £1.50 per trade thereafter. Any thoughts ? Thanks.

RayWolfe

Look at Alliance Trust.

donal_f

I have had two ISA providers for the last few years (I pay the full £7,200 into only one of them on alternate years, generally).

I use Hargreaves Landsdowne for buying funds - the discounts are very good, I like the service and I find their newsletters quite helpful. However, the management fees and trading charges are a bit high for buying shares directly - hence, I use it for funds only.

So, I've been using Selftrade for buying individual shares. They charge £12.50 per trade and used to charge £6.25 a quarter in management charges. However, they've now increased it to £35 + VAT per annum and also their website is a bit flakey at times. I've also found the service a bit mixed at times.

Thus, I was wondering what people think of Selftrade these days? Would you recommend I consider moving elsewhere? Or stay put? I've google'd for guides on share ISA's - but they all focus on cash ISA's or fund ISA's.

Thanks.

tradetime

Have a look at Interactive Investor often referred to as iii on here. By and large from what I've seen as far as buying and selling shares go all the popularly quoted ones are much of a muchness so let cost be your guide.

donal_f

Thanks for the advice. I've read elsewhere on this board that iii is just Halifax re-badged and its not great? Has your experience been more positive?

tradetime

donal_f wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. I've read elsewhere on this board that iii is just Halifax re-badged and its not great? Has your experience been more positive?

As far as I know iii have a relationship with Halifax as far as clearing is concerned, the two companies are not the same.
I have an ISA with them, I guess it's adequate for what it is, as said all the popular brokers regularly quoted here are much of a muchness, mediocre and pricey, but then they tend to cater to occaisional stock buyers, so it's understandable.

donal_f

From reading other forums, TD Waterhouse seem to get reasonably good feedback. And from looking at their website they have no annual charge and £9.95 per deal (compared to selftrade's £12.50). I typically do between zero and five trades a year. So this looks like a good alternative for me?