Discount Brokers Discussion Area

tradetime

They have no annual fee afaik for accounts above £3600, however I believe the cost of trading with them is £12.50 unless you qualify for frequent dealing.

I didn't like them, but then we fell out early on, and it was all down hill from there.

donal_f

Thanks for your advice. What did you fall out with them over? I'll keep doing my research.

tradetime

donal_f wrote: »

Thanks for your advice. What did you fall out with them over? I'll keep doing my research.

From Post # 8 on the following thread, there are a few post which include my e-mail correspondence with TD. I found them particularly incompetent.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1532427&highlight=waterhouse

iii may offer a decent range of funds, I don't know as I don't use those products.

davie

RayWolfe wrote: »

Look at Alliance Trust.

Alliance Trust seem to look ok for the Unit Trust ISA's they are selling (although they don't deal with that many of the providers eg Newton is missing) However, for Investment Trusts, they are looking for £12.50 a trade. As I'm only looking to buy £100 per IT fund per month this is pricey. I've gone with buying the IT's direct from the provider through their own IT ISA product with the obvious downside that I can only buy IT's that are in their range. Black Rock are charging approx 1.3% per purchase.

RayWolfe

Have you looked at the regular monthly option? I think it is around a fiver. The alternatives are going direct with IT's "Saving Schemes"; inflexible but sometimes free.

Brucies_girl

M and S for them to invest for me (the top 100 companies) However I have not the time or the know how to be picking them my selves so my question is .. finally! which would be the best discount broker to use and could I set it up to work similiar to MS where I just set a direct debit up to put say £25 quid a month in and forget about it? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, could you please give it to me as simply as possible please as when it comes to figures I am very easily confused, thank you

Brucies_girl

I am sorry I put this on as a reply instead of a question but cant seem to find how to put it on as a question. Also the first few lines have disappeared, and I forgot what I wrote! So shall try again: I am looking to start investing in a stocks and shares ISA, it will only be a few quid a month. I have read all Martins info on discount brokers and would like to use them, I had for a few years with Marks and Spencers which was really easy (the top 100 companies) but it seems I may have been hit with charges during and when I closed it (I have no idea how much) so I would like to use a discount broker to buy them. However I have not the time or the know how to be picking them my selves so my question is .. finally! which would be the best discount broker to use and could I set it up to work similiar to MS where I just set a direct debit up to put say £25 quid a month in and forget about it? Any advice would be greatly appreciated, could you please give it to me as simply as possible please as when it comes to figures I am very easily confused, thank you

dunstonh

which would be the best discount broker to use and could I set it up to work similiar to MS where I just set a direct debit up to put say £25 quid a month in and forget about it?

With such a small amount you are going to be limited. Most have a £50pm minimum contribution.

tradetime

You could look at Interactive Investor's Portfolio Builder, (iii) £1.50 per buy, free until June an buy some sort of ETF tracker like a FTSE All Share.

But as dunstonh says, that is a small amount, perhaps, open a savings account, deposit the £25 per month in there and invest once every quarter then from there, or even once every 6 months.

You'd buy every month until june as it's free, thereafter save your £25 into the savings account, and then transfer to iii every quarter after that.

humbug12

I'm a newbie and decided to go with an IFA recommended by a friend. We came out at 6 on a 1-10 scale of low to high risk. In July 2009 we invested a lump sum in a range of four Acc and nine Inc funds via Skandia and are taking an annual 4.5% as monthly income. The investment is intended to be for a minimum of five years.

I read about discount brokers such as Hargreaves Lansdown and compared their charges - so far as I could - with Skandia. My calculations show that Skandia seem to compare well at 2% initial and 0.5% trail. Am I missing something or on these figures do Skandia seem very reasonable? Do HL make any other charges?

By accident, I came across Life Direct (www lifedirect co uk). Anyone care to share any info or experiences of them as discount brokers?

Thanks