Discount Brokers Q&A

JoeWi

InvestSmart (investsmartuk dot co dot uk) rebate 50% commission and give an annual fund performance review.
[Disclosure - I work with them]

George_Herbert

Do any of the discount brokers offer an ethical fund? I searched Hargreaves Lansdown, Best Invest and Chartwell but coudn't spot anything with the words ethical or sustainable in it.

dunstonh

but coudn't spot anything with the words ethical or sustainable in it.

That isnt how you buy ethical funds though as most do not have ethical in the name and there are different levels of ethics which some ethical funds will consider.

Do any of the discount brokers offer an ethical fund?

yes

barak

George_Herbert wrote: »

Do any of the discount brokers offer an ethical fund? I searched Hargreaves Lansdown, Best Invest and Chartwell but coudn't spot anything with the words ethical or sustainable in it.

I don't use HL - but I see that they do offer an 'ethical' Aberdeen Multi-Manager Fund shown under Specialist Funds.

http://www.hl.co.uk/funds/fund-discounts,-prices--and--factsheets/search-results/a/aberdeen-multi-manager-ethical-income

koru

An important note for anyone reading the Discount Broker article after 2012: The article is completely obsolete, because IFAs can no longer receive commission, and most funds no longer pay any commission on new investments. Indeed, it is now an anachronism to speak of discount brokers, because there is usually no commission to be discounted.

The choice of which adviser/broker to use to buy new investments should weigh up (a) the fees charged by the broker (platform/custody fees and transaction fees), (b) the service they provide and (c) the range of funds they offer.

carnelian

if you have more than £50k to invest is it safer to spread your investment by using more than 1 discount broker just in case of credit crunch problems?

dunstonh

carnelian wrote: »

if you have more than £50k to invest is it safer to spread your investment by using more than 1 discount broker just in case of credit crunch problems?

Depends on the investments you use on the platform of your choice. Usually the platform is not the issue and each publishes how it deals with your assets. However, the main issue if the investments themselves that you hold on the platform.

xylophone

Simple question. can I buy unit trusts through discount brokers in the name of minors?

Be sure that you know the difference between mere designation and bare trust

Be sure that you know the tax rules concerning parents providing the capital and others providing the capital.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4515057 see posts 2 and 5

achan891

Investing newbie here, so apologies if this is a silly question. I'm not sure if this is the best place to ask this, so please direct me elsewhere if so.

If I invest in a S&S ISA via a platform (Co-funds, Hargreaves Lansdown, The Share Centre, YouInvest, iWeb etc) then is the "tax-free wrapper" at the level of the platform or at the level of the individual funds/shares/trackers/products/whatever that I choose to buy within that?

So for example, if I open an account with, say, YouInvest with my full allowance tomorrow and put it, say, in a FTSE100 tracker, can I then move some of it to shares in Vodafone (still within the YouInvest platform) the next day without losing the tax benefits?

colalba

achan891 wrote: »

So for example, if I open an account with, say, YouInvest with my full allowance tomorrow and put it, say, in a FTSE100 tracker, can I then move some of it to shares in Vodafone (still within the YouInvest platform) the next day without losing the tax benefits?

Yes this is correct. You can buy and sell within the YouInvest (in your example ) ISA without any tax implications. Though you may have transaction costs.


You can also, at a later date, if you were unhappy with your platform move your ISA investments to another platform. But note you must TRANSFER the ISA and not simply sell and invest the money in the other provider's ISA. There may be exit costs.