Chain reaction of platform transfers

Alexland · 18 July 2019 at 10:32AM

Our adult ISAs have finally reached a sufficient size that for our trade pattern it is worth moving from Vanguard Investor onto iWeb (run by Halifax) and we want to hold a fund so Jarvis X-O isn’t an option.

However I already have a large static fund SIPP on Halifax Share Dealing so to avoid having too much with one platform it would make sense to move it to Interactive Investor especially if I act quickly as their transfer cashback offer would cover both the exit fee and early year run charges. I know other platforms cap for ETFs (we already do this with our Fidelity SIPPs) but I would prefer to hold a fund in this SIPP.

However over the long term to justify the slightly higher ongoing costs of an II account + SIPP fees and get some use out of the trade credits it would make sense to also move the Junior ISAs across as they would be no extra cost and don’t add much to the platform risk.

Then as I no longer need to worry about AJ Bell’s involvement in administering the Halifax SD SIPP it would make sense to transfer our LISAs from HL to YouInvest to benefit from the lower ETF fee cap and trade costs. I will miss the great HL app but it only tempts me to keep checking how the markets are performing and there are better uses of my time.

So do I go ahead with the 7 account transfers? Am I missing anything?

Alex

Alexland · 18 July 2019 at 10:59AM

Aah just realised that the Junior ISAs would cost extra with II as their monthly overall account fee would not be deducted from the SIPP to benefit from tax relief. II confirmed the cashback can only be added to a trading account (not via direct bank transfer) but once that is done if you close the trading account the fee deduction would then switch over to the SIPP. Ok so now just looking to transfer 5 accounts.

I could still use the II trade credits to occasionally sell down units to pay platform fees which would be better than my small inefficient monthly contribution to Halifax that doesn't get any salary sacrifice NI savings.

Also the HL exit and in-specie transfer fees make the LISA transfer less attractive. I have emailed YouInvest asking if LISA transfer costs are included in their transfer fee offer as it isn't clear. I have also asked if, once a customer again, I would get the £50 amazon voucher for referring my wife to do the same transfer with her fees covered.

Alex

Linton · 18 July 2019 at 11:17AM

I do not quite uinderstand what you are doing and how many different accounts you are talking about and the amount of money involved but I feel you may be over-complicating things by a high focus on charges and on wanting a large spread of platforms. One thing you certainly want to avoid is having the platform and account boundaries hamper your overall investment strategy. So sticking all ETFs say in one account to minimise fees makes asset allocation difficult if you cannt easily transfer money around as is the case with SIPPs and ISAs.

This ties in to whether you see yourself having 7 different portfolios or perhaps 1 portfolio that just happens to be spread around 7 accounts. I would suggest the latter is better, but you then need to make some compromises for it to be manageable.

Alexland · 18 July 2019 at 11:58AM

Unfortunately, to make the most of the various government incentives and allowances it seems necessary for us to have most of these accounts. The LISAs are just an additional but worthwhile complexity for those of us under 40. I am happy with the investment choices so it is really just about optimising platform costs. The only real duplication is my two SIPPs which are collectively worth over £300k and I don’t feel comfortable having this much on a single platform given there will be around 20 years compound growth before I can crystallise and access. Due to the LTA risk (I also have a workplace pension) and eventual withdrawal tax I hold my bonds in one of the pensions so the other accounts are mostly passive equities which keeps asset allocation simple and trades low.

LHW99 · 18 July 2019 at 1:05PM

II doen't allow account fees (covering ISA's / SIPPs) to be deducted from SIPPs. I think some TD account holders who were transferred still have this, but I + OH have ISA's and SIPPs with II and fees have to be taken by DD from another (eg current) account.

Alexland · 18 July 2019 at 1:12PM

LHW99 wrote: »

II doen't allow account fees (covering ISA's / SIPPs) to be deducted from SIPPs. I think some TD account holders who were transferred still have this, but I + OH have ISA's and SIPPs with II and fees have to be taken by DD from another (eg current) account.

Thanks but when I just spoke to them they confirmed the SIPP fee would be taken from the pension account and the overall account fee would only be taken from the SIPP if I had no other accounts with them - specifically it would switch upon closure of the trading account after receiving the cashback.

I think I need to do a spreadsheet to determine the overall impact of all these transfers as it might be marginal given I am already getting fairly good value from my current arrangement.

Alex

EdSwippet · 18 July 2019 at 1:36PM

Alexland wrote: »

Thanks but when I just spoke to them they confirmed the SIPP fee would be taken from the pension account ...

... and yet when I asked them exactly this about my own SIPP with them just last week, they replied that the charges had to come from my bank by direct debit. Shrug.

Alexland · 18 July 2019 at 2:25PM

EdSwippet wrote: »

... and yet when I asked them exactly this about my own SIPP with them just last week, they replied that the charges had to come from my bank by direct debit. Shrug.

Just had another dig through the II website FAQ and charges PDF and it's just not clear and I know from a previous thread forum members were also getting different answers. Having an II account for just a SIPP is already more expensive than Halifax SD for my static fund units so it would be even worse without tax relief.

Also I have just had confirmation back from AJ Bell YouInvest that Lifetime ISAs are not covered under their offer to cover transfer fees for ISAs, SIPPs and Dealing accounts (so another unclear website) although we would get one £50 amazon voucher which would cover half the cost.

Sigh, I might end up doing nothing and keep paying the 0.15% vanguard fee for a bit longer. At least the extra cost will be going towards a good cause cross-subsidising the less commercially viable smaller Junior ISA accounts. Again the slightly more expensive HL LISA accounts pay for the nice app.

Alex

bowlhead99 · 18 July 2019 at 3:11PM

Alexland wrote: »

Then as I no longer need to worry about AJ Bell’s involvement in administering the Halifax SD SIPP it would make sense to transfer our LISAs from HL to YouInvest to benefit from the lower ETF fee cap and trade costs. I will miss the great HL app but it only tempts me to keep checking how the markets are performing and there are better uses of my time.

You have more things going on than I'll try to comment on, but just as an aside, the Youinvest app is fine. You can trade, view your portfolio holdings, check and send secure messages, add cash, view your cash statement or transaction history etc. It's more fully featured than it was when first launched. Though obviously the website has more stuff and it's rare that I'll use the app except maybe at work. For example if you want to use the 'regular investment' feature you have to do that via the website.

Not sure what the HL app has - my parents have accounts there but I've only seen them from a PC.

Alexland · 19 July 2019 at 8:43PM

On reflection the complexity is spreading across two SIPPs and whether that is really worthwhile given the institutions are very reputable. I should probably just inspecie transfer my £180 pa HSD SIPP into my £45 pa Fidelity SIPP (they would pay £500 cashback and the £90 exit fee) and then switch the fund into more ETF units.

That would leave me free to transfer the LISAs to AJ Bell for lower capped fees on an ETF, the Adult ISAs to iWeb for fixed fees to hold a fund, and the small Junior ISAs with Vanguard on percentage fees.

Alex

LHW99 · 20 July 2019 at 1:39PM

EdSwippet wrote: »

... and yet when I asked them exactly this about my own SIPP with them just last week, they replied that the charges had to come from my bank by direct debit. Shrug.

Yes, this is what happens with my the annual SIPP fee, also the new monthly fee is being taken by DD

Chain reaction of platform transfers

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