Stocks and Shares ISA - Which product?

[egomeister]

Hi All,

I'm want to set up a stocks and shares ISA, so I'm looking for recommendations... Usage will likely be infrequent - mainly for UK shares and potentially fund etc at a later date.

I currently have an account with Halifax, but this doesn't appear to be fantastic value in terms of account fees and trading costs. IG do one which looks like a good low overhead option, but its well tucked away on their website and there isn't a vast amount of info there. Does anyone have experience of this or other providers they can share?

[Philvrs]

I use hl but didn't really scrutinise all the comparison chart data because it was close between a few of the popular providers. It really depends on your personal usage or plans to determine the cheapest which isn't necessarily the best.

Comparison charts can be found at monevator/thisis money sites etc. just look out for independent advice of course.

[Craikeybaby]

I looked at the comparison chart on Monevator and went with Cavendish/Fidelity and have been happy with them so far. Although I'm still not sure why it is cheaper to go with Cavendish to get access to Fidelity, than to go to Fidelity directly.

[Classy6]

I use AJ Bell.

No annual fee, unlike HL. £9.95 per trade & £5 if you carry out more than 10 per month.

App is OK, basic but works.

[egomeister]

Thanks for the info. I've discounted IG now, as they don't allow funds. Although I expect to mainly pick UK equities, I'd like to be able to start added some funds or ETF's at a later date. I will have a proper look at TD and AJ Bell and see how they stack up...

[davepoth]

I went with iWeb. No annual fee and £5 a trade, but the joining fee was £25 when I started and it's now a pretty steep £200.

[davek_964]

egomeister said:

I currently have an account with Halifax, but this doesn't appear to be fantastic value in terms of account fees and trading costs.

I've had a fully managed account with Halifax for quite a few years now - when I shopped around, their prices didn't seem that bad, and the main thing that appealed to me at the time was that they had no exit fee whereas other banks often did.

Having said that, I'm not sure I've enjoyed much in the way of growth in that time so really should look at moving it elsewhere. On another thread about investments yesterday, people were claiming ~9% growth on S&S ISAs and that ain't been happening with mine - so I will be watching this thread closely.

[Mattt]

CSD for me, happy with the service and fees - although their share holding charges are relatively high if you don't have much (mainly funds for me).

[Ozzie Osmond]

davek_964 said:

On another thread about investments yesterday, people were claiming ~9% growth on S&S ISAs and that ain't been happening with mine - so I will be watching this thread closely.

Yes, what we were talking about there was compound growth over a decade with the full ISA allowance being added each year. Bear in mind also that markets have risen a great deal in recent weeks which assists the headline figure at the moment. Investments will be across mainstream UK and global equity funds.

It's certainly not an "upwards only" joyride. At times it can be positively nerve-racking as markets swing about. Beware the FTSE 100 - it's used as a headline indicator and sounds like 100 similarly large companies across all business sectors - but it's not. It's extremely slanted towards banking, energy and pharmaceuticals with the Top 10 companies accounting for about 50% of the value of the index.

[Pheo]

I use HL. I have two low cost tracker funds investing monthly. They're both at about +10% at the moment.

This has gone up a lot in the last three weekday because of currency fluctuations, and because I'm well diversified.

I'd recommend passive fund investing not active - have a look at Vanguard LifeStrategy.

[Ginge R]

I just finished a long study (time passes slowly round 'ere) into passives - split between performance and costs. There's still a place for actives, but the default position should be, IMHO, passives - unless an extenuating case can be made for an active approach.

There are some good actives out there, and they can work well for some clients but I can see a good, viable case for that 'tick' becoming a regulatory part of the advisory process. I have just sent a letter to the various fund managers I use, asking for amplification on costs.

Pheo, out of interest, why hold cheap passives on a platform like HL - does the platform cost not offset the cheap fund price? Understood - your circumstances may justify or nessesitate it - for many people it does. I'm not being nosey or contentious.. just wondering if you had considered all options.