Stocks & Shares ISA - Hargreaves Lansdown

[philnotts]

Hello.

I have been looking into opening an Stocks & Shares ISA with Hargreaves Lansdown and regular paying between £100 - £250 per month to start with. They seem to have low fees at 0.45%

Is there any other platform that i should be looking at? If i did open the account with Hargreaves Lansdown is there any hints or tips as to where to start? I would be looking for medium/high medium risk.

Thank you,

Phil

[davepoth]

0.45% is quite high. I am with Iweb and the annual charge is 0. They make that back a little on transaction charges but it works for what I do (low number of larger transactions).

[trowelhead]

philnotts said:

Hello.

I have been looking into opening an Stocks & Shares ISA with Hargreaves Lansdown and regular paying between £100 - £250 per month to start with. They seem to have low fees at 0.45%

Is there any other platform that i should be looking at? If i did open the account with Hargreaves Lansdown is there any hints or tips as to where to start? I would be looking for medium/high medium risk.

Thank you,

Phil

Here is a chart to help you compare costs:

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/08/01/article-...

If you are getting started I would recommend reading monevator great site

[Newc]

HL ISA fee is capped at £45 for shares though, so it depends if you intend to hold shares/ETF or funds.

[philnotts]

Thank you for the replies.

Seems like i have gone into this a little blind.

I was looking for something easy to manage but to pay monthly into, until retirement that will hopefully mature in a good way. Investors that I have seen want 30% in year 1 and then 1% every year after this to manage it.

Phil

[boyse7en]

davepoth said:

0.45% is quite high. I am with Iweb and the annual charge is 0. They make that back a little on transaction charges but it works for what I do (low number of larger transactions).

iWeb also seem to require a £200 fee up front, or am I reading it wrong.

I too, like the OP, am looking for a simple S&S ISA. I've got about £5k lump sum to put in, then monthly £100-150.
I've been reading some of the websites mentioned above, and I'm coming away more and more confused. The more i know, the more i realise I don't know.

[davepoth]

boyse7en said:

iWeb also seem to require a £200 fee up front, or am I reading it wrong.

Cor, that's new - it was only £25 when I signed up in October!

[BoRED S2upid]

Can't fault HL I've used them for years. Lots of research there into different funds easy and simple to use.

[philnotts]

BoRED S2upid said:

Can't fault HL I've used them for years. Lots of research there into different funds easy and simple to use.

Are you seeing a good return vs HL costs?

Phil

Edited by philnotts on Sunday 29th March 19:18

[davepoth]

philnotts said:

Are you see a good return vs HL costs?

Phil

What are you looking to buy into?

[philnotts]

davepoth said:

What are you looking to buy into?

If i were to go with HL, i guess something like the following to get me started - http://www.hl.co.uk/funds/master-portfolios

Phil

[BoRED S2upid]

philnotts said:

Are you seeing a good return vs HL costs?

Phil

Edited by philnotts on Sunday 29th March 19:18

16% last year which I'm happy with as I don't want too much risk so stick to a couple of low risk funds.

[TFP]

BoRED S2upid said:

16% last year which I'm happy with as I don't want too much risk so stick to a couple of low risk funds.

Might be ok in absolute terms, but the truth is that HL are now very expensive in respect of buying funds. The daily mail table linked to above is based upon an investor purchasing a range of different securities, not just investment funds.

If you are looking at funds alone then Fidelity or Cavendish are more cost effective, amongst others. Remember that you can still use HL's tools in respect of doing your research. They are free to access.

Arguably less bias ex-HL as well.

[philnotts]

Looking into it a bit more and Fidelity seems to be good also.

Has anyone here any views/experience with Fidelity?

Thanks,

Phil

[Mattt]

I use Charles Stanley Direct, and am quite happy with their service.

I use Trustnet for research though.

[Pheo]

If you are just starting out, have a look at the Vanguard Lifestrategy funds. They are quite good combined passive tracker funds. Monevator as mentioned has lots of info on passive vs active investing.

I think I pay HL 0.45% then the fund manager 0.23% for my Lifestrategy 80/20 equity/bond fund. Thats a global fund so its spread across multiple sectors and markets globally.

I looked at moving, but the amouunt of money I have invested its really not making a huge difference right now!

Edited by Pheo on Tuesday 31st March 11:31

[boyse7en]

Pheo said:

If you are just starting out, have a look at the Vanguard Lifestrategy funds. They are quite good combined passive tracker funds. Monevator as mentioned has lots of info on passive vs active investing.

I think I pay HL 0.45% then the fund manager 0.23% for my Lifestrategy 80/20 equity/bond fund. Thats a global fund so its spread across multiple sectors and markets globally.

I looked at moving, but the amouunt of money I have invested its really not making a huge difference right now!

Edited by Pheo on Tuesday 31st March 11:31

Sorry to be a complete numpty on this, but does that mean you pay HL 0.45% of the total fund value + an extra 0.23% (the OnGoing Charge they list in their tables?) ie if your fund was worth £10,000 in total, you would pay £78 per year in fees?

[TFP]

boyse7en said:

Pheo said:

If you are just starting out, have a look at the Vanguard Lifestrategy funds. They are quite good combined passive tracker funds. Monevator as mentioned has lots of info on passive vs active investing.

I think I pay HL 0.45% then the fund manager 0.23% for my Lifestrategy 80/20 equity/bond fund. Thats a global fund so its spread across multiple sectors and markets globally.

I looked at moving, but the amouunt of money I have invested its really not making a huge difference right now!

Edited by Pheo on Tuesday 31st March 11:31

Sorry to be a complete numpty on this, but does that mean you pay HL 0.45% of the total fund value + an extra 0.23% (the OnGoing Charge they list in their tables?) ie if your fund was worth £10,000 in total, you would pay £78 per year in fees?

No, £68 on £10,000.

You appear to have bought cheap funds on an expensive platform. You're having your Kia serviced at a Rolls Royce garage.

[Pheo]

TFP said:

No, £68 on £10,000.

You appear to have bought cheap funds on an expensive platform. You're having your Kia serviced at a Rolls Royce garage.

Completely agree. At the time was a complete novice, and HL was an easy platform to get going with. Bearing in mind my total investment at the moment is a couple of grand, its a very small amount of money I pay them a month.

But, in hindsight, I might pick another platform (e.g.) Cavendish (indeed, I was looking at the costs of moving yesterday because of this thread!). Its £30 exit fee in HL though if I transfer, so the CBA for moving will take a while to make up. I'm still trying to work out if I can cash out the stocks, transfer the ISA, re-invest, and what this would cost. Much harder to figure out though.

I still think the advice for the OP to look into buying a cheap passive tracker on a cheap platform (and ignoring my idiotic in hindsight choice of expensive platform ) would be a very good place to start investing, as it does a lot of the legwork for you. Monevator has a good writeup. Vanguard LifeStrategy isn't the only option.

[Skyedriver]

Must own up to an HL S&S ISA
Despite the fees its a very easy platform to use