Investment ISA’s – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

[Laughingman21]

I’m planning on setting up a Investment ISA before the tax year finishes for investing in shares. Does anyone have an account with a bank/online that they’d recommend or avoid at all costs?

[GT03ROB]

Laughingman21 said:

I’m planning on setting up a Investment ISA before the tax year finishes for investing in shares. Does anyone have an account with a bank/online that they’d recommend or avoid at all costs?

It matters little where you have the account, of more relevenece is the underlying investments. Are you looking to self select?

I run mine with Fidelity, which has worked well.

[RacerMDR]

wouldn't bother...........the amount of fees appear to far outweigh any interest you would make. I've been doing the maximum for 18 months and have less than I put in (not by much, under 1k spent on nothing though. so what's the point!?)

[westhamtim]

GT03ROB said:

It matters little where you have the account, of more relevenece is the underlying investments. Are you looking to self select?

I run mine with Fidelity, which has worked well.

Obvioulsy the underlyings are important but equally important is minimising fees; both platform fees (ie dealing & admin charges) and asset fees (specifically management fees on funds if you go down that route).

I have experience of Hargreaves Lansdown (good service, will take receipt of your details as an opportunity to send you unlimited marketing material, not the cheapest - see above) and sippdeal (one of if not the cheapest providers but only just signed up with them so cannot really comment around service).

[walm]

RacerMDR said:

wouldn't bother...........the amount of fees appear to far outweigh any interest you would make. I've been doing the maximum for 18 months and have less than I put in (not by much, under 1k spent on nothing though. so what's the point!?)

He said shares, not cash.

[ringram]

RacerMDR said:

wouldn't bother...........the amount of fees appear to far outweigh any interest you would make. I've been doing the maximum for 18 months and have less than I put in (not by much, under 1k spent on nothing though. so what's the point!?)

Sounds like user error to me.

H&L is from memory £45 PA, which admitedly is not free. But if you bought £10k of RI Tinto in Aug last year you would have £2500 of capital gains and a dividend on top.

So as per the rest of the thread, your "loss" is not down to the ISA or even the fee's.

That being said, everyone should look to minimise fee's as far as possible. That also means being picky on the funds you hold in the ISA as well as their volatility etc.

[RacerMDR]

walm said:

RacerMDR said:

wouldn't bother...........the amount of fees appear to far outweigh any interest you would make. I've been doing the maximum for 18 months and have less than I put in (not by much, under 1k spent on nothing though. so what's the point!?)

He said shares, not cash.

apologies - as you were

[aquarianone]

Have just done something similar myself in the last couple weeks, went with Hargreaves Lansdown and then just research some funds...absolute doddle to setup and the online portal is very straight fwd to use.

[hornet]

Have mine with TD Direct and have no complaints. Good research tools, plenty of choice and a wide range of discounted funds.

[Condi]

Can anyone suggest a stocks and shares ISA I can sign up to online but which doesnt need a £3000 initial investment? I can do £1k, but want to pay a bit in monthly and dont have a huge amount to start with.

[Countdown]

I have a First Direct Stocks & Shares ISA

£11.99/trade
No annual fees

[hornet]

Condi said:

Can anyone suggest a stocks and shares ISA I can sign up to online but which doesnt need a 3000 initial investment? I can do 1k, but want to pay a bit in monthly and dont have a huge amount to start with.

The aforementioned TD Direct shares ISA allows small regular investments - 25 minimum for shares and 50 minimum for funds. No requirement to dive in with a 1000 chunk from the get go.

http://www.tddirectinvesting.co.uk/choose-an-accou...

[aquarianone]

With HL, free to set up the initial account, and then top up with lump sum and or regular monthly amounts.

And then depends it depends on the funds, seems to be min 500 initially and then drops off to 250 for subsequent top ups.

[Countdown]

AFAICS the First Direct S&S ISA seems far more flexible that either TD or HL.

No set up fee
Similar commission rates

The only benefit would be if you were going to be trading regularly.

[Kudos]

ringram said:

But if you bought £10k of RI Tinto in Aug last year you would have £2500 of capital gains and a dividend on top.
the fee's.

And if you had a trusty crystal ball too...

[ringram]

Some don't need crystal balls to spot bargains.
Just nerves of steel to step in when all others are crying.

[B17NNS]

Hargreaves Lansdown has been fine for me on a self select basis.

[Condi]

On the advise of various people Ive gone for a HL one.

Has to be better than a bank account earning 0.1% interest when inflation is at 2+%.

[NewbieP99]

Joined HL this evening, very good platform & seems easy to use! Now....what stocks/funds to choose!!

[B17NNS]

NewbieP99 said:

Joined HL this evening, very good platform & seems easy to use! Now....what stocks/funds to choose!!

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=206&t=750987&i=840&mid=27144&nmt=Share+tips+thread