AJ Bell,Interactive Investor,Hargreaves Lansdown or Vanguard

[paulguitar]

Morning all.

I'm looking into putting some funds into a low-cost global tracker. I'm going to want something paying monthly dividends.

As a novice, my question is which of the above will be cheapest and best for this? I will be hands-off and just leave it there, so I don't need it to be especially easy to make changes, because I don't really plan to make any.

Thanks.

[Familymad]

On balance AJ Bell would be my take.

[paulguitar]

Familymad said:

On balance AJ Bell would be my take.

Thanks

[Mr Pointy]

Familymad said:

On balance AJ Bell would be my take.

Why though? Website, charges, range of offerings? Give some clue why you picked them.

[Rollin]

Depends how much you are putting in. Some have fixed charges, some a percentage charge. I moved from HL to ii and made quite a big saving.

ETA I assumed you were talking about the platform used rather than a fund. May be I'm wrong

Edited by Rollin on Thursday 5th March 09:21

[paulguitar]

Rollin said:

Depends how much you are putting in. Some have fixed charges, some a percentage charge. I moved from HL to ii and made quite a big saving.

About 130k.

[scot_aln]

If happy with the funds Vanguard offer then they are 0.15% and capped at £375. They don't charge for trades.

This is a useful link -

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/stocks-s...

[butchstewie]

paulguitar said:

About 130k.

If it were me and particularly if I was planning on adding to it I would look at II for this.

A known flat fee however large that pot grows and it won't change dependent on if you hold funds or ETFs or individual stocks.

[c32dave]

For £130k in ETFs with two trades per year, AJ Bell would charge £52/yr. I’ve been with them for about 20 years and very happy with the service.

[Jon39]

I have ISAs split between A J Bell and Hargreave Lansdown, simply to avoid eggs in one basket.
Hargreaves are now increasing the cap for charges, so at present are more expensive than Bell.
For bigger amounts though, it does not make much difference.

What has recently annoyed me about Hargreaves is the complicated way they compile statements.
They show dividends received on one web page, interest on another web page, then they move that money to something called a capital account. A nightmare to follow.
For investment, I want to keep everything as simple as is possible.

A J Bell just have two easily understood pages. Details of holdings, then every cash transaction is clearly shown on another page in chronological order. Exactly as it should be.
They communicate by email every time dividends are received, which might be helpful, but I already know that information.

Therefore after that background, you can see that A J Bell would be my recommendation to you.

Edited by Jon39 on Thursday 5th March 19:20

[Philvrs]

I have vanguard and ishares ETFs via IG.
Changed from HL a few years ago, platform fees have recently changed downwards i think (never paid too much attention to notice what it was before to compare)

[YouWhatAgain]

I use InvestEngine, they don’t charge any fees for ISA, SIPPS or GIA. Great app and easy to use.

[Somebody]

I would go with Freetrade as it has 1% cashback if opened before end of current tax year.

[Macneil]

Can anyone expand on "monthly dividends"?

[paulguitar]

Macneil said:

Can anyone expand on "monthly dividends"?

I want to invest in something that returns dividends.


Actually, they don't have to be paid monthly, but I need to raise a certain amount of income from what I invest.

[balise]

Lots of platforms to choose from, some are open with lots of choice e.g. ii, HL. Some locked down e.g Vanguard. Some platforms also offer investment advice.

Many funds will pay dividends, just look at the type. Acc means divided reinvested, so no dividend hit your account directly.

If you invest regularly then often platform charges are cheap. You could add the whole £130k as cash and then drip funds in monthly, this would minimise the risk of buying high. It could also cut costs.

Once you grasp the basics you can use ChatGPT to guide you towards advice. YMMV.

Edited by balise on Thursday 5th March 21:29

[Philvrs]

Somebody said:

I would go with Freetrade as it has 1% cashback if opened before end of current tax year.

Owned by IG now.
I did see a youtube advert for invest engine i think. The background music was the same as the Smith and Sniff podcast opening jingle music, I couldn’t take that as a serious company

[g4ry13]

I use InvestEngine.

Also opened a Trading 212 ISA as I was frustrated with amount of time it took for execution on monthly investment on InvestEngine.

[butchstewie]

paulguitar said:

I want to invest in something that returns dividends.


Actually, they don't have to be paid monthly, but I need to raise a certain amount of income from what I invest.

If you're looking to invest in funds and you're NOT using an ISA or other tax wrapper it's simpler for CGT or dividend income reporting if you buy the INC units of whatever fund you're looking at.

With accumulation units you're stuck trying to calculate what tax you owe as all the dividends are automatically re-invested into the fund units.

The tax part of that doesn't apply in an ISA or SIPP.

[Blue_star]

What happens if lets say aj bell goes into administration? Do you take any loss on your holding?