S&S ISA provider for low investment amount

[Matt..]

I'd like to get started with a stocks and shares ISA. However, I don't have a large amount to put into it. I'd probably start with £500 and increase by £100-£200/month. From my minor knowledge of all of this I think I'd be looking at starting with funds only.

Can anyone suggest a suitable provider with reasonable costs and a good website for management?


Thanks

[Ginge R]

Matt,

If you don't want to get involved with self select, such as Hargreaves Lansdown, you can go direct to the likes of Aviva, Fidelity etc. If you want an element of help, you can approach a so called robo proposition, such as Strawberry, Nutmeg etc. There are others (mine is Fiver a Day) such as Wealth Horizon, and banks may well be coming back into the market too.

[Matt..]

Fidelity is expensive for small amounts. £45/yr for sub £7.5k.

Funds just seem like a less risky intro into this. I may of course change that view over time, and move into additional areas, but with my lack of knowledge it seems sensible to stay relatively safe.

[w1ntermut3]

If you go to MSE they have blagged a deal with Aviva Selfinvest with no platform for a year.

Otherwise, for funds, Charles Stanley / Cavendish are pretty cheap.

If you want pure stocks, off you go - but be warned it's a zero sum game!

[CRB14]

Ginge R said:

Matt,

If you don't want to get involved with self select, such as Hargreaves Lansdown, you can go direct to the likes of Aviva, Fidelity etc. If you want an element of help, you can approach a so called robo proposition, such as Strawberry, Nutmeg etc. There are others (mine is Fiver a Day) such as Wealth Horizon, and banks may well be coming back into the market too.

I can recommend the fiver a day site. Well worth a look if you're looking for a passive investment strategy. There are, as mentioned, others also. Even with a small amount I think it is important to diversify your investment. Some people stick everything into a FTSE tracker when it is just as easy to pick a few. The robo platforms will do this all for you though based on your risk profile.

[Ginge R]

Thanks for the kind words!

Lots of options out there, as you say.

[Craikeybaby]

I've gone with Fidelity, via Cavendish as the fees were a lot cheaper. Although Fiver a day does look good.

[theboss]

I use HL because it's handy to have both my SIPP and S&S ISA and the wife's all linked and accessible under one login, and whilst I think they are reasonably expensive I've been happy with what I get - their portal is rich and informative and it's easy to get your hands on data.

I buy funds in the ISAs and a mixture of funds and shares in the SIPPs - the benefit of funds besides diversification is that you're not paying dealing fees and stamp duty every time you drip feed regular savings in - they let you buy in relatively small chunks. There would be no point in buying small amounts of shares every month because your money would just get eaten up in fees.

[Matt..]

Craikeybaby said:

I've gone with Fidelity, via Cavendish as the fees were a lot cheaper. Although Fiver a day does look good.

How does Fidelity via Cavendish work?


My current thoughts are that Charles Stanley looks good. HL is too expensive, and Fidelity is £45/yr, so too expensive for low values.

[Craikeybaby]

I don't really know the ins and outs, but Cavendish is another way into Fidelity, but with lower fees.

[NerveAgent]

I use cavendish as well. It has a different pricing structure but uses a re-skinned version of fidelity for its website. It's not the most advanced but its cheap and easy for multiple funds.

[Roger Irrelevant]

Aviva have got some sort of cashback offer on their S&S ISAs at the mo, might be worth a look.