Stock market tracker funds

Caporegime
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Definitely has its place for play-money but I wouldn't be using it for long term investments. And I wouldn't be using ETFs for long-term investments as I don't need that speed.


Etfs have lower costs than funds, so for long term they make more sense.

Funds only make sense if your broker charges you a fee for etfs (as they're a more desirable option they can charge)
 
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Hi - Slightly OT but perhaps better suited to this thread. What is the cheapest/easiest way to sell a share certificate from a FTSE company? Less than £10k holding
 
Caporegime
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Hi - Slightly OT but perhaps better suited to this thread. What is the cheapest/easiest way to sell a share certificate from a FTSE company? Less than £10k holding

Cheapest: If you have a friend of family member who wants to buy the shares at the prevailing market price at a given point in time then you could agree on that price and fill out a stock transfer form, have them send it to get stamped at HMRC and then send to the registrar for the relevant company.

Easiest - that's where exchanges and brokers come into play. Not everyone who offers a share dealing service will deal with certificates (some highstreet banks or trade for free brokerage services might not etc..) but most proper brokers will. You'll probably want to find the cheapest still and one without other faff/fees etc.. comparison sites have them listed fortunately to save you time:

https://www.lovemoney.com/news/36713/cheapest-ways-to-sell-paper-share-certificates

According to that ShareDeal Active is the cheapest at £19.50 and then the Share Centre £25 min or 1% (or Hargreaves Lansdown if it is over £4k at £40 min or 1%).

Perhaps take a close look at those three and ease of opening an account/any other fees etc..
 
Soldato
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Is there a good Vanguard alternative? Have heard a few names like Hargreaves and AJ Bell, but apparently both more expensive than Vanguard. Is there anything similar that's equivalent fees as well? Or is it one of a kind?

Reason being that my ISA is in Vanguard, and will continue to be, but I'd like an alternative for my non-ISA stuff, just to diversify across institutions (in case of another Lehman etc. with Vanguard).
 
Soldato
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Why ETFs for long-term holding? I don't get it. There are mutual funds with the same index tracking ability that are transaction-fee free?

Where are you buying said funds.

I will use Vanguard + H&L as examples.

Assuming we are talking about a simple index, then we can take the global all cap, vs equivilent ETF.

If buying £100k of it, via ETF on H&L, you will pay £11.95, and likewise another £11.95 to sell it

If you buy the fund version from H&L, there are no trading fee's however you will pay the 0.45% platform fee, This will then be £450 for the year on £100,000

If you are doing this via vanguard, the fee will be £150, as they are 0.15%..

If you decide to buy, once per month, the total cost on H&L, which is the most expensive would be £11.95 per month, or £143.40 per year

That would be like having £32k ish on H&L, and £96K on vanguard. Roughly

Once you'd have more than that, the ETF is actually cheaper following that exact investment strategy.

Now assuming you invest quarterly that number drops a lot, and every year you are saving more vs holding the fund.
 
Soldato
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Etfs have lower costs than funds, so for long term they make more sense.

Funds only make sense if your broker charges you a fee for etfs (as they're a more desirable option they can charge)
Gotcha thanks chaps. The ETFs I am looking at all seem to have similar charges though (admittedly I have only checked a handful).

For e.g. https://www.vanguard.co.uk/professional/product?fund-type=etf

0.23%

Have I just picked some bad examples? (wrong link, corrected)
 
Soldato
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Gotcha thanks chaps. The ETFs I am looking at all seem to have similar charges though (admittedly I have only checked a handful).

For e.g. https://www.vanguard.co.uk/professional/product?fund-type=etf

0.23%

Have I just picked some bad examples? (wrong link, corrected)

You cannot avoid the fund charge itself, that is taken from within the fund. i.e. 0.23%

What i refer to is the platform charge, which is 0.15% on vanguard, i have no idea if buying an ETF on vanguard avoids the platform fee, i dont think so?

Edit: To clarify imagine the funds and the company are separate entities.

The fund manager charges the 0.22% or whatever it is on the all world ETF, (0.10% for ftse100 etc)

While vanguard then charges you 0.15% for owning the fund using their platform.
 
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Soldato
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You cannot avoid the fund charge itself, that is taken from within the fund. i.e. 0.23%

What i refer to is the platform charge, which is 0.15% on vanguard, i have no idea if buying an ETF on vanguard avoids the platform fee, i dont think so?
I think I'm catching up; my line of questioning is regarding a junior ISA from Fidelity so I have no platform fees, only fund fees. Therefore I am looking at common fund fees but zero transaction fees and zero platform fees. It is also a regular saver versus a one-off buy. So the transaction fee would really hurt.

Are you chaps saying that there are no platform fees for ETFs versus regular Indexs then? I.e. it is just the transaction fee and fund fee?
 
Soldato
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I think I'm catching up; my line of questioning is regarding a junior ISA from Fidelity so I have no platform fees, only fund fees. Therefore I am looking at common fund fees but zero transaction fees and zero platform fees. It is also a regular saver versus a one-off buy. So the transaction fee would really hurt.

Are you chaps saying that there are no platform fees for ETFs versus regular Indexs then? I.e. it is just the transaction fee and fund fee?

Yes exactly, Also usually no fee's for holding individual company shares

If i google fidelity,....

Value of investments Service fee (annual amount or %)
Less than £7,500 0.35% if you have a regular savings plan or £45 if you don't
£7,500 or more but less than £250,000 0.35%
£250,000 or more but less than £1 million 0.20% - and you will automatically qualify for the Fidelity Wealth Service benefits
£1 million+ 0.20% a year for the first £1 million and no service fee for investments over £1 million. This means the maximum fee you will ever pay for all of your personal accounts is £2,000 a year.

  • The portion of the fee you pay on exchange-traded investments (shares, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), etc.) within an ISA or SIPP is capped at £45.
The last point is for H&L also, its capped to £45, and is the only time you pay a fee for holding an ETF, outside of an ISA there is no fee.

Yes funds are good for small money, or many regular investments, personally i invest quarterly usually, The vanguard fee is very good though, its just i buy shares, not only funds. So i cannot go to vanguard.

But as you can see in fidelity it will end up being £2000 per year if you have £1million. Vs Vanguards cap of £375.
 
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Soldato
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Ever wonder that the conventional wisdom about index funds was only true ‘pre’ the droves of current retail customers? Every forum/Twitter thread/Reddit page just says the same thing now, as though it’s infallible.

To me it warrants a slightly more sceptical stance - has there ever been a time in history where so much money has been channeled into the same investment vehicles? Where does this story end?
 
Associate
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Is there a good Vanguard alternative? Have heard a few names like Hargreaves and AJ Bell, but apparently both more expensive than Vanguard. Is there anything similar that's equivalent fees as well? Or is it one of a kind?

Reason being that my ISA is in Vanguard, and will continue to be, but I'd like an alternative for my non-ISA stuff, just to diversify across institutions (in case of another Lehman etc. with Vanguard).
Your funds are safe if Vanguard become insolvent.

https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/...pens-to-my-money-if-vanguard-become-insolvent
 
Caporegime
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Ever wonder that the conventional wisdom about index funds was only true ‘pre’ the droves of current retail customers? Every forum/Twitter thread/Reddit page just says the same thing now, as though it’s infallible.

To me it warrants a slightly more sceptical stance - has there ever been a time in history where so much money has been channeled into the same investment vehicles? Where does this story end?

Possibly, I mean don't forget the old warning about past performance etc..etc..

Historically I guess fees for various funds have been higher (in the past some IFAs have been commission-hungry cowboys, that's been cracked down on these days) and also commissions for buying individual stocks have been higher too + there is the risk of some individuals doing really silly things if left to their own devices there ergo buying a tracker or trackers, being low cost and something that isn't going to see you go too far wrong, has been the thing to do.

There is still good reason, in general, to keep costs down and not let them eat too much into your returns, this stuff compounds over time but I guess there is a reasonable point there in that if more and more people are just buying the relevant index then who is left doing stock selection? Collectively bad companies are being rewarded still with mindless buying of their stock in proportion to the relevant index they're a part of.
 
Soldato
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I have a S&S ISA directly with Vanguard and invest in the LifeStrategy 100% Acc and as of this moment my holdings are worth a bit over 23% more than what I've put in, which to be honest for doing nothing but drip feeding money in and low cost is alright for me.

This is where I'm at, and it beats my Halifax cash ISA with its 0.05% return. :p
 
Soldato
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Posting to follow thread... I have H&L also but split between 2 Vanguard funds - one is Global Equity Excluding UK and one is FTSE100 (just so that they don't overlap)
 
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