Vanguard funds

[UnclePhilip]

If one wishes to invest in some of the Vanguard funds, do people here use other brokers, or hold directly with Vanguard, who now seem to have opened business directly in the UK recently? Wondering about the comparisons re costs, administrative simplicity etc

Thanks

[BarrenWuffett]

If one wishes to invest in some of the Vanguard funds, do people here use other brokers, or hold directly with Vanguard, who now seem to have opened business directly in the UK recently? Wondering about the comparisons re costs, administrative simplicity etc

Thanks

For me with a lump sum over £10K it works out cheaper with Halifax Share Dealing as there is only the purchase cost and then £12.50 platform fee. But for smaller sums or for regular monthly purchases it would be better to go direct as there is no dealing charges for funds. The platform fee is 0.15% per year.

[nmdhqbc]

I use iWeb - Account opening charge (varies) then just £5 per transaction. No yearly fee. Above a certain amount in and so long as you don't trade too often it's the cheapest way I think.

[Julian]

... Vanguard charge 0.22% for the fund

When my father died in 2009 and I was wrapping up his estate he had quite a few unit trusts from the likes of M&G, Prudential, JP Morgan, etc. that were all held directly with the unit trust providers with no ongoing holding fees, they were essentially like a certificated share holding. Has the investment world changed since then? Is there no way to hold funds such as the LifeStrategy ones in direct/certificated form with no holding charges whatsoever as my father did? Is it now necessary to hold them in a broker account of some form?

- Julian

[Hariseldon58]

@Julian
The short answer is generally yes.

Previously the cost of holding a fund , with the provider , was wrapped up in the annual management charge and included commissions. The practice in general now is to have different share classes that include management but not a 'platform ' cost to hold the units. Those providers that do hold the shares generally charge more.

Halifax is a very low cost way of holding units in funds, albeit with a modest purchase charge. There are others of course.

Vanguard funds for example have charges in the range of around .06% to .3% approximately for passive funds against perhaps 1.5% of yesteryear

[dspp]

I use ii for what its worth for my Vanguard funds. £80/yr if you do 8 trades/year or less.
regards, dspp