I was just wondering if any of the members or someone from the FreeTrade team, knows when more details of the Alpha account can be expected?
It’s getting close to the end of the financial year and I’m trying to decide what to do and who to use as my main investment platform going forward into the next financial year.
I’m eyeing up Cavendish Online as I only have a small portfolio but want to ramp things up next year, they seem to be relatively cheap considering all of their options etc and for my portfolio size, it would work out cheaper (I think) than the £3 p/m FreeTrade ISA charge.
That being said, if the new Alpha account came with some amazing features and is bundled with the ISA (which I hear it will be) then it may be worth my while taking that up.
I don’t want to use anything other than Freetrade as I’ve become somewhat of a fanboy but right now the fixed fee ISA does not work out competitively enough for me on its own as I have a relatively small portfolio. It would be cheaper for me to go with someone else and just use Freetrade as ‘one off’ investments here and there into individual companies as bit of a gamble/punt investments.
If the S&S ISA was more competitively priced and came with additional features bundled into the alpha account though, it may be too good for me to turn down or refuse.
Does anyone know when we can expect any more details as I want to make a decision by the time the new financial year roles around.
Without wishing to derail, I am in a somewhat similar position. However, I am not worried about the ISA charge, as I am looking to invest £20k at the end of the month, so £3/month is peanuts.
However, the limited stock universe holds me back. With the market seriously depressed due to the corona virus, we are in a once in a decade buying opportunity but too many stocks are not available to me.
@adam@Viktor - when can we see the first tranche of new stocks come on stream, as if it’s not this month, I may have to move elsewhere as bonus season is upon us and I do not wish to miss out on the currently heavily discounted stock prices.
No need to apologise, I’m not entirely sure myself.
My understanding was that it’s only individual stocks and shares in companies that cost. I’d be using Freetrade for that anyway. The majority of my money will be going into funds, which don’t have the £10 charge.
So it’s basically like Vanguard only Vanguard have JUST Vanguard funds which isn’t exactly what I wanted. I wanted something that was passive investment with a diverse portfolio and Cavendish Online came out the cheapest for my portfolio size according to MoneySavingExpert.
I’d still be getting individual stocks and shares here and there but the MAJORITY of my investments will be in these funds and any additional income or bonuses I’ll probably use as punts on individual companies on Freetrade, that was my plan anyway.
As I said, my understanding could be wrong as I’m a novice to all of this, I did plan to clarify with them directly before going down that route BUT if worse came to worse and there is £10 fee on everything, then I’d probably go with Vanguard, MoneyBox or Nutmeg.
All in all though, I’d rather just stick with Freetrade but it has to work out as beneficial for me and cost effective, right now my small portfolio with free trade of around £500 (I’ve only been investing for a little over a month after wanting to diversify out of crypto as I have thousands in that and wanted something less volatile and more secure) it would mean the £3 fee would be too great currently and would be eating into my investments.
Again, please forgive me if I’m wrong on any of the finer details here I am a novice to all of this and trying to do the best research I can with my limited knowledge and experience.
I totally relate to this. I only started investing a very small amount a little over a month ago and have £500 in my portfolio but I’ve been considering cashing out a big portion of my crypto and moving it into stocks/shares as they are more secure.
This recent crash is just flashing up SALE, SALE, SALE in my eyes and seems like too good of an opportunity to be missed. That being said there are some stocks and shares I’ve been waiting for, for the longest time.
I’m desperately wanting to pick up some Cannabis Industry based stocks and shares with cannabis legislation changing globally and the industry just starting to boom, I want to get in before it’s too late.
I’ve been REALLY tempted by Trading 212. There are other platforms as well but (and I know this is going to sound petty and make me seem stupid) LOVE the fact that Freetrade have their pricing in GBP not GBX. I know that GBX is the way the London Stock Exchange do it and how it’s meant to be done and I’m also WELL aware that it’s very easy to figure out in a matter of seconds in your head, I’m more than capable of doing it but I’d just rather in be in GBP, whole pounds rather than pence.
I also love the app, the functionality, the community, the team and the ethics and overall goal of Freetrade. That being said, money is money and this is such a competitive industry now and there are some things I just wish Freetrade would have that they don’t have currently and I feel that may be holding me back in some respects.
I know some people would be like, just have multiple accounts, that is a valid answer and solution BUT I like to keep everything together, nicely in one place or as few places as possible where I can.
Hopefully, this Alpha account brings some amazing stocks and shares I’ve been wanting as well as fractional shares as well, those are the two things I’m desperate for.
So if you’ve only got £500 in an account and like Freetrade. Why not just use a basic account? You’ll struggle to chew through your CG allowance and dividend allowance even if you put in £500 a month for a few years.
By which time your portfolio will be big enough to consider an ISA.
Fractionals will be part of a basic account and not Alpha. I asked about Alpha accounts a while back, it’s still in the works. I wouldn’t expect anything first 6 months of this year, frankly the offering has to be built out and the stock universe has to expand first before anyone could conceivably start to think about paying Freetrad for more.
In regards to that screenshot, as I said in my previous post, if you want to choose individual stocks and shares or companies to invest in, the £10 fee applies. If you want to choose which ETFs to invest in or individual index funds, then you pay the £10 fee.
My understanding though (I could be wrong) is that like Vanguards life strategy accounts, Cavendish S&S ISA you can choose to have passive investment like the Vanguard Life Strategy funds and by doing so, you don’t have the £10 fee. So it works similar to Moneybox, Nutmeg and other robo investor type platforms but works out cheaper/better than those from my understanding.
In respect to your first point, I currently do have a general account with Freetrade and it’s a difficult one because I can’t figure out what’s for best. The issue is, I’m in this for the long term and my problem is that when it does come time to having a significant holding in the general account, to get the tax benefits I’d have to sell all my holdings and transfer them to the S&S ISA as my understanding is they can’t be transferred directly into the ISA? When I messaged Freetrade about it they said they said I’d have to sell my holdings and then re-invest from the ISA account.
So yea, that part is really confusing to me. From my research, people tend to be saying/recommending that a S&S ISA is better for you as opposed to a general account, especially for the lower amounts as it gives you the tax benefits up to your first £20k per year.
Like I said though, I’m still really confused about all of that and what will actually be better. My line of thinking was to just take the plunge with a S&S account now as that seems to be what’s most universally recommended by others, especially on the Personal Finance subreddit.
I didn’t say it’s cheap, I said it’s heavily discounted against its peak.
P/E ratios remain high against a historical backdrop. Whether it’s cheap is up to anyone’s guess dependent on whether you believe we have hit bottom or not.
I don’t think we’re at the bottom yet given that the extend of Corona is unknown, but I do feel that in weeks to come matters will become clearer and I wouldn’t want to miss out when I decide to go back in all guns blazing.
The limited stock universe is preventing me from that, and that issue remains whether the prices are cheap or not.
Warren buffet said in his recent letter that if interest rate remains this low, it’s almost certain that equities will continue to outperform bonds, even though he did have a record amount of cash which then tells me that he is not that bullish on equities
Currently, BH has a market cap of $520B, give or take.
Currently, BH has total liabilities of $389B, give or take.
Currently, BH has total assets of $817,729B.
Currently, BH has a cash or cash equivalent position of $129B, give or take.
This means that the cash and cash equivalents position equates to just shy of 16% of total assets, just shy of 25% of BH market cap, and just over 33% of cash or cash equivalents to total liabilities.
16% of total assets in cash or cash equivalents? 33% of cash or cash equivalents to total liabilities?
I don’t think that he’s not that bullish on equities. Au contraire. It just so happens that the pile size is, well, abnormal by any standard.
Apply a diversification strategy to both your investments and platforms you use to trade assets.
In institutional (pension/insurance/etc) fund/investment management there’s a requirement for execution traders to ask for prices from three different brokers to get a “fair” price (or something like that).
