Thought people would like to see that Hargreaves are getting hammered because they’re losing the baby boomers - and the younger generation aren’t joining… and we know what platform they’re all coming to!..
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This is a cyclical problem and one that the management should have been prepared for. If nobody is producing wealth / Cohort report for their board pack they need to start asap!
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ii?
I never watched all of it but they did recently have a presentation day (for lack of a better word) for what they’re plans are and what they’re working on. but from what I did get from it, they have zero plans to target those buying stocks in the single digits.
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There is space for them to target wealthier clients but if they aren’t careful they’ll not attract the next generation of wealth builders.
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Apparently they’re clients average age is already going down.
I do kind of understand their point, people buying a couple of cheap stocks a month isn’t necessarily supper valuable and how they operate isn’t the same as freetrade. Time will tell
True, but everyone has to start somewhere. I wonder how many of their customers started with cheap stocks and moved on? You could be the next big thing!
The big investment platforms may begin offering more access to funds which have previously been for private investors, like funds with minimum entry points of £25,000 to £75,000. Diversifying across new trends which emerge in the private investment sector.
This would keep that fomo edge as younger investors would strive to enter those more tougher to access funds.
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You make a great point. There are many investments eligible for EIS that come along with a strong institutional investment and small retail possibility. These don’t come to market via the crowdfund platforms. Typically the minimum investment is quite large. It makes sense for higher networth individuals to consider them and the platforms you mention to provide access to them.
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Some of these guys have to only cut their prices to cause the smaller platforms to have problems. The issue of course is margins.
More customers at the low end is not going to help the share price. Some of the newer companies depend on this dynamic … They certainly don’t offer the breadth or service levels of HL or II.
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I’m in my mid twenties and I have recently opened both a LISA and active savings account with HL. Might simply be anecdotal but doubt I’m the only one when AJ Bell’s fees are higher and Freetrade aren’t offering. If you stick to mutual funds, the only fee you pay is the 0.45% pa.
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I think this is what the likes of freetrade and 212 will see. Buts it’s a mixed bag.
On the GIA side once you hit a tax threshold freetrade becomes increasingly difficult to use. On the SIPP side freetrade is poor value for new investors, good value for mid life investors and not usable for those nearing retirement.
They’re also quite different offerings, freetrade offers cheap access but very little support (comparatively) and less security for your stocks. So for new investors it’s an easy way to get into the market at a fairly small price with just a few compromises. HL you pay more (in theory) for that instant answer on the phone, access to other markets and a bit more security over your holdings.
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If you stick to shares, etfs, investment trusts etc the LISA is capped at £45 p.a. and the Fund and Share account has no charge.
Extremely competitive. Of course if you want to buy lots of different shares and buy/sell regularly the trading costs quickly mount up. If you really are a long term shareholder though you won’t have these costs.
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I do think they suffer from complex pricing. I expect they could do well by reducing just their trading cost by a few pounds but I don’t think it actually needs to be reduced to much. 50% at most. In theory if your a regular inventory (e.g once a month) it only costs £1.50 a trade. That’s pretty good but it’s not always easy to know what the costs will be due to the various pricing they have.
They also have the option of providing reduced platform fees if you talk to them
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I wish more people knew this!!! HL get a lot of stock for the fees, but they aren’t bad if you can avoid regular trading. I’ve got my ISA with HL and the most I’ll ever pay for the account fee is £3.75 per month (no funds, just ETFs and shares). I also only invest via direct debit at £1.50 per trade, so whilst the costs are higher than Freetrade, it’s good value for the extra services and wider ranger of investments available.
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True. Both II and HL offer a good deal on regular investments.
Interestingly with II it is free.
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Stocks also aren’t lended out, and US stocks I believe can also be transferred due to how they’re held.
The way they’re structured also means you can use things like primarybid, and have access to other complex investments.
That said I think some of their technology is a little behind the time though it works and it exists and access to tiger markets isn’t always as cheap. I think the foreign market access might at some point end up being an area they need to become more competitive.
Having said that, for now, freetrade isn’t targeting the same types of investors. Similar to 212 there seems to be a lot of people who use them for their fun money or bets on risky stocks as it’s cheap to get into (potentially a downfall of having no barrier to the market)
That’s good to know, I’ve been considering next year and ii is on the table. £10 a month I think? I need to look at fees.
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It is, but the platform fee is higher. I did look at ii but for me HL still works out cheaper as I only do one or two direct debit investments per month.
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Someone said the magic words and my ears pricked up! I thought I might be able to escape my AJ Hell so quickly headed to the HL website annnnnnnnnd…
Unfortunately, we can’t currently accept transfers from other Lifetime ISAs.
Now I’m worried that when FT offers LISAs in the tax year 75/76 I won’t be able to transfer my existing AJ Hell LISA across and then what happens? I have to leave it trapped there until I cash it in?!
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I don’t know what’s up with S&S LISAs? So few people provide them, I’m pretty sure HL used to take transfers then stopped. Maybe there just to much hassle to manage?
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