If you’ve got a portfolio full of index funds with Hargreaves Lansdown then you’re faced with a dilemma. Its platform fees knock back small investors like a thumbs down from Simon Cowell.
It’s a bitter pill that Hargreaves Lansdown have sugared with a sweet range of low-cost Vanguard index funds.
Is the price of staying with Hargreaves Lansdown worth the reward of the Vanguard funds?
Frankly, Hargreaves Lansdown is not the only place you can buy Vanguard. The sheer popularity of the funds has ensured their spread to other brokers, despite a slow start.
The terms vary from firm to firm but if cost is king then there are only a few scenarios where it makes sense to stay with Hargreaves Lansdown.
Your calculations may well be beset by the burdens of inertia, convoluted financial affairs, or a profound belief in Hargreaves Lansdown’s customer service, but for sanity’s sake I won’t grapple with any of that.
My main assumptions will be:
- Cost is the trigger to switch platforms.
- All Vanguard funds incur a £2 per month platform fee on Hargreaves Lansdown.
- Hargreaves Lansdown portfolios only contain index funds costing £2 a month.
- You stick with your broker for a minimum of one year.
The Vanguard runners and riders
When choosing your Vanguard platform, there are two main costs to look for:
1. The management charge for holding Vanguard funds – this may be known as an annual management charge (AMC), a custody fee, or a platform fee.
Whatever the name, it amounts to the same thing: a regular charge that covers the costs of servicing your account.
2. Dealing fees – a charge levied every time you buy or sell a fund.
Hargreaves Lansdown is the only broker that charges per index fund owned. Whether it’s worth you taking that on the chin boils down to YOUR:
- Portfolio composition: You need to work out how many Vanguard funds you can hold before Hargreaves Lansdown’s pay-as-you-go fees cost more than the all-you-can-eat deals offered by rival platforms.
- Trading habits: You need to figure out whether the waiving of dealing fees by Hargreaves Lansdown compensates you for its other costs, compared to the rival brokers.
The rival Vanguard-friendly platforms in the mix are Bestinvest, Sippdeal and Alliance Trust. You can find out more about their Vanguard costs here.
The short answer is that the fewer funds you own, the more likely it is that Hargreaves Lansdown will come up trumps. Hargreaves Lansdown’s deal gets even sweeter if you trade often. The type of account you want is important, too.
I’ve tried to make the summary below as simple as possible, but be warned it’s like comparing mobile phone deals.
Stocks and shares ISA: Is it worth staying with Hargreaves Lansdown?
Hargreaves Lansdown only wins for ISAs if your portfolio consists of a single fund.
In that case, the £24 platform fee undercuts all rival offerings and you can trade all you like.
Happily a diversified portfolio of one fund can be devised using Vanguard’s LifeStrategy funds.
Here’s the full range of ISA scenarios depending on the number of funds held in your portfolio:
1-2 funds = Hargreaves Lansdown
3+ funds / up to 8 x £1.50 regular trades = Alliance Trust
3+ funds / 8 or more trades of any type = Bestinvest
Note: Alliance Trust online regular investment purchases are £1.50 a throw. If you expect to sell even once (perhaps to rebalance) then Alliance Trust’s low AMC advantage is wiped out by its £12.50 dealing charge.
SIPP: Is it worth staying with Hargreaves Lansdown?
Hargreaves Lansdown does a bit better with its SIPP:
1-2 funds = Hargreaves Lansdown
3-4 funds = HL or Sippdeal. If you trade more than 2-4 times respectively then it’s HL.
5 fund / less than 7 trades = Sippdeal
5 funds / more than 7 trades = HL / Bestinvest dead-heat
6+ funds / more than 7 trades = Bestinvest
Note: Sippdeal charges £150 (plus VAT) to set up income drawdown and £75 (plus VAT) annually to administer income drawdown payments. Hargreaves Lansdown and Bestinvest charge nothing for the same.
Standard account: Is it worth staying put?
Scenario is currently the same as for ISA accounts.
Minimum investments
Bear in mind, your platform of choice may also depend on whether you can make the minimum investment contributions. On Vanguard funds these amount to:
- Hargreaves Lansdown: £1,000 per fund, or £50 per fund in the regular savings plan.
- Bestinvest: £100 per fund.
- Alliance Trust: £50 per fund.
There’s a couple of other quirks, too. Hargreaves Lansdown charges 0.5% (plus VAT) per year on any ETFs, gilts or investment trusts you hold (capped at £45 or £200 in SIPPs).
Meanwhile, Alliance Trust wants £5 to reinvest dividends automatically (you can avoid this by using accumulation units or just reinvest divis yourself).
Strangest of all, Alliance Trust also charges £10 every time you want to withdraw cash. Does it also own those money-grabbing cashpoints in service stations?
Take it steady,
The Accumulator
@accumulator
comprehensive article – many thanks…
…it confirms my strategy
Please read the November HL times magazine – it actually seems the new charges continues to be on the minority of funds (notably, HSBC ones).
AFAICT, my existing handful of funds won’t be affected by this – please correct me if I’m wrong though!
Very useful post, thanks. A Vanguard LifeStrategy fund with monthly contributions for £24 on the HL platform is certainly a good deal. I was planning to add small cap, commodities and value allocations too, but that is when HL starts to look expensive with the 0.5% on ETFs. Once the dust has settled from RDR it may be time to jump ship to another platform.
I’ve decided to stay with HL and utilise the Vanguard LifeStrategy 60% Equity – Accumulation units as apart from property it provides equity exposure on global basis and to corporate bonds, government bonds and index linked bonds. For monthly contributions and ad hoc lump sums – I consider the £24 platform fees to be reasonable. Post RDR choice of platform can be re-examined. If I stick to this fund/plan within my SIPP – hopefully 25-30 years time I will enjoy the fruits of my labour having gone with a good management firm, indexing and low costs. My investment is now very much on auto pilot which John (Jack) Bogle and Monevator advocate. PS: Your article excellent as usual.
@K
hard to say as we don’t know what your handful of funds are, however you should be able to find out easy enough if you are affected by the new platform fees by looking at the relevant fund fact-sheets on the HL website.
The minority of funds affected tend to be the ones that everyone here holds (e.g. low cost index tracker funds). Thats why it has generated so much interest.
The amount held per fund is also relevant as to whether Vanguard is the best choice?
Is it worth holding any Vanguard fund with a ‘smallish’ pot of money when you can hold HSBC elsewhere for free?
Example:
If you hold £10,000 in the Vanguard UK equity tracker with HL, which I believe has a TER of 0.15%, then after the £24 per annum hit the TER equates to 0.39% (£24 + £15).
HSBC all share tracker held for free on another platform, e.g. BestInvest, would still only entail its own internal 0.27% TER. Therefore the hit would only be £27 per annum (plus some tracking error).
If your £10,000 is held in one of the vanguard lifestyle funds with higher TER in the region of 0.3%, then external £24 cost would lead to total TER of 0.54% (£30+£24). A DIY version on another platform via help of HSBC funds (plus emerging markets tracker from elsewhere) could have a TER of only approximately 0.35%.
Of course; the more funds that are held in Vanguard, preferably in a single fund if small TER costs are the sole aim, the more likely HL will be the cheaper option.
@william
Am i right in thinking RDR is due (e.g. industry has to comply with it) early 2013 (not 2012 as I originally thought)?
To save any confusion, when i said above ‘the more funds that are held in Vanguard’ , i should have stated ‘the more MONEY that is held in Vanguard’
Fantastic article, well done.
I bought my first Vanguard funds in my new Bestinvest SIPP this AM. I’ve gone for a good geographic spread, with overweights on EM and Pacific, and also some “HSBC FTSE 250” and Vanguard global small cap.
I’m still in cash alongside but might more this to “Smith & Williamson Short Dated Corporate Bond” and maybe “Vanguard UK Inflation Linked Gilt”. I say “maybe” as gilts scare me right now, even inflation linked ones.
Is this just me being paranoid?
@Ben — The main RDR changes come in on the last day of 2012 (December 31). Anyone familiar with deadlines for school projects can guess at how the date got there.
The FSA’s RDR page has lots of detail: http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/consumerinformation/product_news/saving_investments/investments_changes/index.shtml
Another great blog and thanks so much. Great to read information that is to the point and with no commercial/marketing spin. I am not sure the same can be said about HL with all their different cost/charge structures.
i switched my 5 hsbc index funds in my HL sipp to one Vanguard lifestrategy 80% last week. Reading this confirms my decision. If it wasn’t for Vanguard I’d be exiting HL.
I notice that you don’t mention III, which i have my Isa with.
@treadsafely
how long did it take HL to buy the Vanguard units? (e.g. what was the gap between selling your HSBC units and buying the Vanguard units)
hours,days, weeks?
@Ben
Took longer than I would have liked, but not too bad. Put the switch order in Mon 5th Dec, didn’t all go through till Mon 12th Dec. Part of that time might have been taken up selling the HSBC units that I switched from though. Bit concerning that for about 2 to 3 days, it was all cash.
What usually takes the time is the fund provider feeding the exact purchase price back to the platform, so even though it looks like the trade hasn’t happened, it actually has.
I put some orders in to buy loads of Vanguard funds and one HSBC tracker with Bestinvest at 8:55am on Tuesday. I didn’t see the HSBC fund there until the next day (today), but it traded at midday on Tuesday as shown by the transaction date. I expect it to be a few days before the Vanguards show, but their dates to be the same.
Let’s see.
Very useful article weighing up the cost benefits of different platforms – thanks.
Regarding switch on H-L to Vanguard, I did part of my portfolio last week and found this:
T=0 – HSBC funds sold, Vanguard “Pending”
T+1 – Cash, Vanguard buy shows as “Trading”
T+4 – Vanguard settled and shows as “Dealt”
So, it seems they have given me Vanguard units with valuation/trade date of T+1 and I was in cash for 1 day. So, in all took 5 working days to trade/settle. Dilution levy makes it a little hard to see for sure. This has actually worked in my favour (markets fell on my out day) but is annoying.
Might be worthwhile shifting over in tranches if you can.
@treadsafely
The article didn’t mention III because they don’t [currently at least] offer Vanguard funds.
@anadmirer
yeh – i don’t like it either, cash for 1 day not too bad but say it were 3, you could have lost ~8% a fortnight or so ago if you were unlucky.
I’d be inadvertently taking up day-trading, which is a little bit contrary to my strategy this far
I got the fee-free extension til March from HL so may, as you say, stagger it across in stages
Does anybody know if an investor with HL will pay the platform fee twice if, for example, they have holdings in the same Vanguard fund split between ISA and non-ISA investment? i.e. would the investor pay four pounds a month?
@bernie r – yes, it would seem that people pay per portfolio. You could end up paying the fee for ISA holdings, non-ISA holdings, and twice for your SIPP, once for normal pension and once for protected rights!
Thanks Gadgetmind – my fears confirmed!
Thanks all for your comments. @ SB – nice analysis on the question of ditching Vanguard and HL altogether.
Hi,
Thanks for the excellent article and all those who have posted useful info too.
There was a brief mention of rebalancing, which i plan to do once or twice per year. Would that shift the balance to bestinvest?
I plan to have 5 or so funds (vantage if poss but not lifestrategy) and mainly invest with lump sum rather than drip feed. I’d want to rebalance once (maximum twice) per year?
Would someone in my situation use bestinvest?
thanks
t
Hi all, for my sipp with HL, I have now sold off a few of my dud funds, and looking to put the cash (around 10k) in the Vanguard life strategy 60. Question is do I put all in straight away, or just drip feed, or wait for the markets to drop in 2012? As its all about timing right?, especially with tracker funds. Is it bad having 10k out of the market for a while?
Cheers for any thoughts.
@ tushingham – It depends what kind of account you’re investing in. To give yourself a margin of error, assume one trade per fund every time you rebalance and then recheck your position in the article.
@ Paul R – Trying to market time is ill-advised. How do you know when the markets will drop, or how far, or whether they’ll rally? From everything I’ve read on the subject, the evidence is marginally in favour of throwing in the lump sum. However, it’s also widely noted that drip-feeding is easier psychologically. I personally find it much easier to dip my toe in first than just dive straight in. You could try feeding in half now and half in 6 months, or a quarter every 3 months, it really depends on what makes you feel comfortable.
Yes thanks for the reply, today is a good example, the market is up a lot, and I am out in cash, doh!
I will drip feed, and if there are any large falls, then add more.
@paul
yes – its annoying, i’m putting off doing it for exactly that reason, ridiculous volatility can have you the best part of 10% down (or up) in a week. and sods law is that its down…
True Ben, I think it’s best to have some spare cash on the sideline, as the market is so volatile, that’s why I am selling off a few old holdings now when the market is high-ish. I did the same last year, and bought in when the market starting crashing, bought a bit early, but continued to add as it went lower. Seemed to work out ok. It has taken me years to figure out the basics – buy low, sell high!
@paul
how do you figure out whether the market is high or low in order to buy low and sell high?
and when you buy, how can you still have cash on the sideline to maintain your strategy?
@ben – great questions, all of which are answered on my £1000 per day residential courses.
Or maybe not.
Well a bit of tech analysis helps, along with newsflow.
I like everyone else has no idea how and when the markets move up or down, im just gambling, and hoping there will be a decent fall this year, then I will enter and buy funds, and keep topping up until no more cash.
When the market recovers, which it always does, then I sell. I used to never sell, which was my mistake.
@paul
good luck with that – i can see potential flaws though 😉
hope you haven’t got too much of your total assets tied up with this strategy
@ben – True enough. Those who try market timing usually hit the falls and miss the rises, and this is even true of the “professionals”. Yes, fundamentals such as p/e and yield can give you hints, but they can also deceive. Warren Buffet said that the markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.
I do us fundamentals to tweak my bond/equity ratio, but it is only tweaks rather than mad lurches.
@gadget
…Keynes…
@ Gadgetmind – absolutely correct to use the term “professionals” within quotes in my opinion. A term used far too loosley when it comes to soliciting the uneducated and trusting (not derogatory – i used to be also) into parting with their hard-earned.
I wish more were reading material such as what is contained within blogs like this one; instead of thumbing through glossy pages arriving through the letterbox where the smallprint is probably the most important aspect of the literature.
I doubt ‘The Accumulator’ or ‘The Investor’ have the spare capital to reproduce the blog in glossy page format and do a mass mail-shot to promote enlighenment. But their motives for an interest in investment appear far different to those of the “professionals”. Keep up the good work guys!
Cheers for the support, SB. Trying to create a haven aside from the mainstream hype is a huge part of what motivates us.
Hi
How about an article about switching/transferring actively managed funds to Index funds? I have some actively managed ISA funds,but after reading these excellent articles & comments , i should be thinking of transferring to an index strategy pretty pronto ,if I have any sense . A transfer/switch to the Vanguard Life strategy funds ,through an appropriate platform ,seams a good balanced move . Any experience out there of transferring active managed beasties to index funds ,and ways to do it, and any pitfalls?
An update on the costs from BestInvest: they’ve just told me buys/sells of VG funds incur a £7.50 per trade cost (on top of the quarterly/yearly custody fee of £12.50/£50 + VAT). I would think that rules them out for most people.
I emailed bestinvest and received below reply :
Vanguard funds do incur an ongoing custody fee of 12.50+VAT within an ISA or unwrapped investment per quarter. The custody fee is £25+VAT per quarter within a SIPP.
There are no dealing fees attached to the Vanguard funds however.
If you would like to speak to one of our investment proffesionals about investing into this product do not hesitate to contact us on 020 7189 9999.
Just to confirm, I asked Bestinvest again and they confirmed what Ramesh has already said (and corrected what they had told me originally).
hi guys,
Are the details in this article still accurate? We’re four months on so wondered if there were any changes? Im looking to hold 4-5 Vanguard (non-Lifestyle) and possibly other, trackers in s&s ISA. Rebalancing once yearly. Have some holding cash ready to go with HL and wasnt sure if switching away from HL now would be the right thing to do?
Thanks
t
Are vanguard LS funds now available on iii ? See http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?p=52706237
Holy crap! You’re right. If you type Vanguard into the investment name box here: http://www.iii.co.uk/funds/fundfilter?task=show_fund_search
then you get the LifeStrategy funds and the separates. Haven’t had time to check if it’s the full range but it looks like it. No platform fees or anything else, £20 min investment. Not all funds can be taken in an ISA. Looks like the Irish domiciled ones can’t be but UK funds can. Still, this is a real breakthrough.
Yes, they are listed, but not when you try to trade…perhaps that will change soon…
Have spoken to iii, the only one of the UK listed funds they sell is the Vanguard FTSE U.K. Equity Index Fund. The rest are for “information purposes only”. Spiffing.
Information purposes? “Misinformation” surely!
@ Tushingham – if the cost assumptions in this piece are still correct http://monevator.com/bestinvest-vanguard/ then this post is still current. Just do a quick recce of the charge sheets for the four brokers.
cheers TA!
I don’t have much to add other than thanks, yet again. I was going mildly insane last night trying to navigate through the maze of fees and costs, and yet this post was here all along.
Actually, one question: do the “negotiated discounts on initial charges” and “rebates on the annual management charge” that AT claim have any bearing on this, or are they irrelevant?
Hi Simon, they’re irrelevant. Everyone rebates initial charges and no-one rebates anything from Vanguard funds as they don’t pay trail commission.
Hello again gang!
Have bestinvest ‘made their move’ prior to rdr/fsa changes as HL, III and others have done?
I know there could be further changes still but wondering if they’ve made any move at all yet?
Thanks
t
BestInvest have played some of their hand. There is a “custody fee” for holding Vanguard trackers (but not others) and equities (which includes ETFs and ITs.) The fee is £50+vat for unwrapped and ISA, and £100+vat for a SIPP. For decent sized pots, this works OK as it gives you a lot of flexibility with an “eat all you want” fee. BestInvest also refund trail in a SIPP, which is nice while it lasts.
Post-RDR, I’d expect their fees to be extended to other investments, but BI seem to be strong on the advisory side too,
cheers gadget,
finally got round to investing the cash i had sat in s&s isa just depreciating
now have 19k or so with HL in
4 vanguard trackers (non lifestrat)
1 BR emerging tracker
1 IT smaller companies (f&c)
thats £96 per yr fees for vanguard and i think another £45 or so for the IT. £111 vs the £60 i would be charged with BestInvest. Even though only a small proportion of the pot it all adds up with compounding so think im better off with BestInvest particularly as they have some of the other vanguard trackers that HL dont have. Will allow me to tweak my portfolio allocation better whilst sticking with vanguard (im a big fan!)
t
ps- aware there are no fixed securities there but have other position for that!
pps was a little worried that bestinvest may be more likely to change again than HL but since they’ll pay my exit fees and its likely, if i want to come back, HL will do the same then im all for it!
@tushingham – That £45 is the cap on the 0.5% pa charge for equities and ITs, so you might well be paying a fair bit less depending on the size of that holding.
yes you’re absolutely right but I naughtily didnt mention that i have a little more cash to invest and considering a commodities ETF for that.
just doing the calulation it come in at £20-30 and maybe more when the value rockets like its supposed too!! :op
i think even if its £20 then im still looking at around £116 vs £60. donyt know where i got £111 from!!!!?
if i thgouht BestInvest hadnt played any cards yet then id sit tight but given that they seem to have the vanguard emerging,small cap,pacific etc funds and HL dont then im very tempted to move.
dont know if i’d sell the f&c smaller companies IT in order to the get the vanguard smaller companies OEIC though given that i’ve bought the IT at a discount and there were fees involved!
I do hold the Vanguard Smaller Companies tracker, but I also like the F&C Global Smaller Companies IT and wouldn’t sell the latter to buy the former given spreads and trading fees.
yeah i think i’ll use the vanguard smaller companies to rebalance if i ever become underweight in that sector in future…
i might just drop HL a line to see if they’ll get the other vanguard products any time soon…
Hi All,
Need some help. I have a few quid to invest in shares – possibly through Hargreaves Lansdown Share Dealing option. I understand I would pay only between £5.95 – £11.95 per transaction depending on my usage, no ongoing monthly, annual fees?
For an individual like me who has upto 10k to invest in shares are H&L the best option in terms of initial and sale cost?
Any advice would be helpful.
Thanks
@ Atherton – HL are generally not cheap because they have a strong brand. The cheapest broker I know of for share dealing is x-o.co.uk
From 1 August 2012, ATS has increased its admin fee for ISAs from £30 per year to £48 (£12 per quarter). The same fee now applies on investment accounts, which previously had no admin fee. It will now rarely be the best choice for holding Vanguard funds.
HL is now a good option for a single Vanguard LS at £24pa.
People *must* switch to keep fees low as voting with wallets is important.
Accumulation units are referred to as the funds end with Acc correct?
@Julius — That’s usually the case, yes. In contrast Inc tends to signify funds that pay out their income.
This website is just amazing! Thank you so much.
I’m looking to invest for my retirement and really like the look of the Vanguard’s LifeStrategy Funds. I just want to keep things as simple as possible and start regular contributions without needing to worry about excessive costs and rebalancing etc etc.
I would look to invest in those funds via a SIPP (or equivalent as I am an expat living in the Middle East.)
After the RDR which platform do you think would now be my best option? I’ve been reading lots but have got a bit lost in all the numbers.
Also, can I use these platforms if I’m not living in the UK? I see there are QROPS but its hard to find reliable advice on these.
@ BG – Here’s my best take on the current state-of-play re: brokers and RDR: http://monevator.com/no-fee-discount-broker-options/
I don’t know about their foreign policies but I’m sure if they can take your money they will.
I am British but currently live and work in Mexico. I want to invest in the Vanguard Life Strategy but Alliance Trust Hargreaves Lansdown or Best Invest will only act as a platform for permenant UK residents. As I am a non-dom a SIPP or S&S ISA appears not to be an option. Does anyone know of a company which may be able to act as a platform for me to invest in the Vanguard Life Strategy funds?
Thank you and kind regards
Joe
I am also in the same position as the above poster – Joe. I’m British but currently live in Japan and therefore can’t open an ISA in the UK. I do have a UK address and bank account though. I’m looking at investing in the Vanguard lifestrategy fund but not really sure about the technicalities of purchasing it without the ISA. It would be excellent if you could advise on this situation.
PS very very nice blog!
I have transfrred 120K cash from my old pension account to my sippdeal account. However, I have delayed investing the same in Vanguard 100% Lifestyle Equity Fund as I am not sure whether it is the best cost option. esoecially in view ofteh recent cost changes. I will invest a monthly sum of £900 into the same fund. I am also planning to invest about £150 each in my wife’s and mine Share ISA and my sons’ Junior ISA in the same fund through Charles Stanley Direct. Can you please advise me what I should do to ensure I have the most cost effective option keeping in mind I have a long term view with minimal changes?
@ Sen – the market is in flux right now and will be for the next 6 months as many big players have yet to announce their new pricing in the face of the recent regulatory changes. This regularly updated comparison table will allow you to keep on to of things:
http://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/
Right now you’d pay about £300 p.a. with Sippdeal/Youinvest, £162 with Alliance Trust and £144 with Interactive Investor (plus dealing fees in all three cases) if you are investing in a SIPP.
On a standalone basis, your family’s ISAs are best off in Charles Stanley if likely to remain under £20K for the foreseeable, but Interactive Investor allows you to link family accounts and only pay once for the lot. That would amount to £80 p.a. plus trading fees. No trading fees with Charles Stanley.
Obviously there are no guarantees that brokers won’t change their prices. I recently opened an account with Sippdeal and then they rebranded and jacked up their fees to boot.
Hi
I’m very new to all this so was looking for some advice regarding which platform would be the cheapest for me in the following circumstances.
I would be looking to buy two funds in total, probably a Vanguard FTSE UK Equity Index ( £10, 000) and one other fund, not sure which one yet. Despite the £2 month/ fund charge, would I be right to assume that HLansdown would still be the best and cheapest option for me or I’m I missing some additional charges that might make HL not the best option in my circumstances.
Thank-you
Hi Andy, this article is out of date now. For the latest broker comparisons go to: http://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/
HL definitely not cheapest. Look at Charles Stanley Direct if your assets are below £30K and iWeb or Interactive Investor if you’re above that level or likely to be so in a couple of years.
I have been scratching my head trying to figure out something on the Lifestrategy funds and just realized the simplest solution would be to reach out to Monevator readers for help.
I and my wife are both invested in the Vanguard Lifestrategy 100% Equity Accumulation fund. Yesterday, she asks me why there are two UK equity sub funds – Vanguard FTSE UK Equity Index (14.9% of the overall LS) and Vanguard FTSE U.K. All Share Index (10%) – and if there is overlap/duplication going on here. I just cannot figure it out… why not just have the combined 24.9% of LS just in a broad UK index like the All-Share. What is gained by having two? Can anyone clarify?
Thanks in advance as I know i’ll get the answer pretty quick from the Monevator crew!
Hi Falco,
At the market diversification level Vanguard list the UK allocation as 25%, which is exactly what you get. For some reason at the fund level they split this allocation into two but I have no idea why as they both track the same index so do exactly the same thing. You’ll notice they do this for the US too with the US index fund and S&P 500 ETF. It is curious, no doubt.
Thanks for the input Accumulator. I had not even noticed the similar situation on the US funds. No matter the detailed rationale, it does seem they are still accomplishing what it ‘says on the tin’ so I suppose not a big issue. While looking for the answer to this question, i had also run across a recent article on FT Advisor talking about quite a significant change in the allocation of funds within LS which may be of interest to some: http://www.ftadviser.com/2014/04/07/investments/etfs-and-trackers/vanguard-slashes-uk-exposure-in-lifestrategy-funds-eNRrzxCoQB0XTmXKCPMpIN/article.html