Which is the best bank to invest with? – Expert Analysis

Clare says

For a very low annual fee of 0.15-0.05% (determined by your portfolio value), your investments are managed for you and you gain access to five risk-rated, ready-made portfolios.

With just five portfolios, you’re getting a very limited choice. However, this approach makes sense for anyone who might feel overwhelmed by the thousands of different funds, and individual stocks and shares offered by providers such as Fidelity, Hargreaves Lansdown, or AJ Bell. This is a pared down offering, from a famous name, so could simultaneously provide peace of mind and easy entry into investing.

Clare says

Barclays Smart Investor is an average- to low-priced option for those looking for investment opportunities through a Sometimes called an investment ISA, a stocks and shares ISA is an individual savings account that allows you to invest in shares, unit trusts, investment funds, and bonds. You will not need to pay tax on any income or capital gains earned on investments within an ISAstocks and shares ISA or General investment account (GIA) is an account designed to provide access to investments. You may be liable for tax on any income or capital gains earned within a general investment account but this can be a useful vehicle for anyone who has maxed out their ISA allowancegeneral investment account. Barclays also offers a A self-invested personal pension (SIPP) is a type of private pension that allows you to control the specific investments that make up your pension fundself-invested personal pension (SIPP), however, that is administered through AJ Bell which means there is a third party admin fee to factor in on top of the core Barclays fees.

You can take advantage of a regular trading plan with Barclays which removes dealing fees, but high FX fees could still add up when trading non-GBP stocks.

The trading platform is not the most user-friendly I’ve tested, but you’ll have access to a decent range of funds, ETFs, investment trusts, and UK, US and EU stocks. It’s not quite as extensive as you’ll find with one of the big specialist investment providers such as AJ Bell, interactive investor or Hargreaves Lansdown, but with Barclays you can get all your banking needs catered to under the same roof.

If you’re looking for a A ready-made portfolio is a pre-made collection of investments that have been put together by investment experts. They are designed to be a simple option for those who don’t want to choose individual stocks or funds for themselves.ready-made portfolio, Barclays’ funds have done slightly better than the industry average over the past five and ten years with their Global Markets (Adventurous) Fund doing particularly well.

Clare says

Lloyds is one of the better high street banks for investors. It is possible to invest really cheaply with a flat fee of just £20 per six months and low fund dealing fees. The best deals, therefore, are to be had by those with large portfolios who will benefit most from a flat fee, and only invest in funds, or in some circumstances, international stocks.

If you’re aged 18-25, or you’re a Lloyds Premier or Private banking customer then the twice-yearly £20 admin charge is waived, potentially meaning even better value.

Lloyds provides a comforting big name with lots of history, is listed on the London Stock Exchange, and offers customers an unusually wide selection of funds and stocks for a high street bank.

However, there are some above-average UK stock dealing fees and FX fees to watch out for, so if you plan to trade often, it’s well worth 5 minutes of your time looking at the simple price comparison examples below. A 1% fee added on to all international trades, and £11.00 on every UK asset trade could make it much less of a bargain if you plan to regularly buy or sell stocks, although Lloyds does offer reductions on costs for regular investors.

Clare says

For Halifax banking customers, this is an easy way to get an
ISAinfo
set up. Investment options are already available to view in your banking app so it’s a quick process to get started. The pricing could work in your favour and the range of investment choices on offer aren’t bad. The
ready-made portfoliosinfo
have also outperformed the industry average over the past three years. All sounds good.

However, if you aren’t an existing customer, looking for something very easy to set up, I’d say shop around. (And I’d say that even if you are an existing customer, to be honest.)

While the flat account fee of £36 per year could work out terrific value if you have a very large portfolio – and I love the fact that that’s waived altogether for 18-25 year olds – if you’re planning on making international trades, you have to factor in a very high FX rate of 1.25%. Only interactive investor has a higher FX rate at 1.5% and that does at least taper down with trade size – Halifax’s rate remains fixed at 1.25%. You’ll also have to factor in high dealing fees of £9.50 per trade on UK trades. That includes trading funds – something most providers only charge £1.50 for if they even bother to charge you at all.

It is possible to eradicate those dealing fees if you opt for the regular investing plan whereby you drip feed money into your investments monthly, but you’ll still have to contend with those FX fees if you’re buying international assets, and not everyone wants to lose the ability to invest spontaneously as markets and moods change. You’ll need £500 to open an account if you’re not going down the regular investing route, too. That’s a lot if you’re a smaller-scale investor, just getting started.

That said, with waived service fees for 18-25 year olds, this could be very cheap option if you’re in that age category and not planning to buy and sell often. So if you’re a young ‘Buy and hold’ investor (and there’s a lot to be said for that approach), or you have a very large portfolio and don’t plan to trade often, then it’s worth a look.