Bestinvest to offer advice packages, free coaching and slash share dealing fees as it relaunches DIY investment platform
- Bestinvest has relaunched its DIY investment platform
- Customers will have access to two advice services with one-off fees
- The platform will also introduce five new ‘Smart’ portfolios
Bestinvest is cutting fees and offering investing advice packages as part of a relaunch to attract more investors.
The DIY investing platform, which is owned by Tilney Smith & Williamson, announced plans to offer two on-demand advice services with one-off fees, alongside free investment coaching, which will be delivered by the platform’s own advisers.
The first package, which will cost £295, will recommend customers a suitable ready-made portfolio or an asset allocation.
The ‘Portfolio Health Checker’ package will help customers who have already invested with what to sell, hold and buy for a one-off fee of £495.
Investment platform Bestinvest has launched two new advice packages to help its customers
Oliver Plant, who heads up the new digital proposition, said there was a distinction between this paid-for regulated advice and the free coaching which ‘isn’t a personalised investment recommendation’.
The new service is set to go live at the end of the tax year in April.
Other features include a range of low-cost ‘Smart portfolios’, goal-setting and tracking tools, and portfolio projection and simulation tools.
Investors will pay an annual account fee of 0.2 per cent for money held in Smart Portfolios whereas Bestinvest’s broader account charges 0.4 per cent. Share, investment trust and ETF dealing will now cost £4.95.
The five new Smart portfolios will be invested in passive investment funds but actively managed by Tilney Smith & Williamson.
The total cost of investing in the portfolios, including an account fee 0.2 per cent, comes to 0.54 and 0.57 per cent per year, which Bestinvest argues is ‘significantly cheaper than most robo-advisers’.
Bestinvest says this means that a customer with £10,000 in the portfolios will pay around £55 a year in fees.
The investment platform, which launched in the 1980s, has faced increased competition and is now directly pitting itself against robo-advice services, traditional DIY investing giants, such as Hargreaves Lansdown, AJ Bell and Interactive Investor, and a new breed of platforms, such as free share dealing app Freetrade.
Hot on the heels of these broader investment platforms has come US giant Vanguard, which offers cut price investing but only its own funds.
‘Vanguard is cheap but it has a limited number of ready-made funds… There are 3,000 investment opportunities at Bestinvest,’ said Jason Hollands, managing director of the platform.
Bestinvest has slashed its share-trading fees from £7.50 to £4.95 as it battles with other platform businesses. By comparison AJ Bell’s and Hargreaves Lansdown’s fees come in at £9.95 and £11.95, respectively.
This price change, along with the Smart portfolios, will take effect from 1 February.
Other price changes including scrapping the Sipp administration fee and the account fee tiers for Sipp will be harmonised with those for Isas, Jisas and General Investment Accounts.
Compare the best DIY investing platforms and stocks & shares Isa
Investing online is simple, cheap and can be done from your computer, tablet or phone at a time and place that suits you.
When it comes to choosing a DIY investing platform, stocks & shares Isa or a general investing account, the range of options might seem overwhelming.
Every provider has a slightly different offering, charging more or less for trading or holding shares and giving access to a different range of stocks, funds and investment trusts.
When weighing up the right one for you, it’s important to to look at the service that it offers, along with administration charges and dealing fees, plus any other extra costs.
To help you compare investment accounts, we’ve crunched the facts and pulled together a comprehensive guide to choosing the best and cheapest investing account for you.
We highlight the main players in the table below but would advise doing your own research and considering the points in our full guide linked here.
>> This is Money’s full guide to the best investing platforms and Isas
| Admin charge | Charges notes | Fund dealing | Standard share, trust, ETF dealing | Regular investing | Dividend reinvestment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AJ Bell YouInvest | 0.25% | Max £3.50 per month for shares, trusts, ETFs. | £1.50 | £9.95 | £1.50 | 1% (Min £1.50, max £9.95) | More details |
| Bestinvest | 0.40% or 0.2% | Account fee cut to 0.2% for ready made investments | Free | £4.95 | n/a | n/a | More details |
| Charles Stanley Direct | 0.35% | No platform fee on shares if a trade in that month and annual max of £240 | Free | £11.50 | n/a | n/a | More details |
| Fidelity | 0.35% on funds | £45 fee up to £7,500. Max £45 per year for shares, trusts, ETFs | Free | £10 | Free funds £1.50 shares, trusts ETFs | £1.50 | More details |
| Hargreaves Lansdown | 0.45% | Capped at £45 for shares, trusts, ETFs | Free | £11.95 | £1.50 | 1% (£1 min, £10 max) | More details |
| Interactive Investor | £119.88 as £9.99 per month | £7.99 per month back in trading credit | £7.99 | £7.99 | Free | £0.99 | More details |
| iWeb | £100 one-off | £5 | £5 | n/a | 2%, max £5 | More details | |
| Freetrade | Free for standard account £3 month for Isa | Freetrade Plus with more investments is £9.99/month inc. Isa fee | No funds | Free | n/a | n/a | More details |
| Vanguard | 0.15% | Only Vanguard funds |
Free | Free only Vanguard ETFs | Free | n/a | More details |
| (Source: ThisisMoney.co.uk July 2021. Admin charges quoted annually, may be monthly or quarterly) |
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