Stocks and Shares ISA allow you to invest into Funds, ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds), Investment Trusts and Stocks and Shares.
In choosing my platform, I looked into the different fees payable with each Stocks and Shares ISA platform, as some are more costly than others. Fidelity, via Cavendish Online, offer a Stocks and Shares ISA with a 0.35% annual fee as oppose to 0.45% with Hargreaves Lansdown – a 0.1% saving. With only my beginner/intermediate knowledge at the time, as I was rushing to get them set up before the end of the tax year, I didn’t realise that Fidelity is only for investing into Funds, ETFs and Investment Trusts. You cannot invest in individual stocks and shares via Fidelity (as far as I know to date).
Hargreaves Lansdown has a dealing charge of £11.95 per deal (a deal is whenever you buy or sell stocks). This fee is on a tiered basis that reduces the more deals you do. There is no deal fee on a fund, only the annual fee mentioned above.
I opened junior Stocks and Shares ISAs for my 2 sons with Fidelity through Cavendish Online. Theory being to save a little on the annual fee. My intention was to invest in funds anyway but I was disappointed a few months later when I looked into buying them some shares in Disney or Merlin, only to find that you can’t.
I felt a bit misled that I had a Stocks and Shares ISA with them but can’t buy individual shares. Not helped by being referred from MoneySavingExpert on their stocks and shares ISA advice page. It didn’t mention that only funds are offered. Perhaps I’ve misunderstood and there is a way. Must add “call Fidelity” to my to do list…
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