INVESTMENT CLINIC
I HAVE £20,000 to invest for income, but don’t have access to a computer or the internet. Can I have an account with a fund supermarket through the post or over the phone?
G. C., Halifax. Yes, you can, but you need to do a little bit of research first because some fund supermarkets charge hefty fees if you don’t have your account online.
The first way to screen out options is to look at whether they provide paper statements and correspondence.
According to research from the comparison service The Platforum, AJ Bell Youinvest only offers online statements.
Bestinvest charges a staggering £180 for paper statements (how it can justify that, I do not know), while it costs £24 from Hargreaves Lansdown and £12 from Alliance Trust savings.
Charles stanley, Interactive Investor and The share Centre charge small fees for this service.
some companies are charging prohibitive fees because they want to keep their customers online as it is easier for them.
Bestinvest, for example, charges £75 each time you buy a fund or share if you don’t have an online account; Alliance Trust Charges £40 a time; and AJ Bell £29.95.
It’s safe to say that these three are not the best value choice for customers without the internet.
One of the cheapest options for savers who want to manage their account through the phone or post is Chelsea Financial services, which makes no extra charge for its offline services.
Instead it has a flat annual fee of 0.6 pc of your investment.
The only downside of investing through Chelsea is that it only offers funds, not stocks and shares, so this might not be suitable for everyone.
smaller provider Willis Owen also has no additional fees above its 0.4 pc annual charge.
Fidelity has no charge for statements or investing in funds, but its fee for buying shares more than doubles from £9 to £18.50 if you don’t do it online.
Jeremy Fawcett, head of direct investing at The Platforum, says: ‘The largest investment websites, such as Hargreaves Lansdown, Barclays stockbrokers and Fidelity, are all OK for telephone accounts, but charge a bit more for it.
‘some of the smaller companies, such as Chelsea, are great for those savers who don’t want to use an online service and will also suit customers who want to operate over the phone.’