Should I Diversify My ISA Across Multiple Platforms?

I currently have around £25,000 in a stocks and shares ISA with AJ Bell and around £15,000 in a Starling savings account. I expect to have more cash soon to invest and would like to reduce my savings to invest as well.

My question is: should I keep investing in my AJ Bell Stocks & Shares ISA or choose another platform or investor so as to diversify? My AJ Bell account is CG AJ Bell Moderately Adventurous and has mixed investments of 40–85% shares. It is performing very well over the last 12 months, at around a 10% increase, so my thoughts are to stick with this.

I'm not authorised to give financial advice, but I can provide some facts.

Regarding cash – just make sure you have a decent cash buffer for emergencies. Advisers usually recommend this is at least three months' income.

I also assume you have no expensive debt racking up interest to pay off first – credit card debt or similar. There's no point in investing if you're paying 6%, 7%, 8% or more on debt.

If you are happy with the platform AJ Bell, then I don't see any need to diversify by choosing another platform. This is just the shop. When we talk about diversification, we are talking about the products on the shelves, not the shop. If the platform is well governed, then client money is ringfenced and held in separate accounts not available to the platform's creditors, so clients should get everything back in the event of the platform going bust and not even need to rely on FSCS protections.

AJ Bell is listed on the stock exchange and decently governed, so I would feel pretty comfortable about them.

As for your investments, the answer to this depends on your timeframes. If you are investing for the long term (say 10 years or more), then we would usually say someone can take a lot of risk and go up to 100% in shares. If it's three years, I'd say they should stick with cash. Don't just pick the Moderate option because it sounds less frightening! It really is about matching the volatility and the ups and downs to your timeframes, so you won't need to be a forced seller in the event of the markets having a shocking year. Most people would suggest that a Moderate option is suitable for timeframes of about 5–7 years OR people who just don't want the bigger swings in value because it would make them feel sick!

The fund you mentioned is already well diversified, so I think you tick this box.

Hope that helps and thanks for your note.