Announcing our 2026 Best Buys

This week, we announced our 2026 Best Buys – the Oscars of DIY investing without the fake tan and gushygushysobfest.

The team and I have spent the last 3 months trawling through over 40 providers, looking at fees, websites, apps, customer service, research, help, and more. We’re proud to unveil who we think makes the cut this year, and there’s something for everyone, whether you’re the Wolf of Wall Street, a nervous beginner, loaded, or have your first £50 to spare.

Some key categories for our readers include:

• Best ISA, Pension, Lifetime ISA, and Junior ISA – the big ones

• Best for Beginners – some really interesting options here which will help even the most baffled to get going!

• Best Low-Cost SIPP for accounts over £50k – one for mostly older readers who want to pay as little as possible but still have a pension option with drawdown

In other news, this week the biggest platform out there – Hargreaves Lansdown – announced upcoming changes to its charging structure from 1 March.

8 in 10 of its 2 million+ customers prefer Whiskas AND will either pay less or the same as fees are cut from 0.45% to 0.35% a year. If you have a smaller account, if you have a mix of funds and shares, or if you use their ready-made pension, it’s likely you’ll pay less. Customers can read our fuller analysis here.

The one bunch who will be feeling grumpy are those I call the Hargreaves Lansdown Fare Dodgers. Affluent, older, savvy traders who max out on ISAs each year (up to £20,000) and have enjoyed the fee-free ride for their surplus investments in shares, ETFs, and Investment Trusts, which then sit in a General Investment Account. The HL ticket inspectors are now out, and you’ll pay a minimum £150 a year on this account, even though share dealing fees have come right down. Boo!

Some of you will shrug and think you can’t be bothered to move. Others will look around. If that’s you, then maybe have a look at some of the ‘young gun’ alternatives out there? Fees will be super low, and the apps might blow your mind!

This year, we found that Freetrade, InvestEngine, Lightyear, Scottish Widows, and Trading 212 are the best for holding ETFs. IG, interactive investor, and Saxo are also worth a look for share traders.

In other news, this week we say goodbye to our wonderful Head of Research, Jim, who has put up with me for 7 years. Thank you, Jim, for delivering such great work which has helped providers, politicians, and regulators to understand what consumers want. I will miss your kindness, your loud laugh, hatred of pie charts, and insatiable and alarming thirst for tea.

I am dreading this weekend. My eldest is turning 18, and there will be 120 teenagers invading my house and garden on Saturday night. Oh, yes. The water cannons are filled, the threats are made, and the fear is rising. Wish me luck, my friends, wish me luck.

Holly