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Independent, no-nonsense ratings and reviews
AJ Bell Youinvest’s parent firm started out in life as a pension specialist. And these guys know their stuff, unlike some stockbrokers who have chucked a pension into the mix. Probably one of the most solid and best value choices out there for those with more complex pension needs and questions.
We score each provider on about 20 different criteria including cost, service, website, functionality, customer feedback and our experience of the service. All overseen by our PhD gonk!
Beginner Investor
Confident Investor
Low cost
Strong on pensions
Good research and content
Don’t want to take our word for it? We ask existing customers and investors to rate their experience with the company – based on value for money, overall service and the website. We need at least 20 customer reviews before we add anyone to our Best Buys list.
Based on 190 reviews
No comment.
12/01/2021
I sent AJBell YouInvest a SIPP transfer form in July, transferring away from Halifax Share Dealing due to poor customer service. Five months later in December and with the transfer still incomplete, I regret my decision. YouInvest were extremely responsive when I was a prospective customer, but once they received my transfer form, they virtually ceased dialogue. To exit my YouInvest SIPP, they charge an exit fee of £25 per holding, plus an overall charge of £75 charge, which of course is well hidden away in their Ts&Cs when you sign up.
08/12/2020
Automation has left my last monthly contribution high and dry (i.e. not invested) because account charges were first debited (ref: c£4.00 from £2500 contribution!) - and computer saw "insufficient" money in my account! This is poor customer treatment obviously. Customer Service Advice is to do a manual top up, and a manual investment, this month. This is clunky in my view. I have cooled on AJ Bell.
20/11/2020
All kool. Crystallise a portion and take 25%. Whenever. My first portion 2 years ago. Now sitting on crystallised and uncrystallised portfolio. Simples. Drawdown was Easy forms to be filled at time. Online would be better with e-signature. The Reviewer is Post-retirement age.
18/11/2020
Good quality customer service all round. Setting up drawdown was fairly easy and no problems with transferring a number of old DC schemes to my Sipp. The Reviewer is Post-retirement age.
13/11/2020
Excellent The Reviewer is Post-retirement age.
13/11/2020
Easy, but still early days The Reviewer is Post-retirement age.
13/11/2020
Today the site could not handle the load due to the Covid vaccine news, and I could not get on and trade at all. This has cost me money. When I tried to raise it with the customer service team it was just ignored. I am pretty sure that I will be caching out and moving to another provider shortly. Bad, bad service and when I needed them they were not there!
09/11/2020
Cheap. Happy to hold Japanese company stocks. Use Dealing account. Provide excellent CGT tax schedule at the year end. Found it difficult to set up account at the outset. Would not accept SIPP because of unquoted stocks. Don’t use Research - Hargreaves Lansdown better.
01/11/2020
great overall package at a very competative price
24/10/2020
The Youinvest service is efficient and inexpensive for trading, although I think it charges for switching to another provider. Online seminars are patchy in quality and usefulness. The Investcentre service seems expensive without much service being provided. The Reviewer is Post-retirement age.
24/10/2020
Easy to use website, low charges and friendly staff if you need to ring. Staff not always able to provide answers though
23/10/2020
Everything's great, except perhaps the fund finder could be more flexible - for example no way of searching by yield only performance on an Income fund!
23/10/2020
App is a bit clunky but get used to it. Website easier to use to find information.
23/10/2020
Low fees, helpful staff and clear useful website & app. What else do you need?
23/10/2020
reliable and professional with helpful staff
23/10/2020
Really good but I always struggling to find my messages! Quick and simple otherwise!!
23/10/2020
Very pleased with their Adventurous Passive Fund.
23/10/2020
good easy to reach information, easy to deal and review your portfolio at a touch of your fingerprint. mobile and website work great together.
23/10/2020
Responsive service and clear competitive charges The Reviewer is Post-retirement age.
23/10/2020
Website isn't brilliant but apart from that I have found them to be good. Reasonable value for money and easy to get through on the phone, if needed. The Reviewer is Post-retirement age.
23/10/2020
Simple to use and easy to understand...helps we the newbies.
23/10/2020
They always get back when I have a query. Good value.
19/10/2020
What they lacked for me as a first time DIY investor was any kind of portfolio builder. I wanted to ensure diversification across geos, companies, sectors etc. when picking funds. I had to search each individual fund, copy details into a spreadsheet and then figure everything out from there. What is daft is that once you actually buy funds they can run a portfolio x-ray that tells you this information. Why not let you build and run that feature before purchasing? However, the feature is lacking because you can only run the x-ray on your SIPP and ISA separately so you still can't get one single view of your investments. I also couldn't see any kind of watchlist or favourites feature so couldn't save funds for review later. On the plus side, when I emailed them they responded very quickly and were very helpful.
19/10/2020
Clear detail on the website; extremely clear and helpful over the phone, offer a wide range of funds to chose from, as well as a variety of ways to support learning more about investing. As a relative novice I have been with them for about 4 years now, and feel very comfortable and at home with their service.
18/10/2020
I found their website easy to use and straight forward The Reviewer is Post-retirement age.
18/10/2020
App usefult for keeping tabs on your portfolio, even though you should probably not check too often to avoid the temptation to fettle with it
17/10/2020
Excellent, clear platform though now more expensive than ii depending on portfolio size
17/10/2020
Easy to use and lots of use useful tools to help you.
17/10/2020
Day to day is fine,but I had a lot of problems transferring from HL.This was partly HL.but AJB did little to assist me.They also don't give daily changes to funds in your portfolio ,only IT 's/ shares .Frustrating .
17/10/2020
Very good platform. Great -Shares magazine weekly
17/10/2020
Easy to use web site. Good service and easy to make purchases.
17/10/2020
Comprehensive and professional service and website but looks and feels rather daunting for a beginner.
17/10/2020
Easy to use with wide range of investment options
16/10/2020
Easy to use website, weekly free investing online magazine and excellent choice of investments.
16/10/2020
Cheap and good app with wide selection of funds and wrappers
16/10/2020
Website and app very easy to navigate with lots of information. Very wide range of funds and investment options. Documents and transaction support comprehensive, yet easy to find and review. Have used the phone service once and they sorted the query straight away. Interesting weekly share magazine. Feel very comfortable with them.
16/10/2020
Very easy to use. The website is very good, the app is good for managing your own holdings but lacks features for tracking possible future purchases. The Hargreaves Lansdown app is superior, even for non HL users as you don’t even have to have an account to create watch lists to track funds and shares.
16/10/2020
Service is great and covers all services (All ISAs - Regular, J & L, SIPP, Junior SIPP) and annual platform charges really competitive @ 0.25% but real kick in the teeth would be that regular fund investment (With diversified fund selection) could prove really cost coming in @ £1.50 per fund per buy which only YouInvest seem to have.
16/10/2020
I have my LISA and ISA with AJ Bell and find their platform straightforward to use.
16/10/2020
tries to be digital, but fails miserably
16/10/2020
The app could be better. Limited filtering of portfolio and no day change or yield. The Reviewer is Post-retirement age.
16/10/2020
Good value for money, not happy that prices arent live a d cant but some etf online
16/10/2020
In a recent SIPP transfer from Interactive Investor (II) representatives from A J Bell were very supportive in trying to expedite matters whilst II seemingly did everything to delay the process. Drawdown: Once transfer into AJ Bell was complete they quickly and professionally acted on my drawdown instructions. The Reviewer is Post-retirement age.
16/10/2020
App mostly well thought out, but annoying lack of function (daily gain or loss, growth of portfolio over time etc), stop losses didn’t trigger and you cannot instantly buy/sell without putting all security info in unlike HL where fingerprint/face id is enough. Fees are good value and shares magazine is very good
16/10/2020
Accessible with lots of information for newbies
16/10/2020
Good emailed information magazine. Not in drawdown yet The Reviewer is Post-retirement age.
16/10/2020
log in page good but Nutmeg
16/10/2020
I use AJ Bell for my SIPP and found them very efficient in dealing with transfers from other providers and in the ongoing administration of my investments. Charges are set at a reasonable level and are still competitive. Setting up the drawdown was straightforward. The Reviewer is Post-retirement age.
16/10/2020
Fell for the hype that is end of year best provider reviews and tried but almost failed to open an AJBell online account. Either all the current users are IT/website geeks or I am just a dunce but the AJBell user interface is frankly terrible. Just trying to do simple things such find what youve paid in when or how to change your investments requires a degree in rocket science. They may rate well but if you cant drive the basic website sadly I'm going elsewhere. There are plenty of great website services and AJ needs to spend a bit more profit on making theirs far more user friendly.
16/10/2020
good info provider, fees for shares are v high
16/10/2020
New to AJBell but a really good experience so far. The Reviewer is Post-retirement age.
16/10/2020
Dual authentication via app on mobile is very cumbersome
16/10/2020
good reading magasines
16/10/2020
In my experience an impossible organisation to work with. I tried unsuccessfully a number of times to setup an account and transfer funds into this organisation. I am amazed that an online organisation still insists upon transferring money via cheques in this day and age. I cannot actually recall the last time I saw a cheque book. The customer service was extremely poor, with an average response time to emails running towards 1-2 weeks, if there was a response. A J Bell may be low-cost but there's reason for it.
07/02/2020
Perfect for what I want. Which isn't much, just holding my SIPP safely with clean effective execution of what I've already decided to do. Don't really use their research (always do my own from company accounts and multiple other sources), don't have OEICs, just shares, ETFs and ITs. £100 a year to warehouse a £750,000+ SIPP. No one else comes even close. A couple of niggles about the website but all manageable, and no idea why they charge to hold an account but most providers do. No idea yet about who good the service when I choose to tap in but everything else works so no reason have doubts.
07/02/2020
A J Bell are continually improving their website. Useful research tools and videos and now offer both web and actual investment seminars. Like the security via secure message system and easy to talk to by phone at their Salford offices. They could reduce fees further to compete more with Vanguard.
24/01/2020
Straightforward and does what it says on the tin. Easy to use.
23/01/2020
Easy to switch to from previous provider; swift, polite and accurate communication; clean and clear site. Low platform fee is the main attraction.
23/01/2020
I have used AJ Bell Youinvest for my ISA investments for over a year. I would thoroughly recommend the platform as easy to use and good value for money. I have found it beneficial to research my investment purchases with information from the Youinvest website in combination with other financial research websites.
03/01/2020
Straightforward with very wide range of investments from funds (including own), investment trusts, ETFs and individual stocks. Free access to Shares magazine and other articles give added value.
03/01/2020
Easy to understand and use.
03/01/2020
As a first time investor very happy with the service provided
03/01/2020
A good, reasonably priced online service. The feature to manage other family members' accounts alongside your own is particularly useful.
03/01/2020
An excellent site, reasoably cheap, with multiple family finances capability.
29/11/2019
Easy to use and low cost dealing typically £1.50 per trade for fund purchases or sales make this a good platform for me as a small personal investor.
15/11/2019
All round nicest site, and people to deal with. Good costs.
15/11/2019
Cannot understand why AJ Bell does not offer LISA or JSIPP. Sadly AJ Bell do not state any plan to offer JSIPP or LISA in the near future either. I have therefore opened an account with Hargreaves Lansdown even though they are more expensive.
19/07/2019
No comment.
15/04/2019
Great and easy to use investment platform. I transferred my Help to Buy over to their LISA under a managed Portfolio, and also have opened a Dealings Account and ISA. After the initial document checks, very easy to get started with investing. - Great range of products to invest in. - Prices are good and ahead of many competitors. Hugely important when taking into compounding into account. - Website is user friendly. - Responsive and helpful on both Live Chat and on the phone. - Great research and information available for investors whether you prefer news articles and print, podcast or video.
05/04/2019
Tried to open a SIPP but they were unable to confirm my identity/address. Livechat was not live and answered my question about three hours later, rang them to be told Equifax could not confirm me (I have an account with Equifax). I decided to ring another company, within 15 minutes the account was open and they had my money and my custom for the next 25+ years. In the digital and online age, some companies just don't seem to function as you would expect.
02/04/2019
Simply unable to open a LISA for my daughter as they would not accept documents provided and want more and more... officious and impractical.
01/04/2019
Frustratingly, carrying out any changes to accounts (transferring ISAs in, linking accounts, etc.) requires much of the communication to be undertaken using snail mail - in today's world this seems remarkably backward, and reminiscent of last century. Surely electronic signatures (which are good enough for EU legal purposes) should be implemented and used as an option on digital forms? Account linking is not perfect either - I have 3 kids with JISAs and I can only carry out any instruction to deal on the accounts if I log in to each one individually, kind of defeating the purpose of linking :(
17/02/2019
Started investing for the first time at the end of last year and looked at most of the platforms available before finally settling on this one. Experience so far has been positive. Low fees, easy to deal, good research and reports. The only enquiry that I had to email them about was answered in hours. Website is not that intuitive to use, but a new one is in beta, and looks much better I think.
16/02/2019
The worst I've ever encountered!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
14/01/2019
value for money. UI of the website, better mobile app(native compared to web optimised that they offer at the moment.
19/12/2018
Good no-nonsense service. Much improved over the past few years. Good research capability. I like Russ Mould and his chums for their opinions and chirpy video clips, but I'm a Midlander so maybe I tend to relate better to people from north of Milton Keynes. I'm not a fan of paying on a per-fund-transaction basis in addition to the basic platform fee. I find it stilts my inherent promiscuity regarding fund trading. I'd rather have an extra teeny percent on the platform fee rate.
19/12/2018
Information promptly available and competitive charges. Ticks along nicely
19/12/2018
Good clean site. Excellent phone responses. Like all other providers, fund cost details need to be perfect.
19/12/2018
They speak plainly and make it very straightforward to transact. However, the website looks dated
19/12/2018
Value for Money. Their login / authentication security could be improved - picking individual characters from your password actually makes users choose more insecure passwords. Being able to manage (and trade) on all 3 of my children's JISA accounts from one single account would be beneficial but apparently isn't possible.
19/12/2018
19/12/2018
Fell at the first hurdle, glitch on the online application form, have now given up and will go elsewhere!
14/12/2018
Good site and reasonably helpful via email or phone. As with all platforms, cost detail is a struggle sometimes.
25/11/2018
Straightforward "no mucking about" website offering, much improved in recent times. Obviously making a big effort on the user-friendly front. Very good back-up information available. Call me a meanie, but I am put off by the (albeit small) dealing charge for fund transactions. Whilst realising that the platform charge is one of the lowest, I'm reluctant to increase the number of funds I hold (currently down to only 1!). I was drawn to AJ Bell by a media article and the cost/value for money.
14/11/2018
After calling to check they only offer 0345 numbers. These don't work with my inclusive minutes. Ability to call them is important for me so I'm afraid I won't be choosing Youinvest.
14/08/2018
The website fails too often and the portfolio listing is often not just wrong but very wrong. Don't get too excited if your share choices appear to be doing well, they may not be it is simply that the site performs very poorly on occasions.
05/03/2018
My SIPP charges increased from £200 per year to £500 when they raised the cap, so I will need to move to reduce costs. I am waiting for Vanguard to introduce their low cost SIPP. The YouInvest service is however, excellent.
27/02/2018
Easy to use web site and app - weekly magazine with investment ideas and build my personal understanding of investment types.
30/01/2018
The website could be more intuitive. For a novice investor I find it quite difficult to find out acronyms.
30/01/2018
I've found the website easy to navigate. Any buys or sells are handled quickly and I receive confirmation quickly. Easy to use the tools to screen funds by different criteria. I would like a way to order my funds by my own criteria rather than the alphabetical order they come in.
30/01/2018
They offer quick service. I think their 0.25% fee is too high. I prefer a lump sum SIPP charge.
30/01/2018
Like their email info and access to Shares magazine. Really quick and easy to get an answer when you need one.
30/01/2018
Website and online access a bit cumbersome.
30/01/2018
Too early to tell really!
30/01/2018
Capped prices for ETFs and ITs - like.
30/01/2018
Good interesting investment commentary. High exit charges to transfer out, these should be lowered.
30/01/2018
Videos and market updates included on them.
30/01/2018
Easy to place trades, low cost no thrills service.
30/01/2018
The removal of the cap on charges more than doubled my costs so I am still angry and will probably move elsewhere. The research info is good. The website looks like it is from the 1990's but does work. The mobile app is a step forward but still needs more work.
30/01/2018
The website is easy to navigate around and manage my account, it was easy to set up a Stocks and Shares ISA and the research available is really useful.
30/01/2018
Cheaper costs are the main factor. Website isn't the slickest, but to be fair it works fine.
30/01/2018
Got used to it.
30/01/2018
Low fees, cheap regular investing charge, regular investing and has Vanguard ETFs.
30/01/2018
AJ Bell Youinvest has designed its site for amateur investors. Hargreaves Lansdown has the largest range of ETFs, and tax-wrappers on one platform.
30/01/2018
AJ Bell is for hobbyists - you really ought to know your stuff before you start using them. The website and the terminology used even within personal accounts is far from intuitive. On the other hand they provide excellent value for money - the 0.25% minimum for funds is already good value but if you are an index fund user then switching to ETFs can save you most of that because they are counted as stocks and so don't incur a percentage charge. I've been with AJ Bell for 8 years and in most of that time have paid around 2-3bps pa and have never had a problem with my SIPP. I have thought about moving my ISA and my childrens' JISAs to AJBell but thus far ATS have done just enough to keep them (but only just).
P
18/12/2017
They're only interested in how much money they make from you.
Anon
21/11/2017
Ease of investing in wide range of shares and funds. Regular investing.
26/09/2017
Don't really communicate much.
26/09/2017
Simple to use and cost effective. Would like cheaper share trading costs ideally.
26/09/2017
Easy to use and was previously good value. But have now added fees.
26/09/2017
Nothing special.
26/09/2017
It works. Needs to improve the range of assets, bonds and corporate bonds which can be traded without telephone intervention.
04/07/2017
Low costs, the website is ok, but still needs improvement.
04/07/2017
Good online platform. Customer service varies from ok to poor.
04/07/2017
Good availability of information and low fees. Could do with more tutorials and help in selecting funds.
04/07/2017
Goo fee transparency.
04/07/2017
No comment.
04/07/2017
Their on-line dealing system is good. Their customer service department can vary from ok to terrible.
04/07/2017
Good online security, broad investment choice and competitive charging structure.
04/07/2017
Decent value for money.
O
04/07/2017
Offers a good range of funds at an affordable price. It would be good to be able to view portfolio performance and historical valuations.
04/07/2017
Good cost effective service.
04/07/2017
Easy to use, has portfolios to sign up for.
K
04/07/2017
Cost effective.
04/07/2017
Good on the phone. They could improve by bringing down fees.
04/07/2017
The investors' London events are good and my accounts have been operated without any problems that I am aware of. But the investment research could be better.
04/07/2017
Great service desk - I've had 4-5 interactions, all of them with friendly, knowledgeable people.
04/07/2017
I like the website navigability and function.
04/07/2017
Efficient service.
04/07/2017
I like the simple layout of the website and clear instructions. Also like the number of IPO that they have on offer.
04/07/2017
I believe that AJ Bell Youinvest's service is exemplary. They are very helpful and their website is self-explanatory and easy to use. I believe that they are first rate.
04/07/2017
The ability to do everything online. Now that I am switching to the withdrawal stage of my life as far as pension is concerned, I'd like to see more explicit tracking of lifetime allowance utilisation.
04/07/2017
It's pretty good and not too expensive. Would be nice to be able to combine costs across family accounts though.
04/07/2017
I like the competitive commission rates. The complimentary copy of Shares is an excellent idea. But the website feels too clunky. It would be useful to have a tool to evaluate performance e.g. show annualised returns for portfolios as well as individual shares. Something that allows these results to be compared against other measures such as the FTSE 100 or inflation rates.
04/07/2017
Low cost. Just keep their price low.
04/07/2017
Accessing their website for Youinvest is very difficult and complaints about this seem to make no difference.
04/07/2017
The fees appear reasonable for the service provided - although I'd like much more transparency around how much I'm actually paying! The Web site is poor compared to Hargreaves Lansdown and needs significant work to bring it up to par.
G
04/07/2017
Easy to use. Transparent costs. Needs better individual company research.
04/07/2017
Website and mobile log in could be easier if it didn't request specific characters from the password but rather a normal password field (that can be filled by password manangers).
04/07/2017
Needs an easier logon.
04/07/2017
I like that it's simple. The regular investment tool doesn't work with all investments (need to call them).
04/07/2017
I like: easy to use, call centre. Needs to improve: shares available, direct access to market, online trading for US stocks after 5pm, posibility to hold cash in other currencies, etc.
04/07/2017
Paper forms for SIPP contributions are a pain.
04/07/2017
The reporting could be better. I would like to know how each acquisition is doing over the time I have owned it as opposed to just how a stock is doing against cost. For example, I pound cost average and I frequently purchase a fund of funds. With each acquisition, it would be great to know the performance of that specific acquisition and not just the broad holding.
04/07/2017
FX fees are too high, and portfolio view could be improved.
04/07/2017
Low cost for an adequate service. Go paperless on pension drawdown to reduce costs.
04/07/2017
I like the competitive dealing fees, regular investment feature and dividend reinvestment plan.
L
04/07/2017
Share graphs could be added to the app.
04/07/2017
The mobile app could definitely be better.
04/07/2017
I like the low fees, reasonable customer service (sometimes exceptional), good website.
04/07/2017
Good ease of use.
S
04/07/2017
Cheap, low custody charges. Good for UK equities, but not so good for US � those can only be traded at certain hours, which is restrictive.
O
04/07/2017
Clear and low cost product, and easy (ish) to use.
04/07/2017
Cheap, and easy to use interface. I would improve the charting software � it is a bit clunky
04/07/2017
Good value. The non-UK prices and charts could be more up to date.
04/07/2017
Easy to interpret info, explanations and purchase procedure.
04/07/2017
Well thought out.
04/07/2017
The range of markets to which one has access could be better. Customer Service is very responsive (though one encounter was anti-customer).
04/07/2017
Telephone customer service has been very good and when mistakes are made (which happens with all providers in my experience) they rectify them quickly and fairly.
04/07/2017
Easy to work with
04/07/2017
I would like even more stock availability, particularly foreign shares.
04/07/2017
Would like the customer representatives to be available after 5pm.
04/07/2017
It does what it says on the tin - relatively cheap and cheerful with few bells and whistles. It is not as slick as Fidelity or Hargreaves Lansdown, but it does the job for me.
04/07/2017
Clean interface
04/07/2017
Easy to deal with. Website works, and is not clunky.
04/07/2017
Fewer sales emails would be better. Also, disappointed with the reliability of the messaging service, and recently received no feedback that a stop loss trade had been implemented.
04/07/2017
Fees are not as high as other brokers. The website is good - I like the way they show my portfolios.
04/07/2017
Easy to use service; decent dealing charges.
04/07/2017
Good mobile app and website. Makes investing and getting income easy. It's also highly competetive on cost.
04/07/2017
I like Russ Mould and his video commentaries. I also like the mobile app. I think the website can be improved and tools for managing portfolios made better. I would like to see real time prices on one screen for my portfolio and other stocks that I put in a wishlist. The current website is very poor in that regard.
04/07/2017
Simplicity of service and I like the free Shares Magazine
04/07/2017
Decent charges.
04/07/2017
Website easy to use. There is a costs for holding investments - I had to sell some stock to pay costs. Never had to do this with original fund platforms.
04/07/2017
Would be improved if it was possible to pay fees directly rather than being taken from the account.
04/07/2017
Good portfolio overview and I like the free Shares Magazine.
04/07/2017
Good value for money.
J
04/07/2017
Cheap monthly investment �1.50. Need to click through too many pages to get the info you are looking for but they do seem to be improving this. I prefer iWeb website simple to navigate and cheap.
04/07/2017
I like the website and research option but there is currently no mobile app.
04/07/2017
Almost as good as Hargreaves but cheaper. Could be improved by adding trends, charts and sectors rising/falling.
04/07/2017
Simple and straight forward. Easy to use and reasonable fees.
04/07/2017
Low cost support charges and a good range of investments although they could widen the range further.
04/07/2017
Simple to use but the fees could be improved.
04/07/2017
It has separated DIY investors into a separate category from wealth managers and other 'large pot' investors. Some other providers seem a bit clunky but AJ Bell has a very good interface.
04/07/2017
Simple to use, no frills and not that expensive for small investors. I'd like more tools and content but its cheaper and easier than other services I've used.
04/07/2017
I like the ability to invest in ETFs and investment trusts monthly for only �1.50. Also the dividend reinvestment service. Compared to other investment services the website seems to be down more often. Overall I think its good value for money.
S
04/07/2017
Good range of funds. Low costs.
04/07/2017
I've not used this enough to make a proper judgement but initially I would say its not as good as other investment services I've used.
04/07/2017
Average type of service.
M
04/07/2017
Easy to use and a good level of tech for the cost. It compares very well to other providers I've used.
04/07/2017
Best for Pensions
AJ Bell Youinvest are strong on charges, are a decent all-rounder, however their customer feedback not as strong.
Best for Beginner
They have decent costs for smaller accounts in their passive multi-assets funds, but their guidance is not quite as intuitive as others.
The secure site has been much improved. It’s clear to navigate around and it’s one of the easiest platforms for trading.
Post trade things are played back simply which might seem obvious but many others could learn a lesson from this!
(Will try to source image from AJ Bell that is pension-specific)
Stocks and Shares ISA
Junior ISA
Lifetime ISA
Shares
Pension
Own brand funds
Funds from other groups
Stocks and shares
Robo advice / ready-made portfolios
Help building a portfolio
Includes a shortlist of investments
Pick your own funds
Pick your own shares
Customers choose AJ Bell Youinvest for drawdown because of their solid reputation and reasonable charges. Setting up drawdown is straightforward and easy-peasy, and their ongoing service is excellent.
AJ Bell Youinvest is a low-cost option for people who are comfortable with investing. There are loads of investment options – including individual shares and funds. It also has a range of low-cost all-in-one passive funds for those who want someone else to do the heavy lifting.
Charges start off at 0.25% for the platform, excluding any fund charges. This tiers down for large portfolios and there’s a cap on shares – the admin fee on any shares held will be capped at £10 a month from 2021. This tends to make them pretty cheap, whether you have a small or large portfolio containing shares or funds. There are fund and share dealing charges, £1.50 and £9.95 respectively, so there are cheaper options available for those that regularly invest small amounts into multiple funds.
From the 1st of January 2021, accessing your pension will be free, as AJ Bell have decided to remove the specific fees for drawdown events (such as ad hoc payments). This makes the costs of having a pension here easier to compute. There are no exit fees for cash transfers but they still charge exit fees for transferring investments in specie and are one of the few in the market to do so.
| Provider Size: | Large firm: manages £bns on behalf of investors and financial advisers |
| Minimum amounts: | £1000 minimum lump sum investment. |
"Good day, If I were to invest with A J Bell or Hargreaves Lansdown in a self select Stocks & Shares ISA and they were to 'go bust', what would happen to my investment? Thanks."
David, County Down
28/07/2020
Read our replyGood day, If I were to invest with A J Bell or Hargreaves Lansdown in a self select Stocks & Shares ISA and they were to 'go bust', what would happen to my investment? Thanks.
David, County Down
28/07/2020
Hi David,
All platforms will appoint what we call a custodian. One of the jobs of this custodian is to effectively ring fence client money and client investments, so that if the platform business itself goes bust, the client money remains protected and intact.
AJ Bell and Hargreaves Lansdown look after about £50 billion and £100 billion of clients' investments respectively, and I think you're on very certain ground with either of these two options.
This is a very well regulated industry and the custodians role means that you should not need to worry about the impact of these firms potentially going bust.
Hope this helps,
Holly
We are not regulated to give personal financial advice - This isn’t full-fat regulated financial advice. Boring Money is a publisher and not regulated by the FCA.
This means we can't help with specific personal circumstances or recommend specific investment products. It also basically means that if we say something daft, you have no recourse to come back and complain.
We’re only allowed to give you a steer or share an opinion or tell you the facts - That said, we promise that our answer to you is an independent unbiased perspective with no commercial gain to make. If you need regulated financial advice, you can find a good adviser via sites such as Unbiased & Vouchedfor.
"Hi, I'm trying to choose an 80/20 low cost tracker fund to transfer my pension to, as I'm currently paying 1% fees to my provider which I want to save on. Does the performance of different tracker funds vary a lot (e.g. between PensionBee, Nutmeg, AJ Bell) and how do I compare their track records? Many thanks, Vivienne"
Vivienne, London
22/07/2020
Read our replyHi, I'm trying to choose an 80/20 low cost tracker fund to transfer my pension to, as I'm currently paying 1% fees to my provider which I want to save on. Does the performance of different tracker funds vary a lot (e.g. between PensionBee, Nutmeg, AJ Bell) and how do I compare their track records? Many thanks, Vivienne
Vivienne, London
22/07/2020
Hi Vivienne,
Thanks for your question. The short answer to your first question about PensionBee, Nutmeg, & AJ Bell Youinvest - is yes, the performance between the various investment solutions you name does vary quite a lot.
In theory the very definition of a tracker fund is that it mirrors an index. So for retail investors, anything tracking the FTSE 100 for example will basically return you the same. That's the theory.
In reality, the sorts of options you mention will typically offer about five choices, which will differ in volatility and the percentage of shares in the portfolios. However, one provider's most volatile portfolio might have 95% of shares in it for example, while another provider's might have 80%. So it can be very difficult to compare like with like.
The other thing is that even if you compare two investment portfolios which both have 80% in shares, the underlying geographies will probably be different. We've seen examples over the last few years where groups have taken very different positions on US equities and have consequently had very different results.
These sorts of ready made investment options are relatively new in the market and very few have meaningful track records yet. A track record of less than a year is monkey and a dart board kind of stuff. I think you really need to see a track record of five years to evidence skill over luck, and none of these guys really have these long track records.
So, the long answer is that it is very hard to make a decision about these providers on an informed and reliable performance basis.
I would use our Compare pages to help you identify two or three you like the look of, and then visit their sites to see what the precise make up of their 80/20 portfolios is - and go from there.
Additionally, this article which was run in June's Telegraph may be helpful to you.
Good luck and I'm sorry I don't have a more concrete answer!
Holly
We are not regulated to give personal financial advice - This isn’t full-fat regulated financial advice. Boring Money is a publisher and not regulated by the FCA.
This means we can't help with specific personal circumstances or recommend specific investment products. It also basically means that if we say something daft, you have no recourse to come back and complain.
We’re only allowed to give you a steer or share an opinion or tell you the facts - That said, we promise that our answer to you is an independent unbiased perspective with no commercial gain to make. If you need regulated financial advice, you can find a good adviser via sites such as Unbiased & Vouchedfor.
"I'm a newbie investor looking for a SIPP. I see AJ Bell have low fees compared to Hargreaves Lansdown. Is it worth the lower fees even though there are exit charges, or pay the higher Hargreaves Lansdown charges, but have no exit fees?"
Andy, Hampshire
20/04/2020
Read our replyI'm a newbie investor looking for a SIPP. I see AJ Bell have low fees compared to Hargreaves Lansdown. Is it worth the lower fees even though there are exit charges, or pay the higher Hargreaves Lansdown charges, but have no exit fees?
Andy, Hampshire
20/04/2020
Both options you mention have very good service and are decent propositions. The AJ Bell Youinvest fees are indeed lower cost from an ongoing administration perspective.
You don’t say if you are in saving-up mode with your pension, or are close to ‘drawing down’ money out of it. AJ Bell Youinvest does have a menu of costs for those in drawdown mode whereas Hargreaves Lansdown's fee is more inclusive so it’s worth considering that too if you are close to retirement.
As for exit fees...
AJ Bell Youinvest is really quite unusual these days in having them.
I hate them, BUT you can make the argument that moving stuff out of an account costs money and why should everyone else subsidise those who do this?
This argument gets thinner and thinner the more that tech brings costs down. My gut feel is that if you chose AJ Bell Youinvest you would be broadly happy there, and I trust the integrity of the management team not to change direction/stuff things up/ become greedy.
So the exit fees question could be a moot point.
Broadly speaking I don’t think you’ll go far wrong with either. The larger your account, the more material the cost difference between the two options will be.
Hope that helps,
Holly
We are not regulated to give personal financial advice - This isn’t full-fat regulated financial advice. Boring Money is a publisher and not regulated by the FCA.
This means we can't help with specific personal circumstances or recommend specific investment products. It also basically means that if we say something daft, you have no recourse to come back and complain.
We’re only allowed to give you a steer or share an opinion or tell you the facts - That said, we promise that our answer to you is an independent unbiased perspective with no commercial gain to make. If you need regulated financial advice, you can find a good adviser via sites such as Unbiased & Vouchedfor.
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