Hargreaves Landsdown - Discount ISA and SIPP Provider

Hargreaves Landsdown are one of the UK's leading financial services company.

Based in Bristol, they offer a range of services and investment products for the private investor. The company went public in 2007 and is listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Hargreaves Landsdown are best known for their low cost ISA and SIPP investment products, although they have a wider range of financial services available.

Hargreaves Landsdown offers a range of financial services, including:

• Share Dealing
• Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs)
• Self Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs)
• Independent financial advice
• Portfolio management
• Spread betting and Contracts for Difference (CFDs)
• Income drawdown
• Stakeholder pensions
• Annuities

The Hargreaves Landsdown stocks & shares ISA is one of the most popular choices for an ISA investor. Once opened, the ISA account may be operated over the phone (to a UK call centre!) or via the Hargreaves Landsdown website. Most of the day to day operation of the Hargreaves Landsdown ISA can be performed via the website. Adding money to the ISA, selecting investments and setting up a monthly payment plan may all be carried out online.

One of the biggest advantages of the Hargreaves Landsdown ISA is its low charges. There is no annual charge to hold the account, although there are charges for holding certain types of investment.

The Hargreaves Landsdown ISA also pays out a modest loyalty bonus made up of refunded commission for when purchasing certain funds.

One drawback of the Hargreaves Landsdown ISA is that there is a sliding scale of dealing charges for buying stocks, shares, and ETFs. Anyone intending to do a lot of trading of stocks and shares might be better off with an ISA provider that provides a fixed fee dealing charge (many brokers charge a flat £9.95 per transaction).

Hargreaves Landsdown redeem themselves on their low charges for unit trusts. Many unit trusts have no initial charges. Since many funds levy an initial charge of up to 5%, this leads to significant cost savings.

The Hargreaves Landsdown website lists the charges associated with each unit trust. The Total Expense Ratio (TER) is given, which allows rival funds from different fund managers to be compared.

The Hargreaves Landsdown ISA may be topped up with cash at any time. It's also possible to set up a monthly investment plan in order to drip-feed money into stock markets. The monthly investment plan can be set up so that the money is invested in specified unit trusts, or left on the account as cash.

Dividends from stocks and unit trusts held within the Hargreaves Landsdown stocks & shares ISA can be left on account or automatically withdrawn to a bank account on a monthly basis. This is a useful feature, since income from an ISA is free of tax and doesn't need to be shown on a self assessment tax return.

SIPPs are of interest to anyone who wants to take charge of their own finances.

The Hargreaves Landsdown SIPP operates in a similar way to their online fund dealing and stocks and shares ISA accounts. Investments may be selected from a wide range of unit trusts, ETFs, stocks and investment trusts.

Hargreaves Landsdown have a service which allows pensions from other companies to move into the SIPP. A SIPP is often a good place to move small pensions into if you have accumulated small pension pots from a number of different jobs over the years. Moving a pension takes several weeks, and Hargreaves Landsdown take care of most of the paperwork associated with moving a pension.

Before moving a pension into a SIPP it is important to take independent financial advice. This especially applies if the pension you want to move is very large, or is based on a final salary scheme, or has other benefits that might be lost if the pension is moved into the SIPP. Pension rules are very complicated, so an expert's opinion should always be obtained before moving a pension.

It's also possible to hold the Protected Rights element of a personal pension within the Hargreaves Landsdown SIPP. Protected Rights funds are obtained from contracting out of the State 2nd Pension. These funds are held separately from the main SIPP funds within the Hargreaves Landsdown SIPP, although it's possible to invest the Protected Rights money in a wide range of investments.

There is no annual charge for holding a SIPP with Hargreaves Landsdown, although there are annual charges associated with holding certain types of investment.

Hargreaves Landsdown offer a number of investment research services, many of which are free for their customers. One of the most popular Hargreaves Landsdown services is their Wealth 150, which is a listing of their 150 most preferred unit trusts. The Wealth 150 is regularly reviewed to ensure that only the best performing unit trusts are recommended to their customers.

The author of this article is not authorised to give financial advice. This article does not consitute financial advice. Before making investment decisions consult an independent financial advisor.