Is Hargreaves and Landsdown in trouble?

[Knittedjimmychoos]

Founder just sold huge amount of shares, it's been rocked by the Woodford thing.
Dh has just transfered his pension into a sipp there. I'm wondering if vanguard sipp would be a better bet?

It's about 80,000.
Would vanguard be safer, even if investment choices are narrow?

Yep. Serious players ALWAYS ask for market advice from Mumsnet.

HL will be absolutely fine, it’s a huge company and backed by the FSCS for amounts up £85k - id personally stay put.

Hmmmmm. Well you can't do anything on a sat I would think? Or if you can, speak to helpdesk and find out if you can move it and check with Vanguard if you can move it there and thecosts.
Then read the papers to see what is being said.
Bit worrying. I'm just a member of the public, maybe someone with more knowledge will be along.

From their website: All client money is held by us on trust and is segregated from our own funds in accordance with the FCA’s client money rules and guidance so that any creditors of Hargreaves Lansdown would have no legal right to it and we cannot use any of this money to cover Hargreaves Lansdown's obligations.

Jt I was thinking amounts up to 85 protected but as dh pension grows, it will be more than than that.

We thought it would be better to have it in one place and under his control. I'm very sceptical of pension funds.

But light reading is making me think perhaps h and l isn't so safe after all.
Maybe some posters may come along with knowledge of Hargrave and vanguard. I know vanguard sipp is relatively new

I’d get the hell out if there if I were you!

Invest in FagAsh Enterprises, sink the lot.

You are comparing two different things, unless all his funds with Hargreaves Lansdown are already Vanguard tracker funds.

It depends if you want to hold managed funds and/or investment trusts or tracker funds. If the latter, then Vanguard is a good option. If the former, then I would not choose HL, not because of any concerns about their viability (they are by far the biggest UK platform of it's type in terms and highly profitable) but for a number of other reasons, the main one being cost.

High charges will have a significant long term effect on your savings, so costs should be as low as possible. These vary depending on investments held and their value, but would suggest comparing using a site like comparefundplatforms.com using your own figures, which is very quick and easy.

For example a SIPP with Fidelity via Cavendish can have charges of 0.25% vs 0.45 at HL (nearly twice as much). Other providers may be even lower, ie less than half the cost of HL. This could mean you could potentially be thousands of pounds worse off over the long term by using the higher cost provider.

Platform charges are in addition to the fees charged by the funds themselves. Tracker funds like Vanguard are usually significantly cheaper than managed funds and Vanguard's options can also mean you don't need to manage (sell and switch underperforming funds) and rebalance your portfolio, which you would need to do with managed funds, again potentially adding to costs.

YABVU to ask MN about your major investments, it's the last place I'd be asking for investment advice as it's so unreliable for guarantees that anybody is who they say they are.

The 85k refers to client funds (cash) held by HL (which is just a platform/middleman) the money invested in funds is invested in the funds you hold.

" The investments within a SIPP are legally ‘ring-fenced’ from the SIPP provider itself. That means that, even if the provider fails, the investments are safe – and also entitled to their own, separate FSCS protection. The extent of this protection depends on the type of product."
www.onlinemoneyadvisor.co.uk/pensions/sipps/sipp-investor-protection/

www.which.co.uk/money/pensions-and-retirement/personal-pensions/self-invested-personal-pensions-sipps/what-is-a-sipp-a4p4n0c1ts84

Kaz and buttermilk Thank you.

It's confusing because some funds invest in h and l.

Dh does invest in index funds, some legal and general, vanguard lifestragety and some other vanguard funds.

So his money is safe, but its worth looking at over all charges.

Why would you post this in AIBU?

Why would you post this in AIBU?

Why not? I’m always amazed by the number of knowledgeable people who post on MN. As long as the OP doesn’t make any important decisions based solely on information gained on AIBU, then I can’t see the harm.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS
During April 2020, due to their high fees and their trading platform constantly freezing, I requested that my shares be transferred to another broker.
Almost three months later Hargreaves Lansdown have still failed to transfer my shares to my new bank.
But the situation gets worse. Without my knowledge or agreement, they sold my ISA shares at a very low price and charged me £100 fees plus 1% Fx charges at £200. Their illicit action has cost me a lot of money.

When I contacted them to complain about their cavalier behaviour they were totally unhelpful denying any responsibility and passing the blame on to the receiving broker.

I am determined to take legal action to recover the fees they unlawfully charged and would warn others to avoid Hargreaves Lansdown at all costs.
They are the most expensive brokers with the worst customer service.