We had a session on this at the London meetup. Here is the single-sheet-of-A4 how-to, which includes a non-complete list of institutions in the UK that provide index funds, and a very rough guide to researching them.
Oh, excellent—thanks so much! Side note: I really look forward to making some of the London meet ups when work pressure subsides a little, seems like these meet ups are excellent.
I’ll add to this—I’m in the process of setting one up. I couldn’t find anything about Scottish Mutual online. I’m currently trying with M&G, but I anti-recommend them. I believe when I asked who people are currently using, the answers were Fidelity and Legal & General, so those are probably sensible places to try.
My experience so far is that first time I tried to sign up, I entered a form field wrong and couldn’t correct it without starting over. The second time, I got to the stage of entering my bank details and clicking confirm, and the website timed out. Then they took money from my account, and sent me physical mail asking for proof of identity. (I assume this is a legal requirement, but I don’t remember seeing anything about it before signing up.) I’ve sent it to them, and they said they needed a week to review the documents, and that letter was dated the 17th and I haven’t heard anything since.
I don’t have particular advise, but I would point out that UK and the rest of Europe differ. You want to invest in a fund in your own currency to avoid exchange rate risks. If the currency that you need in your life is Euro, invest in a Euro notated fund. If it’s Pound Sterling, invest in a fund in that currency.
Thank you, also useful advice. My pre-moving to UK savings are all in Euro, my post-moving to UK savings are in sterling, so I guess I’ll have to look at both. Damn UK refusing to join the single currency, makes my personal finances so much more complicated...
Would you (or anyone else) have good suggestions for index funds for those living and earning in the UK/Europe? Thanks!
We had a session on this at the London meetup. Here is the single-sheet-of-A4 how-to, which includes a non-complete list of institutions in the UK that provide index funds, and a very rough guide to researching them.
Oh, excellent—thanks so much! Side note: I really look forward to making some of the London meet ups when work pressure subsides a little, seems like these meet ups are excellent.
I’ll add to this—I’m in the process of setting one up. I couldn’t find anything about Scottish Mutual online. I’m currently trying with M&G, but I anti-recommend them. I believe when I asked who people are currently using, the answers were Fidelity and Legal & General, so those are probably sensible places to try.
I’d be very interested in hearing about your experience and advice further along in the process. Thanks!
My experience so far is that first time I tried to sign up, I entered a form field wrong and couldn’t correct it without starting over. The second time, I got to the stage of entering my bank details and clicking confirm, and the website timed out. Then they took money from my account, and sent me physical mail asking for proof of identity. (I assume this is a legal requirement, but I don’t remember seeing anything about it before signing up.) I’ve sent it to them, and they said they needed a week to review the documents, and that letter was dated the 17th and I haven’t heard anything since.
Does your experience refer to M&G? I can see why you anti-recommend them!
Yes, that’s with M&G. I haven’t tried signing up with anyone else.
I don’t have particular advise, but I would point out that UK and the rest of Europe differ. You want to invest in a fund in your own currency to avoid exchange rate risks. If the currency that you need in your life is Euro, invest in a Euro notated fund. If it’s Pound Sterling, invest in a fund in that currency.
Thank you, also useful advice. My pre-moving to UK savings are all in Euro, my post-moving to UK savings are in sterling, so I guess I’ll have to look at both. Damn UK refusing to join the single currency, makes my personal finances so much more complicated...
I would recommend Fidelity’s FTSE All-Share tracker (it had the lowest fees I could find when I started saving some money in there a few months ago).