Using Online Investment Platforms For Investment ISAs

Rather than applying for your Investment ISA directly with one fund manager we recommend using the Nucleus Wrap (if you also have previous ISAs that you could transfer across) or the Cofunds Fund Supermarket (if this is your first Investment ISA). According to government figures to April 2007 a total of £208bn was invested in ISAs and approximately £128bn of that was invested in cash. With interest rates at historical lows we expect to see a lot of that cash being transferred to Investment ISAs

Arch Financial Planning Limited was an early user of investment platforms as we could see the benefits for our clients in terms of consolidation, convenience, choice, control and cost.  Since 2000 we have used various platforms including the Cofunds Fund Supermarket.  

Building on this experience of other platforms and our most recent research, in November 2007 Arch Financial Planning Limited joined with a selected number of other IFA firms and purchased a shareholding in the Nucleus Wrap as we felt that this offered outstanding value for our clients going forward.

The Nucleus Wrap is now suported by 65 IFA firms including ourselves and offers over 2,700 funds from more than 70 fund management houses, offering a wide choice of equity, bond, property, ethical, active and passive funds. A recent major advancement has been the use of a range of 20 risk-rated portfolios designed and managed by Old Broad Street Research (OBSR), iShares and Prism/Octopus and the ability to rebalance these each quarter.

If you would like to make a new investment or would like to bring existing investments onto Nucleus, please contact us on enquiries@arch-fp.co.uk or telephone 01483 204600 (if local) or 0845 3700 660 (local call charge only) and ask for Sarah Bond.

Nucleus Wrap

The Nucleus Wrap provides you with (1) Ease of transactions; (2) Access and control; (3) Reduced administration; (4) Enhanced choice; (5) Cost and economies of scale; (6) Asset allocation; (7) Fund research; and (8) Automatic rebalancing.

The charges on the Nucleus Wrap are totally transparent. Apart from our fees you would pay 0.35% pa for the Nucleus Wrap charge and a reduced annual management charge to the fund manager (typically around 50% of their standard AMC). There is usually no initial fee apart from our fee.

Arch Financial Planning Wins Top Award

At theNew Model Adviser Awards 14/15 January 2010 Arch Financial Planning Limited was named as New Model Adviser 2010 for the South East Region. Furthermore, at the Professional Adviser Awards on 21 January 2010 Arch Financial Planning Limited was Highly Commended in the Professional Adviser Baillie Gifford Financial Education Award. This is the third year that we have been shortlisted. For further information please refer to the Arch Blog.

Investment Proposition

If your investments seem to be rather unstructured and going nowhere you should have a look at our investment proposition for our clients and then get in touch to see how this could benefit you.

Get More From Your Pension

Did you know that by using the open market option when the time comes to purchase an annuity with your pension fund that you could obtain a higher pension for life? If you have had any health problems or you smoke or live in the right area the increase could be as much as 20%! Do ask us about this. You have nothing to lose.