Charles Stanley Direct Reviews

Is Charles Stanley Direct a good broker?

Yes, Charles Stanley Direct is a good stock broker that is well-suited to experienced investors who are looking for a wide range of investments. Particularly those who are looking for added value, like trading over the phone or those looking for good research and insights on markets and investments.

Those who prefer to trade over the phone will also probably feel at home here because of the access to the firm’s dedicated dealing teams something that many online brokerages no longer offer.

Yes, you pay a premium for that service, but if your business or trading style, is not plain vanilla, is sizable, or not just focused on highly liquid blue chips, then you will likely appreciate the phone dealing service.

Charles Stanley Direct isn’t for everyone but is not designed to be. Affluent and experienced investors are the firm’s target market and its services are priced accordingly.

Account Types: Charles Stanley Direct has a wide range of account types all of which can be opened and managed online, including:

• A Stocks and Shares ISA – This is a tax-efficient investment account that allows you to invest up to £20,000 per year.
• A Junior ISA – This is a tax-efficient account that can be set up by a parent or guardian for children under the age of 18.
• A SIPP (Self-Invested Personal Pension) – This is a pension account designed for retirement savings.
• General investment account (GIA) – This is a flexible investment account with no restrictions in terms of contributions or withdrawals.
• Cash savings accounts – Clients have access to easy-access and fixed-term savings accounts that pay high levels of interest.

Market Access: Charles Stanley Direct offers clients a wide range of investments. In total, there are more than 12,500 shares, funds, and investment trusts available on the platform. This is a decent offering. However, it’s worth noting that there are platforms that offer even more investments. An example here is Interactive Investor, which has around 40,000 investment options.

Ready-made portfolios: There is a range of multi-asset funds that are a bit like ready-made portfolios. These are managed on customers’ behalf by the investment professionals at the firm.

Currently, there are six different funds to choose from here, each with a different risk level. One fund, the Monthly High Income fund, is designed for those seeking income. One thing to note here is that the Equity fund is a UK equity fund. So, it doesn’t offer exposure to US-listed stocks such as Apple, Tesla, and Nvidia.

In terms of the performance of these funds, it has been good but not brilliant. Between 2019 and 2023, the Adventurous fund returned about 40%. That’s a solid return, but investors could have done better with a ready-made portfolio from the likes of Nutmeg or Moneybox.

Fees: There are several fees and charges you need to be aware of with Charles Stanley Direct.

First, there are annual platform charges. Here, investors are looking at a fee of 0.30%. Note, however, that the minimum monthly fee is £5 and the maximum is £50 for all individual accounts (excluding joint accounts). In other words, the maximum annual fee you will pay is £600.

Then, there are trading fees. These are £10 per stock trade and £4 per fund trade (automated monthly investments into funds are free of charge). However, from October 2024, Charles Stanley Direct is introducing trading credits that give clients £50 in free trades every six months (in October and April). This means that the first £50 worth of trading charges on your trades will be waived in each six-month period.

When buying or selling international shares, clients must pay extra fees. These depend on the size of the trade:

• £0 – £9,999 – 1.00%
• £10,000 – £49,999 – 0.75%
• £50,000 – £499,999 – 0.50%
• £500,000 – £999,999 – 0.30%
• £1,000,000 or more – 0.15%

If you want to trade over the phone, there are extra charges. These are:

• 1% of the value of the trade (minimum £25, maximum £100) for stocks and bonds.
• £25 per trade for funds.

For SIPPs, there is an annual administration charge of £100 plus VAT. However, this is waived if you hold £30,000 or more in assets across the Charles Stanley Direct platform.

Finally, if you invest in funds on the platform, there are ongoing fund charges. These can range from about 0.1% to 1.5% per year.

Some other information in relation to fees to be aware of:

• There are no trading charges for Charles Stanley’s multi-asset funds. There are also no platform fees for these funds.
• Phone trading charges are 1% of the value of the trade (minimum £25 and maximum £100), plus international charges.
• Fees are calculated and taken every six months (in October and April).
• The cost to transfer investments out of your account is £10 per holding.

As for how these fares compare to those of other providers, they are not bad. But they can be beaten (depending on your account size and investments). For example, let’s say you had a £100,000 Stocks and Shares ISA that was invested entirely in UK stocks, and you made one trade per month. In this scenario, you’d be looking at fees of £320 with Charles Stanley Direct (a £300 platform fee plus £20 in trading fees per year) versus £188 for Hargreaves Lansdown (£45 in annual charges plus £143 in trading fees).

Customer Service: This is excellent. Charles Stanley’s customer service is better than that offered by a lot of other investment platforms, especially some of the newer players. With this Charles Stanley, you can speak to an experienced Client Services team, which is based in Edinburgh. This team can help you with technical questions about the platform or your account. You can contact the Client Services team between 7.30am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

Cash Back: It’s possible to get up to £1,500 cash back when you transfer your investments to Charles Stanley Direct. But is it worth it?

The cash back amount equates to 0.6% for £50,000 (£300) and the platform charge is 0.3% so if you are with Hargreaves Lansdown (where fees are as high as 0.45%) for example you will save money, plus get a bonus. But, if you are with a low cost provider like AJ Bell, where fees are 0.25%, then it’s not worth it.

To be eligible for up to £1,500 cashback, you need to transfer your cash and/or investments from another provider to a General Investment Account, ISA, Junior ISA or SIPP with Charles Stanley Direct Online Investing.