Hargreaves Lansdown Customer Reviews
Hargreaves Lansdown Excellent
HL currently is a market leader to my investment experience. Top service, top platforms, safe an secure with a large portfolio and great analytics. I would recommend.
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HL is not acting in my best interests, I have been waiting over 6 weeks for my drawdown funds.
HL pensions staff have not been helpful, open or transparent with my drawdown application. I am still waiting after 6 weeks and have no confidence in their internal work processes. HL are not acting in my best interests.
I wish I had checked Good Money Guide and other sites before as others have experienced similar issues. Delayed payment appears a deliberate HL policy.
Hargreaves Lansdown Excellent
HL currently is a market leader to my investment experience. Top service, top platforms, safe an secure with a large portfolio and great analytics. I would recommend.
Easy to use app. Moderate plans
App is pretty intuitive and decent value
Investment guide
I’ve been following Hargreaces Lansdown it has been helpful to understand present money and investing guide.
Good and safe
They hold my shares. It’s an easy website to navigate.
Excellent service
I like the HL app which allows me to follow markets and my investment with ease. It was also very simple to set up.
investments
professional competent and efficient
keep you updated trustworthy
AVOID AT ALL COSTS
1. I Sold isa to pay deposit for house. 2. I Changed my address which stopped me nominating a bank for transfer.
3. Spoke to them was asked to provide proof of house purchase which I did.
4. 10 days later despite an email saying they would be in contact in next few days I heard nothing.
5 Rang them , nothing had been done! I wasn’t allowed to speak to the relevant department they don’t speak to customers.
6. Looks like at least another week before I can even nominate my bank for a transfer exchange date is before that.
IF YOUR HAPPY TO BE ABUSED AND DONT WANT CONTROL OVER YOUR FINANCES HARGREAVES LANSDOWN IS THE COMPANY FOR YOU, FOR OTHERS AVOID THESE SOULLESS COMPANY.
Professional & efficient
People & platform – professional, competent & efficient. Overall, great value.
Does the job
No fuss – just really good platform and service
Platform is good but difficult to navigate sometimes
I find the platform good but it is difficult sometimes to navigate around. Customer service can be slow. Overall it is ok
Hargreaves Lansdown
I’ve been using Hargreaves Lansdown for about 20 years for my investments and have been very satisfied with the service provided. They provide a one stop shop for all my needs which include Stocks & Shares ISA, Cash ISA and their Active Savings product.
Really easy to use platform,…
Really easy to use platform, good range of choices offered
provides the complete package for…
provides the complete package for an investor.
None
None
outstanding
outstanding
Efficient but pricey, easy to…
Efficient but pricey, easy to use website.
Seem ok
Seem ok
App experience isn’t great
App experience isn’t great
Very reliable with good customer…
Very reliable with good customer service and care. Offers variety of packages
slow process to open savings…
slow process to open savings accounts and rates are uncompetitive
Very easy to use; and…
Very easy to use; and good tools withn the platform
Competitive and good help line
Competitive and good help line
expensive, flaffy
expensive, flaffy
Far too big
Far too big
Easy to use and customer…
Easy to use and customer focused
Excellent platform but expensive.
Excellent platform but expensive.
Excellent app and website
Excellent app and website
Good but expensive
Good but expensive
Excellent
Excellent
3/5
good enoughfor Isa and investments….
good enoughfor Isa and investments. on the expensive side
4/5
Easy to use & cost…
Easy to use & cost effective
Not had much interaction
Not had much interaction
Good
Good
Limited access through the app
Limited access through the app
Efficient service
Efficient service
Expensive recommendations not reliable
Expensive recommendations not reliable
The platform is easy to…
The platform is easy to use in both app and web form. Information is clear and making investments is very simple. They also have and Active Savings service which allows access to great savings rates with banks not accessible through other means
great app with good info
great app with good info
4/5
None
None
Good reputation but little used
Good reputation but little used
I have an outstanding claim…
I have an outstanding claim against them concerning Woodford.
Easy to use and to…
Easy to use and to trade shares
Not user friendly.. takes a…
Not user friendly.. takes a while to look for topics
Good for placing own Stocks…
Good for placing own Stocks and Shares and money deposits
Not the cheapest, but a…
Not the cheapest, but a slick platform so happy to use
no comment
no comment
Good
Good
5/5
Cheaper SIPP Fees than some
Cheaper SIPP Fees than some
Good
Good
Helpful customer service. Reasonable charges
Helpful customer service. Reasonable charges
best for junior isa
best for junior isa
Comprehensive and proactive
Comprehensive and proactive
Reliable, but some restrictions on…
Reliable, but some restrictions on more complex financial products
I wish they would adopt…
I wish they would adopt the usually accepted method of conducting financial information. I have had, several times, had to seek out an explanation for transctions instead of them being understandable “at a glance”. Otherwise, HL are OK.
OK, don’t have a lot…
OK, don’t have a lot with them, not keen on their website.
Great LISA and savings provider
Great LISA and savings provider
Good for trading account in…
Good for trading account in stocks and shares, less so for trading in unit trusts and in an isa.
Reliable great service and established….
Reliable great service and established. A platform you can trust
4/5
Good website but expensive
Good website but expensive
fine
fine
Good but fees are far…
Good but fees are far too high.
Solid, low cost provider.
Solid, low cost provider.
Opaque, not user friendly, hard…
Opaque, not user friendly, hard to understand reports
NA
NA
They are not the cheapest…
They are not the cheapest but v good support
fairly dear – could use…
fairly dear – could use faster payment system
Good site easy use friendly…
Good site easy use friendly staff will always help if you need it
x
x
Offer all services easy to…
Offer all services easy to use and trustworthy
No thoughts
No thoughts
Very good & easy to…
Very good & easy to use
Good service, expensive for funds,…
Good service, expensive for funds, less so for individual shares
Excellent for varied investment ways
Excellent for varied investment ways
Bit expensive but sound
Bit expensive but sound
Easy to use online platform….
Easy to use online platform. Reasonable costs.
The McDonald’s of investing
The McDonald’s of investing
Platform is good but messaging…
Platform is good but messaging service is lacking. Does not allow submission of scanned documents. Does not respond to all messages.
Very clear and easy to…
Very clear and easy to use platform
Works well for buying, selling…
Works well for buying, selling and holding a great variety of investments
Great for building a portfolio
Great for building a portfolio
No
No
Good.
Good.
Efficient and Effective
Efficient and Effective
Meets my share dealing needs
Meets my share dealing needs
Easy to use
Easy to use
4/5
Research poor and comments not…
Research poor and comments not updated on a regular enough basis
.
.
wwwwwww
wwwwwww
3/5
Good
Good
reasonable
reasonable
4/5
Very poor and outdated/old information
Very poor and outdated/old information
excellent website
excellent website
I like their app &…
I like their app & service, but expensive
3/5
Good iPhone app and easy…
Good iPhone app and easy to use, could do with a pots/bucket type filter. Fees are clear and buying/selling index funds and ETFs is free
Good range of investments and…
Good range of investments and easy to use.
Reliable
Reliable
OK
OK
Good service
Good service
great support. easy to use…
great support. easy to use platform
Good service
Good service
Website outdated and charges high
Website outdated and charges high
Good platform, expensive fees
Good platform, expensive fees
Very good trading and research.
Very good trading and research.
Works well for me, clear…
Works well for me, clear information, easy to access
Good, but pricey
Good, but pricey
large reliable service
large reliable service
Easy navigation
Easy navigation
Staff. Don’t care
Staff. Don’t care
Easy to use good app
Easy to use good app
Good platform but expensive
Good platform but expensive
User friendly
User friendly
User-friendly & succinct. A little…
User-friendly & succinct. A little more expensive. Poor on USA listed stocks
Good information, easy to use,…
Good information, easy to use, dyor on recommendations though!
Poor value
Poor value
I have been with them…
I have been with them for 10 years, charges high, service slow, web access and app good.
Good but limited choice
Good but limited choice
Good, quite expensive for foreign…
Good, quite expensive for foreign trades, expensive SIPP charges
Easy platform to navigate. Customer…
Easy platform to navigate. Customer support readily available and easy to talk to
Good service but I would…
Good service but I would like to see a wider range of investments
Good and easy to…
Good and easy to use but expensive
NA
NA
Expensive
Expensive
could be cheaper compared to…
could be cheaper compared to others
Very good custome service
Very good custome service
a bit costly and they…
a bit costly and they don’t hold all the shares you might want
Good mobile app, easy to…
Good mobile app, easy to use but the website could be made more user friendly
Super tool for investing
Super tool for investing
OK
OK
Platform is too ‘clunky’ and…
Platform is too ‘clunky’ and unnecessarily complex. Charges are high and unjustifiably so for holding funds
To expensive
To expensive
Very good platform that is…
Very good platform that is user friendly
.
.
Expensive and inflexible
Expensive and inflexible
Rapid access and trading.
Rapid access and trading.
Not the cheapest but using…
Not the cheapest but using the platform is simple. They cut costs a year or so, and there was a downturn in customer service
Some serious functionality issues with…
Some serious functionality issues with their Watchlists
Competent and reliable
Competent and reliable
Good but costs are high
Good but costs are high
good facility, probably bit dear
good facility, probably bit dear
Good
Good
Very easy to use, but…
Very easy to use, but expensive.
Adequate
Adequate
Easy to use. Rapid response…
Easy to use. Rapid response to questions. Should look at sending emails to announce dividends receiveds and for support.
Cheap, good value.
Cheap, good value.
Good array of companies to…
Good array of companies to invest in. Good for ISA & SIPP accounts in that the fees are capped per year
Above average platform but lacks…
Above average platform but lacks insightful or any comprehensive tools
Convenient
Convenient
X
X
Very good platform for investment…
Very good platform for investment but dealing system needs improving especially for smaller companies
Reasonable service, but mustn’t rest…
Reasonable service, but mustn’t rest on their laurels
Very easy to use very…
Very easy to use very accessible
Okay but a little on…
Okay but a little on the expensive side
.
.
Just ok
Just ok
A bit pricy but systems…
A bit pricy but systems getting better and it works well
Not responsive
Not responsive
Not enough info
Not enough info
5/5
Fees as investment fraction is…
Fees as investment fraction is punishing esp for wealthy investors
Good but not cheap to…
Good but not cheap to deal
A good, solid platform. No…
A good, solid platform. No complaints.
Ok
Ok
4/5
Not as good as 10…
Not as good as 10 years ago, but starting to improve
I trust HL, but their…
I trust HL, but their site could be a bit more sophisticated for international investing
trust, and a wide choice…
trust, and a wide choice of available investments, their charges could be cheaper
Good service, efficient
Good service, efficient
.
.
Wide range of funds, great…
Wide range of funds, great telephone support, poor research tools
Good but expensive.
Good but expensive.
Easy to use. Low quality…
Easy to use. Low quality research work by its analysts.
It needs improvement
It needs improvement
3/5
adequate
adequate
No thoughts
No thoughts
Good
Good
I use Hargreaves for my…
I use Hargreaves for my SIPP and ISA. Its platform works well for both.
ok
ok
Fit for purpose
Fit for purpose
Use as my investment platform…
Use as my investment platform and allows me to link multiple accounts (wife & children) for easy administration. More costly than peers but worth it for the things I need to use it for.
Decent value
Decent value
A good solid service, but…
A good solid service, but could provide a method of investing in the US, with stop losses
Solid & reliable for investing…
Solid & reliable for investing in shares and ETFs
Suit my purposes
Suit my purposes
Okay
Okay
Nice and simple APP to…
Nice and simple APP to use
Excellent and easy to use
Excellent and easy to use
informative and user friendly
informative and user friendly
A reasonable service
A reasonable service
very bad customer service and…
very bad customer service and the charges are high
Capital at risk
Hargreaves Lansdown Expert Review
There is no denying that Hargreaves Lansdown is one of the best investment platforms in the UK. They offer a huge range of investments and excellent customer service. In my Hargreaves Lansdown review, I explain what they are good at, what they are too expensive for and what sort of investor they are most suited to.
Hargreaves Lansdown Review
Name: Hargreaves Lansdown
Description: Hargreaves Lansdown is one of the largest investment platforms in the UK. They offer investing, savings, ISAs and SIPP account to over 1.8 million clients with 142bn in assets under management. The company was founded by Peter Hargreaves and Stephen Lansdown in 1981 and is now listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Is Hargreaves Lansdown a good broker?
Yes, Hargreaves Lansdown is one of our best-rated stock brokers and investment platforms. HL offers access to a huge range of investment types, through a wide range of general and tax-efficient accounts and is suitable for almost all types of investors.
Pros
- Wide range of investments
- Most investment account types
- Excellent research and analysis
Cons
- There are cheaper options for fund investing
- Limited portfolio hedging tools
-
Pricing
(4)
-
Market Access
(5)
-
Online Platform
(5)
-
Customer Service
(5)
-
Research & Analysis
(5)
Overall
4.8I’ve spoken to the founder of Hargreaves Lansdown, Peter Hargreaves a few times. First when I interviewed him over the phone and then a few follow-ups after that via email. I have to say that he’s to the point, detailed, charismatic and clearly has a huge amount of passion for the business.
Of course, Peter Hargreaves no longer runs the business, but for this review, I interviewed the then CEO Chris Hill, but the mentality of HL doesn’t seem to have changed. Hargreaves Lansdown is still one of the best investment platforms out there. Its research, market data, and market range are unrivalled. There are cheaper “free stockbrokers” out there, but your choice of investment is limited, customer service is basically a chatbot and many are still raising funds and running at a loss. Sure people complain that HL can sometimes be expensive, but in finance, you get what you pay for.
Founded in 1981, Hargreaves Lansdown is one of the largest fund management and investment platforms in the UK with 1.8 million clients and £142bn funds under management. Operating from its Bristol base, it offers a huge range of investment tools, ready-made portfolios, ISAs, SIPPs (pension), cash savings and foreign currency exchange. They also offer financial advice with a free initial consultation, research, webinars and guides to investment. The scale and scope of their offering mean they offer one of the widest range of choices for investors of all levels.
For those that are more risk averse HL Active Savings offers access to some of the highest-paying savings accounts.
In the Good Money Guide Awards, HL is a regular winner and in 2022 won the award for ‘Best Stockbroker’, ‘Best Investing App’ and ‘Best SIPP account’. 100% of those who took the 2022 survey said they used HL for longer-term investing, with only 33% saying they also made short-term speculative investments on the platform.
With a history stretching back four decades, HL brings the security, scale, and reputation of an established FTSE 100 company.
Now, onto the nitty-gritty of Hargreaves Lansdown and our ratings explained.
Pricing
Cheap for stocks, expensive for funds – that’s the basics.
Over the years, though, HL has become cheaper, and I expect it to continue becoming more competitive. They have a huge legacy client base that won’t switch to another broker no matter what, so that will be milked for a while with these reduced rates. However, newer customers should see commissions come in line with other major investment platforms.
HL is still horrendously expensive for US stocks, as their FX fees are quite high, and since there is no cap on fund account fees, these can add up very quickly for big accounts.
The jewel in the pricing crown, though, is the Junior ISA, which is free to hold and to buy shares and funds.
Hargreaves Lansdown Market Access
Excellent, with pretty much full market coverage.
If you’re a UK investor, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a listed instrument you can’t invest in through HL. So, if you’re looking to build a very diverse portfolio over the years and want access to a wide range of small-cap stocks, corporate bonds, and funds, HL is a good choice for investment options.
Plus, they offer the most types of accounts as well. In our comparison tables, only Hargreaves Lansdown and AJ Bell offer access to the full range of accounts including:
- HL Stocks and Shares ISA – For your tax-free allowance
- HL SIPP – For your pension
- HL Junior ISA – For your children’s 18th birthday
- HL Junior SIPP – For your children’s retirement
- HL Lifetime ISA – For the government 25% top up
- HL General Investment Account – For everything else
If you click on the links above, you can see our ratings for each of the key Hargreaves Lansdown account types.
Platform & Apps:
Generally, one of the best apps and platforms around.
The Hargreaves Lansdown website and app have been the go-to for stock market research. I should know – I sold them bond data, rankings, and analysis for years.
The website has an excellent market data section, so you can read through company reports, and the HL app is much more comprehensive than competitors.
Everything is easy to use: lots of order types, account statements, etc. It all just works. Let’s be honest, if you are investing with Hargreaves Lansdown, you’re going to use the platform and buy something in the long run. You don’t need lots of flashing lights and algo API connectivity.
These were all developed by a hugely experienced team that has now gone on to run Navos (fintech.co.uk), which builds investment systems and infrastructure for some of the biggest financial institutions in the UK.
They are grown-up platforms and apps for serious investors.
Customer Service At Hargreaves Lansdown:
You get what you pay for here. HL always picks up the phone quickly.
Whenever we test platforms, we always try to find a problem so we can phone customer support to test their response time. Some of the apps are woeful at getting back to customers. But then again, I’d say that investing apps are for small investors, while investment platforms and stock brokers are for when you have a bit more and need a bit of help looking after it.
For this review, and you can watch this in our video of me testing the platform live. There was an issue with cancelling the a stop on a position I had closed out. I managed to get through straight away and was given the answer after speaking to a couple of their staff.
Hargreaves Lansdown does have a reputation for being expensive, but then again, it’s not cheap employing and training staff to ensure that if you have a problem, it can be dealt with quickly – and may I add, politely.
Research & Analysis:
Superb, with lots of market data screens for non-customers and even more information when you are logged in.
Hargreaves Lansdown is a DIY platform, which means you have to make your own decisions. Now, I’m not being commercially cynical here, but when I was a broker, we wanted our customers to make lots of decisions. Because the more investment decisions they made, the more commission we made.
And how do you get your customers to make more investment decisions? Well, you provide them with the tools, stimulus, and research to help them make them.
As Hargreaves Lansdown is one of the biggest companies in the UK, listed on the LSE with a market cap of £5.27bn (as of 22/09/24), you can assume that they are providing a lot of people with a lot of research and analysis to help them make more decisions…
Capital at risk
Hargreaves Lansdown Video Review
Watch as we test the Hargreaves Lansdown investing platform and app. In our video review and test we buy and sell some Hargreaves Lansdown shares (LON:HL) and demonstrate some of the stock broker’s features.
Capital at risk
Hargreaves Lansdown Awards
Hargreaves Lansdown always wins awards with us, over the years Hargreaves Lansdown has won Good Money Guide Awards for:
- 2023: Best DIY Stocks & Shares ISA & Best Junior SIPP
- 2022: Best Investing App, Best Stock Broker, Best SIPP & Best Junior SIPP
- 2021: Best Full-Service Stock Broker
- 2019: Best Stock Broker, Best SIPP Account
- 2018: Best SIPP and Stocks & Shares ISA Broker
@good_money_guide Best DIY Stocks & Shares ISA… #goodmoneyguide #goodmoneyguideawards #investing #shares #stocks #stockmarket ♬ original sound – Good Money Guide
I’m afraid though, we don’t have any footage of Hargreaves Lansdown collecting an award because as yet they’ve not turned up to collect them.
Capital at risk
Hargreaves Lansdown Facts & Figures
| ⬜ Public Company | ✔️ |
| 👉 Number Active Clients | 1,800,000 |
| 💰 Minimum Deposit | £1 |
| 💸 Client Funds | £142 billion |
| 📅 Founded | 1981 |
Account Costs | |
| 👉 Investment Account | 0% |
| 👉 SIPP | 0.45% |
| 👉 Stocks & Shares ISA | 0.45% |
| 👉 Junior ISA | 0% |
| 👉 Lifetime ISA | 0% |
Dealing Costs | |
| 👉 UK Shares | £11.95 |
| 👉 US Stocks | £11.95 |
| 👉 ETFs | £11.95 |
| 👉 Bonds | £11.95 |
| 👉 Funds | £0 |
Capital at risk
Hargreaves Lansdown Global Income fund targets DIY investors
The launch of the Hargreaves Lansdown Global Income fund brings another easy-to-use portfolio building tool to do-it-yourself investors on the platform. The new Global Equity Income fund invests in a portfolio of dividend-paying companies around the world favoured by selected expert managers. The strategy seeks to strike a balance between risk and … To read
Hargreaves Lansdown clients swap investments for cash
Hargreaves Lansdown clients have been switching their investments to cash, the broker stated in its most recent quarterly trading update. Client cash balances at the firm rose to £12.7 billion during the three months to the end of September, up from £12.4 billion at the end of the first quarter of the financial year. Hargreaves
Does Hargreaves Lansdown offer currency transfer services?
Yes, you can transfer currency abroad with Hargreaves Lansdown, but not directly, HL uses a specialist third-party currency specialist to facilitate international payments. Here’s a look at its currency transfer services in more detail. Currency transfers with Hargreaves Lansdown If you want to use Hargreaves Lansdown’s currency transfer services, you need to open a currency
Hargreaves Lansdown kicks off Good Money Week with a look at the Emerging Markets
As part of this year’s Good Money Week, Hargreaves Lansdown, one of the UKs largest stockbrokers and investment platforms, has chosen to look at investing in the Emerging markets and the risks and opportunities within them with an emphasis on ESG. The initiative which goes on until October 6th, is designed to bring different sectors
Is Hargreaves Lansdown good for funds?
Fund investing is where Hargreaves Lansdown gets very expensive. unlike share dealing there is no cap on the fees charged for holding funds with HL. You can invest in over 3,000 funds or choose from Hargreaves Lansdown funds picked by a team of in-house investment experts that manage a range of Multi-Manager funds (fund-of-funds) and
How much does OEIC investing cost on Hargreaves Lansdown?
It’s free to buy and sell OEIC (open-ended investment companies) on Hargreaves Lansdown, but there is an ongoing charge. In our HL OEIC review below we go through the charges and specifics about investing in open-ended investment companies with Hargreaves Lansdown. There is no charge for buying and selling open-ended investment companies. Accounts … To
How much does Hargreaves Lansdown charge for investment trusts?
Despite it’s reputation for being expensive Hargreaves Lansdown is actually free for buying and selling investment trusts. But the ongoing account charges can rack up if you have a large portfolio compared to other providers like Interactive Investor and AJ Bell. To help you navigate the investment trust market, Hargreaves Lansdown provides trust r… To
Is Hargreaves Lansdown A Good LISA (Lifetime ISA)?
Yes, Hargreaves Lansdown’s Lifetime ISA is a great way to take advantage of the 25% government bonus with you £4,000 Lifetime ISA allowance as fees are low and there are a huge amount of markets to invest in. When you deposit money into a Hargreaves Lansdown lifetime ISA, the government will top that amount up by
Junior ISAs are now free on Hargreaves Lansdown
Since Hargreaves Lansdown removed the fees from of its JISA (Junior ISA) account it is now one of the cheapest ways to invest for your children.. This is good news as Hargreaves Lansdown is generally acknowledged to be not only the largest provider of direct-to-consumer investment services but also the most expensive. An HL JISA
Is it expensive to buy and sell shares on Hargreaves Lansdown?
Yes, but Hargreaves Lansdown is not as expensive as it used to be. HL does still cost more than competitors like AJ Bell and Interactive Brokers to buy and sell shares, but the account running costs can be lower because of the monthly cap. In our HL share dealing review below we go through how
Is Hargreaves Lansdown good for ETF Investing?
We rate Hargreaves Lansdown as one of the best ETF investment accounts as HL has access to a huge range of UK and international Exchange Traded Funds. Plus the costs of holding ETFs are capped as they fall into their stocks and shares category. Hargreaves Lansdown’s ETF platform offers a huge range of exchange-traded funds tailored
Hargreaves Lansdown Versus Interactive Investor
Is it time to move your money away from Hargreaves Lansdown? Hargreaves Lansdown has been making headlines recently. This is due to the fact that the firm – which operates the largest investment platform in the UK with nearly two million customers – has received multiple bids from a private equity consortium (good news for long-term
Hargreaves Lansdown Active Savings Gives You A Cash Alternative To Investing
Hargreaves Lansdown’s Active Savings product was launched by the investment broker in 2018 and lets customers pick and choose from a range of the best easy-access and fixed-term savings accounts. The Active Savings portal is now five years old and as of the end of December 2022, they have helped over 146,000 clients savings, over
Hargreaves Lansdown and Interactive Investors open up UK Gilt auctions to retail investors
Hargreaves Lansdown and Interactive Investor two of Britain’s largest stockbrokers, and direct-to-consumer investing platforms, are opening up the UK Gilt-edged or government bond market to retail traders and savers. HL & II are partnering with one of the UK’s largest domestic market makers, Winterflood Securities, to offer retail traders and i… To read this article,
Are Hargreaves Lansdown in trouble because of short sellers?
Hargreaves Lansdown is one of Britain’s largest stockbrokers and retail investment platforms helping millions of retail investors manage their savings investments and stock trading. So there is a certain amount of irony that the stock should be in the sights of that most speculative group of market participants, the short sellers. Why would you sho…
Hargreaves Lansdown announces a new ready made pension plan for SIPP holders
The UK’s largest direct-to-consumer investing platform and stockbroker Hargreaves Lansdown has announced that it plans to introduce a new all-in-one investment plan for the firm’s Self-Invested Personal Pension or SIPP. Hargreaves Lansdown Ready Made Pension Hargreaves Lansdown hopes will remove “ a lot of the difficult decision-making” that clients face, when they try to pick
Hargreaves Lansdown now offers ready-made and managed investments
Ready-Made Index Funds and Managed Hargreaves Lansdown Investments are now available on HL for those who want a bit of help with their investments. A new range of index funds were made available from June 6th and complement the firm’s existing HL-managed ready-made fund range that was launched in 2023. The four new Hargreaves Lansdown
Hargreaves Lansdown cut direct debit & dividend reinvestment fees
Hargreaves Lansdown, one of the UK’s largest brokers and direct-to-consumer investing platforms, has removed fees for investors who invest regularly via direct debit and reinvest their dividend payments. Reducing direct debit and dividend reinvestment fees As of Tuesday, April 11th customers who invest regularly via direct debit payments to Hargreaves Lansdown, will no longer be
Hargreaves Lansdown launches Financially Fearless
Hargreaves Lansdown has launched “Financially Fearless” a new initiative to coincide with International Women’s Day, that aims to help close the gender investment gap between men and women. What is the gender investment gap? Men and women invest differently, men have historically been more inclined to invest, and have had more money to invest when
Why is the Hargreaves Lansdown falling? (LON: HL)
Hargreaves Lansdown is a leading investment platform in the UK Stock is stuck in a bear trend due to macro uncertainty LON:HL remains profitable; watch to buy on a further setback When Peter Hargreaves and Stephen Lansdown started their financial venture back in 1981 in Bristol (reputedly in Peter’s bedroom!), few would have anticipated the financial colossus
Hargreaves Lansdown’s trading update disappoints the market
The Hargreaves Lansdown (LON:HL) trading update showed net new business in Q1, worth £0.70 billion, though that figure was below analysts’ forecast of £0.85 billion. AUA or assets under administration rose to £122.70 billion as a result The D2C investing giant attracted 17,000 new customers in the first quarter and now has 1.754 million clients
Hargreaves Lansdown adds Santander to its Active Savings service
Hargreaves Lansdown, the UK’s largest investment and savings platform, has added Santander International to its Active Savings lineup. Santander International is the trading name for the Jersey and Isle of Man branches of Santander Financial Services plc, which in turn is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Santander UK Group Holdings plc, which itself is part of
Jefferies highlights the challenges of old age at Hargreaves Lansdown
US investment bank Jefferies has published a research note on the UK’s largest and some argue best investment platform, Hargreaves Lansdown. Jefferies has updated their coverage of Hargreaves Lansdown in an 11-page note the upshot of which is that the broker has downgraded the investment platform to underperform from its prior rating of hold, and
Hargreaves Lansdown boosts its Cash ISA interest rates
Hargreaves Lansdown the UK’s largest D2C savings and investment platform has raised the interest rate available to new Cash ISA customers. Hargreaves Lansdown cash ISA interest rates Hargreaves Lansdown has raised the interest rates that new customers can expect to receive on cash ISAs at the firm. The rate has been hiked by 20 basis
Hargreaves Lansdown bets on data and ESG, with a human touch
Hargreaves Lansdown the UK’s largest D2C investment and share trading platform, published interim results for the 6 months until the end of Dec 2021, this morning. Client funds up 17% The earnings release showed net new business of £2.30 billion taking assets under administration to £141.20 billion, a gain of +17.0% over the same period
Is Hargreaves Lansdown’s keeping up with the cool kids?
The last 18 months have been a period of strong growth for investment platforms and businesses within financial services particularly those that meet the needs of retail clients. Or so we thought because, despite headlines about sharply increased online trading activity and thousands of new accounts being opened, that hasn’t translated into increased profitability at
Hargreaves Lansdown between the rock and the hard place
The UK’s leading retail investment platform, Hargreaves Lansdown reported figures for the full year ending 30th of June 2021 this week, and though the headline numbers looked impressive, as is so often the case the devil was in the detail. HL net new business grew by £8.70 billion and assets under administration, or AUA rose
Hargreaves Lansdown Cash ISA: What to Expect
Hargreaves Lansdown is offering a new cash ISA to sit alongside its investment option. It offers a different type of ISA allowing you to save tax free, giving you a different way to access your money. To find out more about Hargreaves Lansdown read our Hargreaves Lansdown review or compare Investment ISA accounts. What is
A closer look at Hargreaves Lansdown’s 5 funds to watch in 2020
Edward Sheldon takes a closer look at Hargreaves Lansdown’s 5 funds to watch in 2020 To help UK investors choose the best funds to invest in, investment provider Hargreaves Lansdown recently released its annual fund research report ‘5 funds to watch in 2020.’ This report highlights five funds across different areas of the market that
Peter Hargreaves, Chairman of Blue Whale Capital on investment strategies and the importance of investing in the next generation of fund managers
What do you do when you’ve stepped away from a FTSE 100 listed investment firm valued at around £9 billion you set up and have run for nearly four decades? Evidently, you set up another one. That’s what Peter Hargreaves the co-founder of Hargreaves Lansdown has done with Blue Whale Capital. Sometimes doing these interviews
Chris Hill, Hargreaves Lansdown CEO on HL being the most client focused business he’s ever experienced
I’ve always said that investing is a relationship business. Whether it be with a broker, a salesperson, a trading platform or a colour scheme. Choosing a broker can be in some cases more about how they treat you and how they make you feel rather than cold hard cash. It’s for those reasons that when
Hargreaves Lansdown FAQs
Yes, we rate Hargreaves Lansdown as one of the safest share dealing accounts in the UK because they are well established, listed on the London Stock Exchange, and regulated by the FCA. Hargreaves Lansdown is also a profitable company with millions of private and corporate customers.
As an FCA-regulated stock broker, if Hargreaves Lansdown were to go bust, client cash on account would be protected by the FSCS scheme. Client investments are held in nominee accounts on CREST and can be transferred to another FCA-regulated investment platform.
Yes, Hargreaves Lansdown is considered one of the more expensive trading apps, as they charge a commission per share deal as opposed to commission-free investing apps like Freetrade, CMC Invest or Dodl, where it is free. Hargreaves Lansdown is also very expensive for holding funds on account as there is no cap on their fund account charge. Whereas, AJ Bell fund fees are capped and Interactive Investor charges a flat monthly subscription.
Hargreaves Lansdown is a public company listed on the London Stock Exchange meaning anyone can buy shares. But only around 25% of HL shares are traded on the LSE as 75% of the company is still owned by the founders Peter Hargreaves, and Stephen Lansdown and employees. You can see the breakdown of Hargreaves Lansdown shareholders in our HL share price performance section.
Yes, Hargreaves Lansdown offers access to a huge range of UK-listed Government and corporate bonds that you can invest in to build an income-generating portfolio. We actually used Hargreaves Lansdown to demonstrate buying Retail Charity bonds when we reviewed them.
No, you cannot buy commodities directly on Hargreaves Lansdown directly, to do that you need a commodities broker. But, you can invest in commodities on HL through a commodity ETF which is listed on the stock exchange like the Legal & General Longer Dated All commodities UCITS ETF (CMFP).
No, you cannot buy fractional shares on Hargreaves Lansdown, you can only buy whole shares, ETFs and units of funds. If you want to invest in small slices of company shares or want to invest in monetary amounts rather than shares you can compare the best brokers for fractional shares investing here.
No, you cannot trade options on Hargreaves Lansdown. I view this as quite a significant disadvantage because options are a great way to hedge your long-term investment portfolio against potential short-term stock market falls. If you want to trade or invest with options you can compare the best options brokers here.
No, you cannot buy or invest in gold directly on Hargreaves Lansdown, to do that you need a gold trading platform. But, you can get exposure to gold and invest in a gold ETF that tracks the price of the gold and can be bought and sold on the Hargreaves Lansdown platform just like shares for example, SPDR Gold Trust, iShares Gold Trust or Aberdeen Standard Physical Gold Shares ETF.
No, you cannot short stocks or go short on the Hargreaves Lansdown platform. But if you think that the Hargreaves Lansdown share price will go down it is possible to short Hargreaves Lansdown shares with a short-selling broker using CFDs, options or financial spread betting. However, if you want to go short the overall stock market to hedge your portfolio held at Hargreaves Lansdown you can buy an inverse ETF (which goes up when the market goes down) like
Absolutely not! Hargreaves Lansdown is a traditional stock brokerage and is most suitable for those investing in the long term. Cryptocurrency is a very high-risk product and not apprapriate to hold alongside ISA or SIPP accounts. Having said that, the SEC has recently approved a Bitcoin ETF, which can be bought and sold on the stock market, so some UK investors may be able to buy cryptocurrency on HL if they pass the sophisticated investor threshold.
Capital at risk
Richard is the founder of the Good Money Guide (formerly Good Broker Guide), one of the original investment comparison sites established in 2015. With a career spanning two decades as a broker, he brings extensive expertise and knowledge to the financial landscape.
Having worked as a broker at Investors Intelligence and a multi-asset derivatives broker at MF Global (Man Financial), Richard has acquired substantial experience in the industry. His career began as a private client stockbroker at Walker Crips and Phillip Securities (now King and Shaxson), following internships on the NYMEX oil trading floor in New York and London IPE in 2001 and 2000.
Richard’s contributions and expertise have been recognized by respected publications such as The Sunday Times, BusinessInsider, Yahoo Finance, BusinessNews.org.uk, Master Investor, Wealth Briefing, iNews, and The FT, among many others.
Under Richard’s leadership, the Good Money Guide has evolved into a valuable destination for comprehensive information and expert guidance, specialising in trading, investment, and currency exchange. His commitment to delivering high-quality insights has solidified the Good Money Guide’s standing as a well-respected resource for both customers and industry colleagues.
You can contact Richard at richard@goodmoneyguide.com
