In reply to BigBrother:
I agree with neilh, look to lower your fees as much as possible. Extra fees make a huge difference to your returns over a few years.
With this in mind, is there a particular reason for wanting to go with Barclays? They'll charge you £6 per trade, and they'll charge you 0.25% of the invested funds every year.
You could own the exact same fund with a different broker and pay little or no fees.
For example, trading 212 would charge you £0 per trade and 0% annual fee. And they'll pay you 5.2% interest on any uninvested funds in the account.
They also currently have an offer where they'll pay 1% cashback on ISA deposits until the end of the month (the cashback gets paid into a separate GIA but you could move it across to your ISA after a year).
The above is not an endorsement of 212, I just used them as an example of one of the brokers who are a lot cheaper than Barclays.
When comparing fees, it is important to consider all of the different fees, how much you are investing, and how frequently you plan to buy/sell. You need to consider:
- The fund fee. A higher fund fee typically means worse returns for you. Don't assume it will mean that they will invest shatter
- Any annual account fee. This may be a fixed fee, or it may be a percentage of your account holdings. If you're investing small amounts, fixed fee accounts will be very expensive. If you're investing large amounts, percentage fees will be very expensive.
- Trading fees. If you're investing £20k at once, you may not be too worried about a £6 fee. But if you're paying in £100 a month and trading every month, you've lost 6% before you even begin. Some brokers will allow you one free trade per month to help regular investors.