Hargreaves Lansdown

Hargreaves Lansdown review

Find out why investors like Hargreaves Lansdown, what you can invest in, how much the platform costs, and our expert opinion on the platform.

4.3 ★★★★★ (131 reviews) Write a review

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Our verdict

Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) has everything you could ask for in an investment platform. It has the accounts, the investments, the resources, and a much-loved customer support team. The platform was built with experienced investors and beginners in mind, with plenty of advanced tools plus options for those who want a bit of hand-holding.

When reviewing the platform, our experts found that HL isn’t the most competitive for commission. But for fund investing, it does provide excellent value. And sometimes you get what you pay for anyway.

If you’re looking for a well-known investment brokerage with a sparkling reputation, we think HL may tick all your boxes. But if you just want the cheapest no-frills platform in town, you might want to shop around.

Best for: Customer satisfaction

Pros
  • Wide range of accounts
  • No platform fee for some accounts
  • Free fund trading
  • Great customer service reviews
  • Excellent mobile app
  • Discount for regular investors
Cons
  • Expensive to buy or sell shares
  • Fee structure is slightly complex
  • No demo account
  • Some investors may not need all the features
  • As a listed company, HL has to please shareholders
Hargreaves Lansdown Fund and Share Account
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★★★★★
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Hargreaves Lansdown (HL) is the UK’s biggest and most comprehensive wealth manager. For that pedigree, it does charge higher fees than some other platforms.

Although it’s a bit on the pricey side, HL makes up for it with its choice of accounts, investment options, top mobile app, and buckets of trading features.

Hargreaves was the winner in the Finder Share Dealing Customer Satisfaction Awards 2023, with the maximum 5 stars for satisfaction and a huge 86% of its customers saying they’d recommend to a friend. Find out how to set up an account, what the fees are, and details about investing using Hargreaves Lansdown.

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  • Invest in funds, shares, ETFs and more
  • Online resources with UK helpdesk available
  • Open an account in minutes

All investing should be regarded as longer term. The value of your investments can go up and down, and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. If you’re not sure which investments are right for you, please seek out a financial adviser. Capital at risk.

What is Hargreaves Lansdown?

Hargreaves Lansdown is a leading “investment supermarket” for retail investors. It’s trusted with over £120 billion worth of investment from 1.7 million clients.

The platform offers a pretty comprehensive service to suit all types of investors. Read on to find out more about Hargreaves Lansdown and whether it might be the right investment solution for you.

How does Hargreaves Lansdown work?

To start investing with Hargreaves Lansdown, you’ll first need to open an account. The right account for you will depend on your goals. You might be saving for the future, for retirement, or even for your child.

Hargreaves Lansdown can help you narrow things down and find the right account, allowing you to compare accounts and tick things that apply to you.

To open an account with Hargreaves Lansdown, you’ll need the following:

  • Your national insurance (NI) number
  • Your debit card details
  • Your bank details to set up monthly payments

What products does Hargreaves Lansdown offer?

Hargreaves Lansdown offers seven products:

What can you invest in with Hargreaves Lansdown?

Hargreaves Lansdown ISAs

As with all individual savings accounts (ISAs), you get an annual allowance. This is the amount of money you can invest in the tax year, of which most of your profits are protected from tax. Once you’ve used up your ISA allowance for the year, you can continue investing with a general investment account.

Different types of ISA have different allowances, which we detail below.

Hargreaves Lansdown stocks and shares ISA

Your annual allowance for a stocks and shares ISA is £20,000 in the 2023/2024 tax year.

With Hargreaves Lansdown’s stocks and shares ISA, you can choose to either create a DIY portfolio or use a ready-made portfolio based on your goals and attitude to risk.

Benefits of a DIY portfolio

  • You decide which shares to buy and sell
  • Hargreaves Lansdown’s research helps you make decisions
  • Start with £100 or £25 per month

Benefits of ready-made portfolios

  • Have a portfolio based on your risk appetite
  • Hargreaves Lansdown will buy and sell investments for you
  • Start with £1,000

Lifetime ISA (LISA)

Lifetime ISAs are for investing for your first home or for your retirement. You can choose between a stocks and shares LISA or a cash LISA.

Your annual allowance for a LISA is £4,000 in each tax year. The government will add an additional 25% to your savings. This allowance is included in the stocks and shares ISA allowance, so if you invest £4,000 in a LISA, you need to minus that from to find your remaining allowance for the year.

You’re locked into a LISA, which means you can’t withdraw it without losing 25% to the government, so you need to make sure that you’re committed to either buying a house with the savings or saving it for retirement.

Junior ISA (JISA)

If you want to save up for your child’s future, you can save money in a Junior ISA. The allowance for the tax year is . This means that you can save up to this much in your child’s junior ISA without paying any tax on the earnings.

The Junior ISA is for children under 18 years old. It’s managed by a legal parent or guardian until the child turns 18 and is then automatically transferred to them.

Benefits of the JISA

  • Invest up to the annual allowance without paying tax on earnings
  • Friends and family can contribute money to the fund
  • Start with £100 or £25 per month

Hargreaves Lansdown pensions

You can save for your retirement with Hargreaves Lansdown, and when the time comes, you can cash out on your pension with it too. Here are the products on offer:

Self-invested personal pension (SIPP)

Self-invested personal pensions are suitable for people who want to make their own investment decisions – this means it’s in your hands.

If you don’t know what to invest in or whether an investment is right for you, HL does have advisers that can help you, although this is for an additional fee.

You’ll get the same tax relief with a SIPP as you do with other pensions. You can add up to £40,000 to your pension (if you’re a UK resident under 75).

Junior SIPP

For the ultra-organised parent or guardian, you have the option to open a Junior SIPP for your child. Allowing you to save for you child’s retirement. This works pretty much like the Junior ISA and the SIPP combined – there’s a allowance per child per tax year, of which the government will pay 20% tax relief. The “child” (they won’t be a child by the time) can only access the money when they turn 55 (57 from 2028).

If you’re looking for a way to invest in your child’s long-term future, this could be suitable. If you’d prefer them to have access to the funds when they’re 18, consider the Junior ISA instead.

Retirement options

For those who are about to retire, Hargreaves Lansdown offers the following:

  • Annuity (a guaranteed income for life in return for a pot of pension savings)
  • Drawdown (where you “draw down” funds from your invested pension pot to give you an income)

HL Fund and Share account

Hargreaves Lansdown’s Fund and Share account lets you buy and sell shares, investment trusts, exchange-traded funds, and bonds. You can build a portfolio yourself and benefits include:

  • Easily manage investments online, through the Hargreaves Lansdown app or by phone
  • Free to hold shares
  • Discover investment opportunities with a wide range of tools

HL Active Savings

Hargreaves Lansdown offers a service called “Active Savings”, which gives you an interest rate return on cash savings. Instead of having to shop around for savings accounts with the best rates, HL allows you to swap to a new savings account with a better rate without all the hassle of moving.

This is a nice service and allows you to make the most out of savings offers on the market. It’s free to use and HL makes money from the banking partners. However, that rates may not be the best on the market.

Does Hargreaves Lansdown have an app?

Yes. And it’s pretty good, too! It uses Face ID and fingerprint technology to keep it secure. Some things you can do with the Hargreaves Lansdown app includes:

  • See live share prices
  • Trade on the go
  • Keep an eye on specific investments
  • Manage your investments
  • View your history
  • Top up

The Hargreaves Lansdown app is available on iOS and Android.

Hargreaves Lansdown fees and charges

Due to the range of accounts on offer with HL, the fee structure is quite varied and depends on which account you’re using.

We’ve broken the fees down into categories to show you what you will pay based on the type of account you use (along with all the extra fees and costs to keep in mind).

How safe is Hargreaves Lansdown?

When it comes to security, Hargreaves Lansdown has an excellent reputation and is trusted by over a million customers. It’s considered to be a safe and secure FTSE 100 company that has a track record managing investments for over 40 years.

Your deposits are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme(FSCS), which means that you’ll be able to claim up to £85,000 if Hargreaves Lansdown were to go bust.

Hargreaves Lansdown customer reviews

Hargreaves Lansdown’s customers are really impressed with its service. In our 2023 Finder Customer Satisfaction Awards, HL took the top spot!

86% said they’d recommend the platform to a friend and customers were very happy with Hargreaves Lansdown staff (based in Bristol), finding them “extremely helpful” and “professional” as well as friendly and knowledgeable. Customers also highlighted that the platform is easy to use. The charges were described as “not the cheapest” but customers felt they were getting value for money.

On the App Store, the HL app has a whopping 4.7 out of 5 stars from close to 50,000 reviews. For android users, HL scores 4 out of 5 from over 12,000 votes. And Trustpilot reviewers gave it a “great” 4.1 with over 8,000 reviews (as of July 2023).

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Share dealing platform ratings

★★★★★ — Excellent
★★★★★ — Good
★★★★★ — Average
★★★★★ — Subpar
★★★★★ — Poor

Our customer satisfaction scores ("Customers say") are based on a survey of 805 customers carried out in December 2022.

All investing should be regarded as longer term. The value of your investments can go up and down, and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. If you’re not sure which investments are right for you, please seek out a financial adviser. Capital at risk.

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