# Managed Funds - invest directly or through a broker?



## bbi1 (2 October 2014)

I'm thinking about going into a few managed funds & have come across InvestSmart.com.au which gives a breakdown of different funds. I'm not sure if I invest directly with the fund itself, will it save me on any trailing commissions that they would pay the broker, or would I end up with the same return as if I used InvestSmart as my broker? Any extra benefits of using this company rather than going direct?


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## bbi1 (4 October 2014)

Anybody????


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## Panaman (4 October 2014)

I think investsmart give a rebate on commissions they may get for you buying into the funds they offer, Comsec and a few others are the same, so I think it depends on each fund, obviously if you want one of the ones that pays commission to agents then its best to go through an agent who will rebate some of that too you for using there service.

I have only bought a Vanguard fund for my super and did it directly with Vanguard, they don’t pay commission or fees to third parties as there a low cost index fund manager so all they are doing is benchmarking to an index and tracking it with the fund.

Hope that’s of help.


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## bbi1 (4 October 2014)

Panaman said:


> I think investsmart give a rebate on commissions they may get for you buying into the funds they offer, Comsec and a few others are the same, so I think it depends on each fund, obviously if you want one of the ones that pays commission to agents then its best to go through an agent who will rebate some of that too you for using there service.
> 
> I have only bought a Vanguard fund for my super and did it directly with Vanguard, they don’t pay commission or fees to third parties as there a low cost index fund manager so all they are doing is benchmarking to an index and tracking it with the fund.
> 
> Hope that’s of help.




Thanks for your thoughts. I've also looked at Vanguard too. So if they don't pay commissions or fees to 3rd parties & you use a broker like the above to go through them, the broker won't get any money & you also won't lose any money in fees either, so why would a broker list their fund as available to invest through them?


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## Panaman (4 October 2014)

bbi1 said:


> Thanks for your thoughts. I've also looked at Vanguard too. So if they don't pay commissions or fees to 3rd parties & you use a broker like the above to go through them, the broker won't get any money & you also won't lose any money in fees either, so why would a broker list their fund as available to invest through them?





Good point, im also going on what Vanguard told me, they don’t pay commissions but they are also a big fund manager so although a broker may not make anything from them, I can only assume that they hope Vanguard wouldn’t be your only holding.

Either that or the person on the phone I spoke with wasn’t telling me the truth…….if so I won’t be very pleased.


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## skyQuake (5 October 2014)

If you're looking at VAS, then it might be cheaper to use stockspot.com.au to get in.


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## Panaman (5 October 2014)

skyQuake said:


> If you're looking at VAS, then it might be cheaper to use stockspot.com.au to get in.




VAS is an ETF not a managed fund though :error:, as well as ETF Vanguard have managed funds.

https://www.vanguardinvestments.com.au/retail/ret/investments/managed-funds-retail.jsp#fundstab


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