Costs have a big impact on returns, with half a percentage point of difference in fees adding up to a significant sum over the course of a decade. You can reduce what you pay by picking a cheap platform that matches your needs and investing a portion of your portfolio in passive funds. But also look to see what a fund's different share classes cost, because the same fund can be cheaper on one platform than on others, depending on which share classes they offer and any discounts available.
Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.) consistently offers discounts on funds, including a few popular ones. For example, Baillie Gifford Managed (GB0006010168) has a 0.25 per cent ongoing charge through Hargreaves compared with the usual 0.43 per cent, and LF Lindsell Train UK Equity (GB00BJFLM156) is available at 0.49 per cent rather than 0.64 per cent. Fidelity also offers a few funds at a lower price, including Liontrust UK Growth (GB00B56BDS09) at 0.73 per cent as opposed to 0.83 per cent.
However, Hargreaves is otherwise an expensive platform via which to invest in open-ended funds, charging 0.45 per cent a year on the value of the first £250,000 of funds held within an individual savings account (Isa). The discounts on single funds do not necessarily make up for it, and dealing and platform fees as well as quality of service should generally be more important considerations when picking a platform. Fund discounts often come as a rebate and can be taxable if the fund is held in a general investment account rather than an Isa. And discounts tend to be more common on funds that were more expensive in the first place.