Our solution for self-directed investors

A couple of months ago I wrote here about our plans to add an online DIY investment solution to our existing suite of advisory services.

Investors always have a choice; they can either seek professional advice before making investment decisions or choose to select their own investments, without the benefit of advice.

We have been working hard over the past few months to create IC Direct; an innovative new investment platform which will offer investors full transparency, low charges and access to our award winning research.

This development process is going very well and we are on track to go live with IC Direct by the end of March.

Within the next week or two we will be announcing news of our chosen platform partner for this project. Details of the charging structure, site features, fund range and tax wrapper availability will follow shortly after that.

We are particularly excited about the launch of IC Direct because we aim to introduce the same high standards being applied to advisory services to an execution-only platform.

We believe this will bring some much needed transparency to the charges paid by self-directed investors.

As you would have come to expect from Informed Choice, transparency and competitive charges will not be the only features which will set IC Direct apart from the established competition.

IC Direct has been built to modern standards, to create a website experience that Internet users have come to expect. If you are familiar with using websites such as Amazon, you will feel at home with the features and functionality of IC Direct.

We also want to make using IC Direct a very social experience.

Something that is currently missing from the choices for self-directed investors in the UK is the ability to share information and knowledge. Several of the features we have built for IC Direct enable and encourage this social sharing.

As soon as IC Direct is ready to go live, we will write about it here with more information, along with a short guided tour of the new website.