Virgin Direct UK Index Tracking Trust

Virgin direct all shares tracker is one of the best perfoming tracker fund at the moment. While during the last few months many tracker has fell into -ve territory, Virgin still manged to stay a float with a 0% change. Also, the management cost of Virgin direct is extremely low, just amounted to 1% and with negligible further mangement and advise charges. The not only offers good value, good performance but also low management cost. Lots of growth could be hampered by a high management and 'advice' charges as the money that goes in earlier during the investment is those that will grow most ... more

I have had my Virgin ISA for around 10 months and can't really fault the product or their service. The fund has low charges (1% annual management fees, no other charges for entry/exit fees etc.) and fairly closely follows the FTSE All-Share index. You can pay an initial lump sum and leave it, or as I do, pay a fixed amount monthly, with the option to top up using debit card or cheque always available. Any time I have done this, units are purchased promptly with the new money, as they are with the regular direct debit payments. The service they provide on the phone is excellent, with ... more

I have invested in the Virgin Direct UK Index Tracker Trust for several years. The fund is one of the leaders in its class because it has low charges and a simple investment strategy. The information pack provided by Virgin is clear and comprehensive. It is possible to invest in the fund using an ISA and this means you will not be liable for UK tax on any capital gains. Investing a set amount each month means you buy more units when prices are low. When the price of units was £1.80 (August 2001), an investment of £100 would purchase 56 units. When the price slumped to below £1.10 (March 2003) ... more

At 1% management charges, Virgin are very expensive. There are plenty of other UK Trackers which do the same job with charges from 0.1% - 0.5%. Why would you want to give them extra cash? I know that some others (especially the biggest banks) not only levy initial charges but also charge a massive 1.5%pa. Again they are not better at what they do. Who do you think pays for the City boys' bonuses each year? Most trackers have no intitial charges so if yours isn't performing well or has high management charges (over 0.53%) why not take your funds elsewhere? Consider M& G, Legal & General, F&C ... more

All tracker funds, by definition, are similar. The reason why most outperform managed funds is their low charges. The reason the Virgin trackers do so badly is due to their very, very high charges - *four times* higher than similar funds run by HSBC, Fidelity, M&G, F&C etc. In fact the Virgin trackers are almost as expensive as some of the cheaper managed funds which makes them totally ineffective and hugely reduces the final return. AVOID - and use a tracker with an AMC of around 0.25% pa and no initial charges. There are several to choose from. Exta words because it requires at least 120 ... more