Fundsmith Equity Fund

It looks like Interactive Brokers increased their fund offering and Fundsmith seems available with multiple share classes

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Great news!
Can you share some tickers to look into (I know of SSON and FEET)?

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Hi dbu,
I agree this is great news

I own FUNDSMITH EQUITY “I” (GBP) ACC in a brokerage account outside of IB. “I” (Institution) class is the best to own with lowest fees (0.95%). IB wouldn’t let me buy this one unless I spent GBP 5m! I have sent IB a message since the point of this share class is that in aggregate IB and other broker have >GBP5m holding which is why they get lower fees. I will share the IB response

The next best share class is FUNDSMITH EQUITY “T” (GBP) ACC which has 0.2% higher fees and looks like it is readily purchasable on IB. I did not buy because I am waiting for the answer on the I class.

Avoid the “R” class with high fees. You can see fees for each share class on Fundsmith website.

To find in IB use the search function. For example in the iOS app click the search button, type Fundsmith, and then “Funds->”. As this is an open ended fund it doesn’t have a ticker as such.

It was already possible to buy SSON and FEET in IB. I own some SSON.

Here also the link to IB’s mutual fund search tool. Choose country Switzerland & Fund Family “Fundsmith”

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Would you even be able to, since you are not an “institution”? :slight_smile:

Thank you for the details!

My other brokerage account “Interactive Investor” (nothing to do with Interactive Brokers) has cumulatively GBP 100s of millions of Fundsmith “I” held in custody on behalf of their clients. In that account I am able to buy the I class even though I have <GBP 5 million holding personally.
I will try to let the forum know once I get to a conclusion with Interactive Brokers about this.

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Any news regarding the possibility to buy the “I” Investor variant of the Fundsmith Equity Fund at IB?

I must say that I find it very interesting and might need to review my IPS for 2021 accordingly :wink:

No sadly I didn’t get any reply from IB to my message and I will send a follow up.
In the meantime I completed application forms to transfer all my I class shares from my other broker to IB. The other broker is saying it could take 5-6 weeks… waiting to see what happens

Thanks for your answer. Yes, please keep us posted if you hear anything back from IB. It’s definitely a hot topic IMHO…

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I just registered with Fundsmith UK a couple of weeks ago.

Bit jumping through hoops required for tax reporting/AML purposes, but hope everything goes well.

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Interesting… so did you fill in the “Overseas Individual Investors” application form and sent it to the UK by post? That would be this form:

How did you do for the anti-money laundering requirements? who did you get to certify your passport or ID card and evidence of address?

I also wonder how you track and manager your money with them, do you get access to a web interface?

I hope it works out for you, keep us posted as I am also tempted to open an account directly with them.

Hi again mabi. Buying the Fundsmith T class GBP Accumulating shares in Interactive Brokers is the best option currently available in my opinion. Fewer accounts to manage, flexibility to use as collateral for IB Lombard loans at low interest rates and GBP 4.95 per purchase.

I had a UK custody account at Fundsmith in the past. It required a few steps to transfer the money each month, there was a once per month purchase date and it was only possible to buy the same T class GBP shares.

Still no answer from IB on the possibility to buy I class GBP shares. That would be an optimisation vs the T class shares and if it becomes possible one could sell the T class and buy I class for 2 x GBP 4.95

Indeed, that really would be easier as it sounds more complex and a lot of manual work (Fundsmith does not accept anything by email).

Stupid question but where or how do you find and then buy the Fundsmith T class fund at a broker? I am on IB and DEGIRO but I expect IB to be better for that purpose… I guess you also have first to change your CHF into GBP…

On IB, I believe only SSON is available, not Fundsmith. And yes, you need GBP to buy it.

FEET is also available (FEET FUNDSMITH EMERGING EQ TRUST LSE).

FEET and SSON are exchange-traded equities trust PLCs.
The „main“ Fundsmith funds are not.

I see the Fundsmith Funds under the “Fund” tab. But no idea if you can buy them.

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It seems we can now buy Fundsmith in IB see my post above. I have not yet done it yet but here is an order ticket. I would just need to click confirm:

image

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Notary public to get my passport certified. Evidence of address is straightforward by providing utility bill, bank statement / letter from bank, mortgage statement or lease agreement. Everything should be in English though.

There should indeed be a web interface, but I didn’t manage to look into (registering for) it yet.

With this I444363269 number I could also find it in IB but the chart is quite weird showing 5 only and a few dots. I don’t really get it.

I second @TrickMcDave 's comment.
On IB, Buy some GBP and then buy SSON on LSE. Easypeasy.
Cost = 6 GBP (it wasn’t a 5 figure BUY transaction)

Is the 4.95 GBP on the tiered-IB? I know it’s only a quid, but just curious about the difference.

Interested, however I dislike to click “Buy” based on such strange product charts :grimacing: