I'm thinking of buying some unit trusts but am a bit unsure of the charges involved. i see that a lot have up to 5% inital charges but would i be right in thinking that the fees drop to 0.5 if you go with self trade. also does anyone know of any hotshot fund managers that have gone solo lately?

If you go through a Hargreaves & Lansdown Vantage ISA you get a substantial discount on most unit trusts. For plenty of them the initial 5% fee is waived. That's what I'm doing anyway.

Fidelity also offer substantial savings on fund purchases.

Although I'm off funds at the moment as I resent having a percentage of my equity spirited away yearly into a fund manager's pockets regardless of performance.

thanks guys