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If you’re looking to open several trading accounts, such as an ISA for you and a JISA for each of your kids, then interactive investor might be a suitable platform for you as it has a flat-fee for everything. Find out what we think of interactive investor, including details about its costs, what you can invest in and its pros and cons.
Capital at risk, investments may fall
interactive investor (yes, that’s intentionally all lower case, sometimes referred to as just “ii”) is an online investment service offering a range of different investment products, all with flat fees. It has plenty of products available and the opportunity to invest in shares, funds, investment trusts, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), venture capital trusts (VCTs), bonds and gilts.
For a flat fee starting at £9.99 per month, interactive investor takes care of your assets and gives you a set number of trades per month – this depends on which service plan you choose (we’ll get on to the service plans in a moment).
You don’t have to pay additional service fees if you want to have more than one account with interactive investor, so you can have a trading account, stocks and shares ISA and a junior ISA all for one flat fee. It’s a great option if you plan to use your full annual ISA allowance and trade further as well as, say, opening a junior ISA for several kids.
As with many rules, there’s an exception. On the self-invested personal pension (SIPP for short), you’ll pay an additional £10 per month to add the SIPP. You could have the SIPP alone for £12.99 per month.
interactive investor has 8 different accounts available. These include:
There are 2 service plans and you can choose one that suits you.
Investor | Super investor | |
---|---|---|
Monthly cost | £9.99 | £19.99 |
Free trades | 1 free trade each month | 2 free trades each month |
Additional information | The cheapest plan available, offers 1 trade per month to get started. Additional trades cost more than with the other plans. | Designed for active investors, this plan has cheaper commission for additional trades each month. |
Unlike other investment platforms, interactive investor charges flat fees instead of taking a percentage from your investments. You can choose a service plan based on what you’re looking for. These plans start at £9.99 per month and, as we mentioned above, cover multiple accounts.
You get some of this monthly service fee back in the form of a number of trades that you can make each month. We’ve detailed some of the fees for each service plan below.
All prices below relate to trades under the value of £100,000 (or £25,000 internationally), the charges above this are explained in more detail below.
Type of investment | Investor | Super investor |
---|---|---|
UK shares/ ETFs | £7.99 | £3.99 |
Funds and investment trusts | £7.99 | £3.99 |
US shares | £7.99 | £3.99 |
Other international shares | £19.99 | £9.99 |
Dividend reinvestment | £0.99 | £0.99 |
Regular investment | Free | Free |
interactive investor has thousands of options when you’re choosing the companies to invest in, with over 40,000 UK, US and international shares on 17 global exchanges.
There are over 3,000 funds to choose from, alongside ETFs, bonds, gilts and VCTs.
interactive investor’s general investment options, such as the trading account, joint trading account and company account, allow you to invest without an upper limit.
Key features include:
It’s worth noting that you may need to pay capital gains tax on your profits. Generally, people would turn to the ISA before general investment if they haven’t used their ISA allowance for the year.
If you invest in a general investment account, you could be subject to capital gains tax. This is a tax that you have to pay on any gains over £12,300 in each tax year.
interactive investor’s ISA options, including the stocks and shares ISA and the junior ISA (JISA), allow you to invest up to your tax allowance (£20,000 for the 2021/2022 tax year) tax-free. The annual JISA allowance for 2021/2022 tax year is £9,000.
Key features of the interactive investor ISA include:
interactive investor’s self-invested personal pension allows you to invest long term with the benefit of tax relief on your contributions. It is suitable for experienced investors who are happy to make their own investment options. Your pension is locked until you turn 55, after which you have several drawdown options.
Key features include:
interactive investor offers several options for building your portfolio, depending on how much help you want in choosing what to invest in and your risk appetite.
interactive investor is a secure company that has been managing investments since 1995. The company is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Your money is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme up to the value of £85,000 if interactive investor were to go bust. This does not cover your money in the event that your investments go down in value.
The mobile app allows you to trade, get quotes and manage your investments on the go. It uses Face and Touch ID for security.
Features of the iOS and Android apps include:
In terms of the options available and the opportunity to have full control over your investments, interactive investor is a good platform. If you’re new to investing then it could be a little overwhelming, but once you’ve spent some time reading the articles, you’re likely to find it easier to understand. The flat fees make it easier to work out how much your investments will cost, and also make it cheaper if you have a lot of money to invest.
Finder surveyed some of interactive investor’s customers in December 2020. They found that it was competitively priced, reliable and easy to use.
Some customers mentioned that its fees are quite high, especially compared to other share dealing providers. They noted that it wouldn’t be as expensive with higher investments.
interactive investor is a really comprehensive platform for investing. The term “interactive” is key here, as you’ll need to keep an eye on your investments and know when to make adjustments. It offers plenty of useful information to give you more insight into what you are doing. On its website, interactive investor claims to be suitable even if you’re a beginner, but we reckon it’s more suited to the experienced investor.
If you have a small amount to invest, the fees might outweigh the profit you make, so it’s worth taking a look at platforms alternative to ii.
Get started by visiting interactive investor and opening an account. Still not sure? Compare other share trading platforms with our comparison table.
Our customer satisfaction scores ("Customers say") are based on a survey of 753 customers carried out in December 2021.
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