Lightyear investing review | App, pricing and features

Lightyear is a relatively new app-based investing platform. With lots of established competition already out there, it’s tough to stand out. But the Lightyear investing app has plenty of features to entice new customers. Extremely low fees, multi-currency accounts and high interest on idle cash will attract both beginners and more experienced investors.

Lightyear products

Stocks and shares ISA
Lifetime ISA (LISA)
Pension
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As it stands, Lightyear only offers a general investment account (GIA). However, the app was only fully launched in September 2021.

There’s no stocks and shares ISA account, but this could be added in future. Similarly, there’s no pension or SIPP available. And you can’t save for a child with any junior accounts.

So, if you want an investing app with plenty of different accounts right now, you might want to go for a different option.

What stocks can you trade with Lightyear?

UK - London Stock Exchange
US - NASDAQ
US - New York Stock Exchange
Canada - Toronto Stock Exchange
Japan - Japan Exchange Group
Euronext
Germany - Deutsche Börse
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Keep in mind that with the stock exchanges above, Lightyear doesn’t give you complete access to the entire exchange listings. For some exchanges, only certain stocks are available on the app.

This may not be for you if you want complete access to whole international markets. But, if you wish to access the most popular and largest stocks across international exchanges, Lightyear will likely have investments to interest you.

Lightyear is a DIY investing app. So, it’s different to a robo-advisor that picks and manages an investment portfolio for you. With Lightyear, you get complete control over the investments held in your portfolio. This means it’s up to you to research and create your own diversified portfolio.

The stock discovery page on the app is nicely laid out. You can search ETFs by country, sector, ESG compatibility, dividend-paying, or bond-focused. For individual stocks, you can search by region, popularity, or specific niches such as ‘female led’, ‘daily movers’, ‘big employers’ and plenty of other categories.

Currently, the app has over 3,000 stocks, shares, and ETFs. These investments are from the UK, the US, Europe, and other countries (like China). The Lightyear stock list is continuously expanding, so don’t be surprised to see more investments available as time passes.

Lightyear fees

Lightyear’s low fees are one of its main selling points as a new option for investing your money. There are hardly any fees for having an account or investing using the app.

It’s free to buy and sell both UK and international stocks. This also includes trading fractional shares. You only need £1 to get started, so it’s incredibly affordable for anyone who wants to invest, even with a small budget.

There are no inactivity fees or withdrawal fees. It’s also free to make a deposit (unless you choose the speedy option). This means you can open an account and try out the app for yourself with nothing to lose regarding fees. The lack of cost for opening and holding an account means you’re free to explore the Lightyear investing app without fear of being stung with hidden costs or charges.

The fact that it costs nothing extra to buy or sell investments is a huge selling point and makes this app stand out from most of the competition. You only have to pay an FX fee if you change currency to buy stocks. But, this fee is low compared to most other platforms. Also, Lightyear’s ability to let you open multi-currency accounts (in pounds, dollars, and euros) means you can minimise the impact of currency fluctuations.

Lightyear tools and research

For such a new investing app, Lightyear does a great job providing some decent research and trading tools while keeping everything sleek and simple for interacting. In March 2023, it announced 2 new features – an “insights” feature that shows you which sectors, companies and countries you’ve invested in, and a portfolio profit and loss explainer.

It’s straightforward to select a stock, and as you scroll down, you’ll see:

• Current metrics
• Analyst ratings and price targets
• Company financials
• Upcoming events (where you can also see previous dividend payments)
• Company news and basic info
• Similar stocks

Considering so much info is available, it’s presented in a highly digestible format that’s easy to understand.

Lightyear recently introduced limit orders on the app. But that’s the only trading order type currently available (other than market or repeat orders). This is part of the reason why it doesn’t come with advanced charting tools, it would be too much information for the actions you can take.

Although there’s no social or copy trading, there is a ‘popular’ stock and ETF category on the discovery page to give you an idea about what other users have been buying on the platform.

Customer reviews for Lightyear

Customer help in app
Customer help via email
Customer help over the phone
Community or forums
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Lightyear hasn’t been available to the public for a long time, and has a relatively small user base compared to other more well-established platforms. Although it doesn’t offer many ways to contact support, few users have had problems or needed to contact the Lightyear team.

Lightyear has impressed customers so far. Trustpilot users have given Lightyear a rating of 4.7, which is very good for a new company still finding its feet. On top of this, the app has got 4.4 stars on Google Play and 4.7 on the App Store – again these are solid scores for a new app that you’d expect would have some teething problems so soon after being released into the world (last updated: February 2023).

Although you can only get hold of the support team via email, they are very responsive. Also, the website has plenty of FAQs and articles answering questions and concerns.

Customers across the board are enjoying the app and the level of customer service being received from Lightyear. It will be interesting to see if Lightyear can maintain this excellent reputation as the business and customer base grows.

Platform features on the Lightyear app

This is another area where Lightyear stands out. Although the app only comes with a GIA account at the moment, there are some excellent features available to users:

• Multi-currency accounts (GBP, EUR, USD).
• Earn 3.75% interest on invested cash (uncapped).
• Zero commissions on UK and international stocks.
• In-app stock analysis.

Referrals and bonus promotions

There are no active promos available right now (for most users). However, Lightyear does sometimes offer both referral and sign-up bonuses.

It will tell you in the app if you’re eligible to refer a friend for a stock credit or other bonus. This is sometimes offered to ‘active and loyal’ Lightyear users rather than just anyone using the app.

How to sign up to Lightyear

It’s dead simple to sign up and open an account with Lightyear, just follow these steps:

1. Download the Lightyear app. You can find the Lightyear app in the App Store and Google Play Store.
2. Provide basic information. You’ll need to submit your mobile phone number (for a text verification) and your registered address.
3. Answer some more questions. Lightyear will ask for your living and tax residency. You’ll need your national insurance (NI) number if you select the UK.
4. Pass identification checks. Once you’ve provided your basic details, Lightyear will request to take a photo of a current ID (e.g driving licence or passport). The app will then prompt you to take a selfie to complete the verification process.
5. Deposit into your account and start investing. You can kick things off by depositing just £1 into your account and then invest as you like.

In summary, you’ll likely need the following info to get set up:

• Name
• Date of birth
• NI number
• Citizenship declaration
• Phone number and email
• Current ID

Lightyear can verify and open your account almost instantly if you can provide all the required details.

Pros and cons of Lightyear

Our verdict: Is Lightyear any good?

There’s a lot of competition among investing platforms available to UK investors. So, to challenge the current crop of apps and brokerages, you need to be pretty special. It’s early days for Lightyear, but the app is off to a stellar start.

Along with free trading and minimal account fees, the Lightyear app is a joy to use – it comes with some excellent features for both beginner and more experienced investors. The interest paid on idle cash is a nice bonus, plus a better rate than you’d get from most banks.

The Lightyear app is free to download, you can set up an account in minutes, and there are no fees for holding an account. You can start investing with just £1, so it’s well worth trying Lightyear. There are some areas to improve, but the company regularly adds new features.

For a relatively new share dealing platform, Lightyear is likely to tick many boxes for plenty of investors.

Frequently asked questions

• Is Lightyear investing legit?

  Yes! The company has been reviewed and approved by UK regulators.

• Is Lightyear FCA regulated?

  Yes, Lightyear is authorised and regulated by the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

• Is Lightyear on the stock market?

  No, it’s still a private company at this stage.

• How do you withdraw money from lightyear?

  You can take money out directly from the app and it’s free to withdraw funds from your Lightyear account.