Wealthyhood review

How we rated Wealthyhood’s investment features

Wealthyhood is a trading app designed to promote long-term investing (rather than short-term trading), something we’re big advocates of here at Finder. It’s aim is to make investing accessible with low fees and a beginner-friendly app. There’s a lot to like, but also potential drawbacks for certain types of investors. Find out what we thought about Wealthyhood’s platform.

What is Wealthyhood?

Wealthyhood is an investing platform that began in 2021 and the basic premise was to create an investing app that caters towards long-term, beginner investors.

This is commendable as most beginners should be long-term investors. It’s excellent that Wealthyhood are promoting this type of investing, but we’re not big fans of some of its messaging along the lines of “stop gambling, start investing”, because the idea of the stock market being a casino is an overused cliche without much substance that puts people off investing.

Expert test: I tried out Wealthyhood's investing app

George Sweeney

Deputy editor

I'm not sure if Wealthyhood does quite enough to stand out head and shoulders above similar low-cost investing apps. That being said I really like the look and feel of the app and how everything is laid out on Wealthyhood.

Using the app to make investments is dead simple and it's awesome that you can buy and sell fractional shares commission-free from just £1, even on the free Basic plan. Wealthyhood also has some unique quirks on the the paid plans like cashback on investments. I think beginners will enjoy using this app and find it easy to use.

Wealthyhood fees

Wealthyhood does an excellent job of keeping your fees low, which is ideal for beginners. The only downside is that you need to pay if you want full access to all the tools and bonus features.

However, the free “Basic” plan has plenty for most beginners to get started with. Although, it’s not completely free as there’s a 0.18% custody fee (based on the size of your portfolio), but this should only be marginal.

There’s no commission to buy or sell stocks and it’s also free to invest in the range of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). If you do decide to invest in ETFs, there will be ongoing fees charged by the funds themselves, which vary and aren’t controlled by Wealthyhood.

If you buy shares in US companies on the platform, you’ll also have to pay a 0.75% FX fee on the basic plan (or a lower 0.35% if you’re on “Plus” or “Gold”). If you decide to upgrade to one of the paid premium plans, it’s going to be a more expensive platform to use. There are some added benefits, but whether it’s worth the £12.99 a month price tag for the gold plan is highly debatable.

Wealthyhood investment choice and stocks

Wealthyhood has limitations when it comes to investment choice, but that’s by design. The app’s aim is to make long-term investing accessible and beginner-friendly. So, there’s not an overwhelming choice of investments.

Option when you open your account to use its “portfolio builder” by getting a template you can customise based on your preferences. Or, “start from scratch” and pick your assets and allocations.

There are around 50 ETFs to choose from, nicely laid out on the Wealthyhood app and categorised well under headers like:

• Global ETFs
• Technology
• Healthcare
• Consumer
• Energy
• Commodities
• Government or corporate bonds
• Real estate

Along with ETFs, you can also buy shares in individual companies with Wealthyhood (although the selection is limited). There are around 10 shares from the UK and Europe, but for US stocks there’s a fair few more.

Being able to invest in fractional shares with as little as £1 is great if you are a beginner and looking to get started investing with smaller amounts.

Is Wealthyhood safe?

Wealthyhood is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme protection. So your deposits of up to £85,000 are covered in the event that Wealthyhood goes bust.

The platform also claims to use “cutting-edge security features” and “state-of-the-art encryption technology” for safeguarding data, but there are no specifics around the actual technology used.

Like any other type of investment, your capital is at risk when you invest using Wealthyhood and you may end up with less than what you originally invested. The performance of investments will vary, and there is no guarantee of return.

Wealthyhood account types and products

Wealthyhood is limited when it comes to account types available. Reports suggest it’s working on a stocks and shares ISA, but there’s no timeframe for this and it would likely be added to one of the paid plans if and when it is introduced.

Many newer trading platforms have been launching with a GIA and then look to expand the account offering as it becomes more established, so we might see more in future in this department from Wealthyhood. Fingers crossed anyway.

Wealthyhood ease of use

Wealthyhood scored decently in our ease of use assessment. However, it would have scored better had there been more options available to contact its customer support team (although smaller platforms struggle to justify dedicated support teams, especially if the app is running smoothly).

On the App Store, Wealthyhood scores an impressive 4.3 out of 5, and on Google Play it has a lower 3.8 out of 5 (as of February 2024). Bear in mind that these scores come from a relatively small number of reviews.

You’re only able to invest with Wealthyhood using the mobile app.

Wealthyhood customer reviews

Trustpilot reviewers gave Wealthyhood a 4.4 out of 5 “excellent” rating (as of February 2024). But, this is from under 20 reviews, so not a wide base of feedback.

Wealthyhood tools, resources and features

With the goal of keeping things simple, Wealthyhood still offers quite a lot in terms of features, the only area lacking really is a social aspect.

There’s useful in-app information to see pricing charts for stocks, along with basic financial metrics and broad analyst views. It’s also nice and easy to see a portfolio breakdown of your current holdings.

You’re also able to use plenty of other cools features like:

• Auto-invest for any spare cash
• Custom allocation preferences for your portfolio
• A referral scheme to invite friends and get free stocks
• Auto-pilot automation for recurring investments
• Guides and articles for learning

Here are some benefits specific to the paid plans:

Plus

• 0.25% cashback for investments of £50 or more
• 1% bonus dividend, paid each month based on the size of your portfolio (£3,000 maximum)
• 0.35% FX fee

Gold

• 0.4% cashback for investments of £50 or more
• 4% bonus dividend, paid each month based on the size of your portfolio (£3,000 maximum)
• 0.35% FX fee
• Priority customer service