★★★★★
★★★★★
If you’re looking for an investment platform that handles everything for you, Wealthify might be the kind of thing you’re looking for. We’ve pulled together some of its key features, what you can invest in with Wealthify, how it works and some pros and cons.
Wealthify is a digital investment management company, which aims to offer simple and effortless ways to invest your money. It technically falls under the category of “robo-advisor” despite not being fully automated.
Based in Cardiff, Wealthify launched in 2016 and is backed by Aviva, which acquired a majority stake in 2017.
It operates online through its website and mobile app, but also has humans available on the phone.
Wealthify invests your money in diversified portfolios to spread your risk across different industries and countries. Your portfolio will contain mainly low-cost, passive investments, such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds.
Its team of qualified investment managers is monitoring and adjusting your plan regularly as the stock market fluctuates to ensure the best returns for your money.
Wealthify is designed for people with no investment experience as it has a team of investment experts who build and manage your portfolio for you, no matter which product you choose. This means that you don’t need to worry about selecting your own investments, all you have to do is choose a risk profile between cautious and adventurous.
Wealthify gives you the opportunity to choose investments in line with your values with the option of ethical investing. With its mobile app or on its online dashboard you can see where your money is invested, how it is performing and make additional contributions.
Wealthify offers two different investment options, each with 5 different risk profiles to choose between. In all cases, they invest in a mix of government bonds, shares, property and corporate bonds, with some held as cash. The weighting between these categories differs between risk profiles to make sure it’s suited to the risk you’re comfortable with.
Here’s how the Wealthify Original portfolios are made up:
Here’s how the Wealthify Ethical portfolios are made up:
Ethical investing aims to avoid harmful activities (e.g. tobacco, gambling, weapons and adult entertainment) and opts for companies who take their environmental and social responsibilities seriously.
Wealthify offers:
We’ve explained more about these products and the main differences between them below.
Wealthify offers customers the chance to invest in stocks and shares through an investment ISA (individual savings account) or a general investing platform. We detail these further down, but generally if you don’t have any other ISAs elsewhere, then an investment ISA could be a better place to start. Interest earned from your first £20,000 in each tax year is exempt from tax under the 2022/2023 tax year allowance.
Alternatively, if you already have cash or stocks and shares ISAs elsewhere, you can choose to transfer these to Wealthify. Simply use the ISA transfer form on their website.
General investing suits bigger investments over £20,000, but you are liable to pay tax on any interest or dividends earned.
In terms of savings, ISAs and general investing are a better long-term investment, as you’re more likely to see better returns over a longer period. If you need to regularly access your savings, it’s worth considering a traditional savings account with a bank or building society instead.
Stocks and shares ISAs explained
As mentioned above, this account is usually chosen by investors that have already made use of their ISA allowance in the current tax year. You’ll be liable to pay tax on any profits you make over 2022/2023 in each tax year.
You can invest in all the same things that you can with the ISA and pension.
The Wealthify ISA is for investors that want to use their annual ISA allowance. The allowance for the 2022/2023 tax year is £20,000. This means that you can invest up to £20,000 each year without paying tax on your profits.
You can invest in the same things with the Wealthify ISA as with the other accounts.
If you’re a super organised parent and want to kick start your child’s savings, you can do this with Wealthify too. Junior ISAs are pretty similar to regular ISAs, except that the annual allowance is £9,000 for the 2022/2023 tax year. This means that you can save up to £9,000 in each year without paying tax on profits.
The account has to be opened by the child’s parent or guardian, but anyone can pay into it. The child gets access when they turn 18.
Wealthify aims to make saving for retirement easier by offering a self-invested personal pension (SIPP). As with its other products, it has low fees and a minimum investment of only £50.
If you already have pensions elsewhere, you can transfer them in or you can create a new personal pension alongside those that you already have. You don’t have to commit to regular payments, either. It’s up to you whether you want the commitment of a direct debit or if you’d prefer to make ad-hoc top-ups. With a personal pension your contributions are tax free up to:
You get tax relief up to 100% of your annual earnings, which Wealthify instantly applies to every contribution, so no need to wait for HMRC to pay it in.
All of the figures below are Wealthify’s simulated 5 year performance figures. They are “simulated” because they’re based on the performance of a model that mirrors the decisions Wealthify made for customers’ plans. All simulated figures assume that the account size is over £500 and that a fee of 0.60% has been taken as well as fund costs.
Remember that past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
Wealthify original plan performance
Investment style | 01/04/2016 – 01/04/2017 | 01/04/2017 – 01/04/2018 | 01/04/2018 – 01/04/2019 | 01/04/2019 – 01/04/2020 | 01/04/2020 – 01/04/2021 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cautious | 6.53% | 0.29% | 2.49% | 1.96% | 2.89% |
Tentative | 9.72% | 0.43% | 2.82% | 0.24% | 8.70% |
Confident | 12.93% | 0.12% | 3.08% | -1.74% | 14.46% |
Ambitious | 15.03% | 0.21% | 3.27% | -4.55% | 20.65% |
Adventurous | 19.39% | -0.09% | 3.67% | -7.52% | 27.38% |
Wealthify ethical plan performance
Investment style | 01/04/2016 – 01/04/2017 | 01/04/2017 – 01/04/2018 | 01/04/2018 – 01/04/2019 | 01/04/2019 – 01/04/2020 | 01/04/2020 – 01/04/2021 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cautious | N/A | N/A | 3.22% | 2.85% | 3.47% |
Tentative | N/A | N/A | 3.50% | 1.13% | 9.58% |
Confident | N/A | N/A | 3.65% | -0.53% | 16.51% |
Ambitious | N/A | N/A | 3.90% | -2.77% | 23.98% |
Adventurous | N/A | N/A | 4.14% | -4.96% | 32.03% |
To open a Wealthify Investment ISA or general investing account, you must be 18 or over and a resident of the UK.
You should be able to set up an ISA or general investing account in 10 minutes or so on Wealthify’s website.
Here’s how to get started:
Wealthify charges a flat rate of 0.6% on your investment amount, plus fund fees of around 0.22% (0.66% for ethical investing).
The fees include:
Wealthify is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which means you could be entitled to compensation if it is found to be acting improperly.
Wealthify is also covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which means that you can receive compensation on investments up to £85,000 if Wealthify were to go bust.
It is part of the Close Brothers Group, who have been trading for over 130 years, and are backed by leading financial provider and insurer Aviva.
Wealthify has picked up several awards since its launch, and it seems it’s not just the industry that is impressed with the service. On customer review site Trustpilot, Wealthify is rated “Excellent”, with 4.6 out of 5 stars.
The company’s customer service is the focus of much of the praise, with reviewers calling it efficient and transparent. The negative reviews stated losing money and being rejected seemingly unfairly as the reason for the low score.
We carried out a customer satisfaction survey in December 2020.
Wealthify’s customers like the dashboard, think it has friendly customer service and find it easy to use. Some of them think it’s got a wide choice of investments.
Negative reviews focused on the time it takes for money to be deposited and withdrawn.
On the whole, it’s pretty good. It’s good for those who aren’t interested in managing their own portfolios and has a decent number based on how much risk you’re open to. Ethical investing is proving to be pretty popular at the moment, which Wealthify has the option for.
If you’re investing a larger sum of money (£100,000 or more) then you might find that other platforms are more cost-effective than Wealthify, such as interactive investor or IG.
Wealthify is just one robo adviser in a growing industry of digital wealth management. Similar companies exist such as Moneyfarm and Nutmeg, which offer both ISAs and general investing products.
Get started by visiting Wealthify and opening an account. Still not sure? Compare other share trading platforms with our comparison table.
Learn more about BuzzFeed’s recent performance and where you can invest in BuzzFeed shares. We also run through some helpful rules of thumb for any investor
Learn more about Hipgnosis’ recent performance and where you can invest in Hipgnosis shares. We also run through some helpful rules of thumb for any investor
Learn more about Intelligent Bio Solutions’ recent performance and where you can invest in Intelligent Bio Solutions shares. We also run through some helpful rules of thumb for any investor
Learn more about Helbiz’s recent performance and where you can invest in Helbiz shares. We also run through some helpful rules of thumb for any investor
Ever wondered how to buy shares in BigBear.ai? We explain how and compare a range of providers that can give you access to many brands, including BigBear.ai.
Learn more about Foresight Autonomous’ recent performance and where you can invest in Foresight Autonomous shares. We also run through some helpful rules of thumb for any investor
Everything we know about the Kenvue IPO, plus information on how to buy shares.
Learn more about Virgin Orbit’s recent performance and where you can invest in Virgin Orbit shares. We also run through some helpful rules of thumb for any investor
We’ve tested, analysed and scored trading apps to find the 10 best trading platforms in the UK, who they’re best for and the pros and cons.
Learn more about Nestlé’s recent performance and where you can invest in Nestlé shares. We also run through some helpful rules of thumb for any investor