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Independent, no-nonsense ratings and reviews
Moneyfarm is a decent choice for those who want someone to do it all for them. A simple questionnaire will identify what sort of an investor you are and then does all the fiddly stuff for you. They also check in every year to make sure that this profile is still the one for you. I find things a bit lacking if you want to dig into any more detail – there isn’t a lot to be had. For example, I couldn’t find out my % allocation to the US. Not the most complex thing to want to know.
We score each provider on about 20 different criteria including cost, service, website, functionality, customer feedback and our experience of the service. All overseen by our PhD gonk!
Beginner Investor
Really easy to use
Ready-made options
This is regulated advice
We score each provider on about 20 different criteria including cost, service, website, functionality, customer feedback and our experience of the service. All overseen by our PhD gonk!
Based on 53 reviews
When I started my fees were very low for a year as I put my ISA allowance in. Fees have gone up since then but the performance is good. They actively keep in touch with me. The app works great and investments are doing well and get rebalanced when needed. Full information is provided.
15/02/2021
Shop The Reviewer is pre-retirement age.
06/02/2021
Simple and easy to follow website. Consultants you can speak to if any queries.
24/10/2020
If you want to invest in ESTs without doing your own research, Moneyfarm is very good. They have an investment team which regularly assesses the general portfolio strategy and do appropriated rearrangements. Performance was very good so far
23/10/2020
When I started investing with them the fees were very low (nothing for the first £5000) but they have recently changed that and the fees seem much more expensive now.
17/10/2020
App works great no issues so far. Investments are doing well and they get rebalanced automatically when needed. Shame that your ISA allocation cannot be split across different strategies.
16/10/2020
Answer the questions about your level of risk, choose your plan and put in monthly amounts. As easy as that. Is it good value for money? Time will tell.
16/10/2020
Moneyfarm is great for most people, as all you have to do is set up a monthly debit and then they will take part of the risk allocations. With competitive fees, as well as a easy-to-use app this is a great product and service.
17/02/2020
I'm quite new to the investment world but Moneyfarm has been a really nice find as it is so simple and clear to use.
09/02/2020
Great website, quick customer response. Overall a great starting point for first time investors. I started with regularly contributing about £300 a month and it's been great to watch it grow, adjustments are easy to make and fees have been negligible... (I think the first 12 months was free). Performance has been great. The app is great and that's coming from a 25yo using Monzo, Strava, Sleep Cycle everything... Overall would recommend it to anyone.
23/01/2020
The app is pretty straight forward and updates over night. Performance has been really good so far (15 months)
23/01/2020
Really easy to navigate and invest. Easy to understand how your money is doing. They update once a day which stops you from getting to involved and nervous. Recommended to many.
16/01/2020
Very easy to start and easy to use. Both web and app offer enough detail to work with but more monthly/yearly performance would be handy. Shame you can't use your ISA allocation for two different portfolios.
10/01/2020
No comment.
25/12/2018
No comment
19/12/2018
No comment
19/12/2018
I liked that it had low charges when we opened our ISAs in March this year. Not much could be improved - need to know how often they rebalance the portfolio but may be me being too lazy to find out. I was encouraged to become a customer by a media article (e.g. online/magazine review) and the cost/value for money.
07/11/2018
They were extremely responsive when I was setting up the account. The website and app are really easy to use and to navigate. Email newsletters are informative and clear - pitched at just the right level of accessible expertise. Performance seems to be in line with others. Really excellent product. Though disappointed by their new advertising with marrows! Worried they are losing their investment focus - but guess that's just a poor marketing decision. The core of the company seems excellent.
24/08/2018
No comment
29/07/2018
No comment
30/01/2018
Accessible, simplicity.
30/01/2018
Very easy to set up an account. The information on the website is limited, but clear.
30/01/2018
Evaluate what type of investor I am.
30/01/2018
Easy to use but seems lacking in robust for online security.
30/01/2018
User friendly app, easy to keep track of investment performance with plenty of detail.
30/01/2018
I feel like I don't know enough about robo advisors and whether they will prove themselves in the long term. But that's not really the fault of the company! I don't like the way they wait until there is enough money before buying a share so there can be quite a lot of cash that isn't being used.
30/01/2018
Clear website with the winners and losers in my account shown clearly. They put too much of my money in cash and also bonds for someone who has opted for the Number 5 adventurous investor account.
30/01/2018
I like the mobile app. It has finger print security meaning I can quickly and securely check on the state of my investment. If they could fix the bug that prevents me logging in sometimes, it would be even better! Performance of the investment could be better - it's still better than a savings account but not as good as Nutmeg has been.
30/01/2018
Service and performance have been great. Setup could always be simpler but overall I think it's a really good app and company.
30/01/2018
Not as user friendly as the other platforms I have used. App and website are a bit clunky.
30/01/2018
Only a single level of security. Return only average.
30/01/2018
Easy to use and understand. Excellent customer Service. Not very good returns in comparison to others.
30/01/2018
Easy to understand and simple to interact with and view your account using the app. Returns haven't been stellar as yet though.
30/01/2018
Think their emails and updates could be better.
30/01/2018
I am a first time investor and found the process of setting up the level of risk and setting up a direct debut simple, transferring my ISA was not so simple but had help from an adviser, so was no great problem.
07/10/2017
Was hoping for better returns in all honesty.
26/09/2017
Easy to set up and check.
26/09/2017
There is a delay setting up the first payment due to money laundering checks and I became a little concerned about not hearing anything. Once this had gone through communication has been very good and the app (on android) works well. The risk profile assessment and fund allocation stages seemed efficient and reliable. Feeling reassured and optimistic about the decision to use this provider.
05/09/2017
Very Very Helpful
07/08/2017
Likes: I have under 10,000 invested here as an experiment so not paying any fees. Tick. The portfolio is rebalanced by their team fairly frequently so there is a sense of things being managed. Dislikes: I have been guided to the higher end of investor scale labelled "adventurous investor" and over 6 months returns are a rather measly 2.75% - what are other robos doing over this time? This does match the reported performance on the desktop site and I have had no response to my question about this. The mobile app is not the same as the desktop experience. It seems very awkward to disinvest and move funds out.
27/07/2017
Their app is pretty slick and the sign up process is quick and simple.
04/07/2017
Simple, easy to use, cheap.
04/07/2017
Online reporting functionality to detail interest / dividends and fees over any period.
04/07/2017
Investing made simple.
04/07/2017
Early days, but nice people and easy to deal with. Charges impressively low. A different offering to other platform providers but performing well so far.
04/07/2017
I like the simplicity.
04/07/2017
I like the ease of use. The speed of deposits could be improved.
04/07/2017
Low fees. The mobile app has gotten worse over time.
04/07/2017
Great idea and no fees under 10k is genius. Please improve the information provided make it easier to see what funds you hold in portfolio.
04/07/2017
I like everything about Moneyfarm.
Catherine
04/07/2017
Good customer relations and investment performance.
04/07/2017
Offers a good investment service to suit risk.
04/07/2017
Very good customer service and low cost, hybrid robo and personal service could be improved.
04/07/2017
Moneyfarm has a really nice and easy to digest explanation of what they will do for a customer and what the process will be. Navigation of the site is relatively easy and you can now see the full asset allocation of each portfolio depending on your investment account – great transparency from the off! Much of the information surrounding product, risk and cost is really well explained.
App has full functionality with no need to revert to the website.
Generally, the app is really nice and easy to use, however it is misleading that performance gains are given since the inception of the portfolio and not when you purchased it!
Articles link to the website seamlessly and you can speak to "investment consultants" directly through the app which is a welcoming feature.
The scheme that allows you to refer a refer a friend to Moneyfarm and both parties get £5,000 worth of your investments managed free of charge for one year is a nice touch for the novice investor who may want to test the waters.
The advice centre could have more substance – once you’ve been given your recommended risk rating and are invested there’s not a lot more it can offer.
This word cloud has been created from customer reviews of Moneyfarm.
Pink is positive and grey is negative.
The size of the word indicates the frequency of mentions.
What's good about it
Stocks and Shares ISA
Investment Account
Pension
Moneyfarm is an interesting option for those who don't know where to start and want some advice along the way. People have nothing to lose by having a go at the questionnaire? Unlike some, these guys are regulated to give investment advice so do take personal circumstances into consideration. You can't pick your own shares or funds so you get one of their own-brand 'ready meals' only.
This group started life in Italy and launched in the UK in 2016 - gaining traction here ever since. Charges are tiered, starting at around 1% for the smallest portfolios, so £10 per year for a £1,000 portfolio.
Provider Size: | The platform administers over £1b across Europe. |
Minimum amounts: | £100 per month, with a £1500 initial deposit £5000 minimum lump-sum investment |
"Hi - Your site is very useful and informative. For the last 9 months I've drip fed just over £10,000 into a Moneyfarm Investment ISA (balanced/medium risk) just over 60% shares, it has been a very volatile year as you know. Moneyfarm seem to have done a good job of protecting my capital. I was down around £500 at the worst point which I have now recouped, however I haven't really made much in the way of gains, which I'm a bit disappointed about. I was wary about taking on too much risk, but now think I may have not taken on quite enough. I'm thinking about giving it 12 months to see how it goes. If I then wanted to, would I be able to transfer the whole lot to another platform (say Vanguard) where the fees are lower, and I might make a bit more profit? I know you're not allowed to give regulated advice - but I'm uncertain if I should transfer the whole lot in one go, or drip feed it into the new platform should I decide to move it. I would welcome whatever help you can give me. Regards, Robert"
Robert, UK
14/03/2019
Read our replyHi - Your site is very useful and informative. For the last 9 months I've drip fed just over £10,000 into a Moneyfarm Investment ISA (balanced/medium risk) just over 60% shares, it has been a very volatile year as you know. Moneyfarm seem to have done a good job of protecting my capital. I was down around £500 at the worst point which I have now recouped, however I haven't really made much in the way of gains, which I'm a bit disappointed about. I was wary about taking on too much risk, but now think I may have not taken on quite enough. I'm thinking about giving it 12 months to see how it goes. If I then wanted to, would I be able to transfer the whole lot to another platform (say Vanguard) where the fees are lower, and I might make a bit more profit? I know you're not allowed to give regulated advice - but I'm uncertain if I should transfer the whole lot in one go, or drip feed it into the new platform should I decide to move it. I would welcome whatever help you can give me. Regards, Robert
Robert, UK
14/03/2019
Hi Robert,
You have been investing in a hairy old time - January tested everyone’s nerves!
This is a warning. My answer is going to be boring!
9 months is not a long time, and honestly it is true that this is all about time in the markets, not ‘market timing’.
If you constantly feel the need for action and want to see dramatic spikes, you will end up ‘investing’ in get rich quick schemes which ‘can’t fail’, and ultimately risk losing your money as you chase your tail. Good investing is dull, because human nature doesn’t want to ‘get rich slow’.
A) is Moneyfarm right for me
B) am I invested in the right sort of stuff?
Moneyfarm blends a bunch of low-cost ‘passive’ investments together into a portfolio which they manage for you. Vanguard does a similar thing but blends the investments into a slightly different administrative box, called a fund - their LifeStrategy range.
We do track performance on our robo advisers pages, but the trouble is that these robos are new, and track records of a year or two mean very little. My cat could have a good one year track record and you wouldn’t want to back her. So it’s super hard to make a call that Vanguard is proven to be superior or not.
My sense is that starting a habit of moving stuff around every year will see you lose money in trading fees, and being out of the markets for maybe that one stellar week which makes a difference! I’d tend to err on the side of staying put unless you have good reason to move.
Over the 12 months to September 2018 in a balanced/medium risk portfolio Moneyfarm returned 4.72% after charges, compared to Vanguard LifeStrategy 60% making 6.62%. But this is a very short timeframe and doesn’t answer the question about who is the best.
Depends on your timeframes. If you don’t need this money for say 10 years and you can stomach ups and downs, then maybe you should amend your risk profile for subsequent contributions, and see what that feels like? But you have to expect greater swings without jumping ship in the downturns.
The fee differential will make a small difference, yes - Moneyfarm charge 1.09% all in, and Vanguard LifeStrategy in an ISA would be 0.48%. But Moneyfarm has a better app and communications and is probably easier to manage and check in with.
But I honestly believe that it’s a damn hard job with the small history of Moneyfarm, to make clear assessments about performance.
The biggest thing we can do to invest successfully is to stay invested (as long as you’re not in something dodgy or rip-off, which you’re not), leave it alone and keep chipping in. So my tendency would be to leave it alone. Being in the market is the single most important thing. Give it a chance to do its long-term job?
Maybe set up a low-cost trading account with someone like Freetrade, and limit yourself to tiny amounts on a ‘play’ shares account - which you’re willing to lose. And discipline yourself to selling half if the value ever doubles. I would personally avoid this like the plague - but if it stops you trying to roll the dice with your big pot, then maybe it’s worth thinking about?
I don’t mean to sound patronising. There is a thrill in seeing a 10p stock soar to £5. Trouble is that this works the other way too, so it’s no different to gambling.
Hope that is helpful food for thought.
As always this isn’t regulated advice, I don’t know your circumstances and I’m not a financial adviser!
So this is meant as general facts and observations. You’ll ultimately need to make the call yourself.
Good luck.
We are not regulated to give personal financial advice - This isn’t full-fat regulated financial advice. Boring Money is a publisher and not regulated by the FCA.
This means we can't help with specific personal circumstances or recommend specific investment products. It also basically means that if we say something daft, you have no recourse to come back and complain.
We’re only allowed to give you a steer or share an opinion or tell you the facts - That said, we promise that our answer to you is an independent unbiased perspective with no commercial gain to make. If you need regulated financial advice, you can find a good adviser via sites such as Unbiased & Vouchedfor.
"I’m new to investing and in my late 30's. I'm actually stuck in a dilemma whether to invest using DIY platforms like Interactive Investor, A J Bell or Hargreaves Lansdown OR invest using robo advisors like Nutmeg, Moneyfarm or Pensionbee. I have compared the fees and they are not significantly different. Do robo advisers have a better return rate? I can dedicate some time to DIY investing but not a significant amount of time. Please advise. Thank you."
Victor , Kent
14/01/2019
Read our replyI’m new to investing and in my late 30's. I'm actually stuck in a dilemma whether to invest using DIY platforms like Interactive Investor, A J Bell or Hargreaves Lansdown OR invest using robo advisors like Nutmeg, Moneyfarm or Pensionbee. I have compared the fees and they are not significantly different. Do robo advisers have a better return rate? I can dedicate some time to DIY investing but not a significant amount of time. Please advise. Thank you.
Victor , Kent
14/01/2019
This is a question that a lot of people ask when they decide that they'd like to begin investing.
Traditional platform or robo adviser?
If you don't have much time to spare but you want to get into DIY investing, both a robo adviser and an online investment platform offer some great simple options.
Robo advisers are currently very popular, and have recently been gaining new customers faster that the bigger online investment platforms. We found out that in the online DIY investment market almost 1 in 3 new DIY investment accounts is now opened with a robo adviser.
The robos first came about as a nice in-between product which wasn't full-blown advice, but which also wasn't so go-it-alone as DIY investing.
As a bit of quick background, a robo adviser is an online investment service which asks you around 10-15 simple questions, and then puts together a suggested suitable basket of investments from your answers. Once you've got your basket, your robo adviser will then manage this for you on an ongoing basis, rather like a portfolio manager of a traditional investment platform.
A huge benefit for new investors is that by asking you 10-15 questions and essentially providing digital advice, robo advisers are able to choose all the individual investments for you, meaning you don't need to make any of these confusing decisions yourself.
If you're looking for a newbie-friendly DIY investing option from a traditional investment platform, which won't require too much involvement - then we'd suggest you take a look at Vanguard Lifestrategy. This is a low-cost ready-made product offering investors 5 ‘multi-asset’ passive index funds to choose from. These options include differing proportions of assets such as equities and bonds, to cater to the investor's risk appetite. All investors need to do is pick the risk level they'd like.
Some of the jargon surrounding this product can sound a bit bewildering, but this is what they mean for Vanguard LifeStrategy;
Drilling further down into the differences, here are the main pros and cons that we think distinguish robos from traditional platforms.
This is pretty difficult to say definitively without giving the new robo adviser market a little more time to grow. For example, the most established robo Nutmeg, has only been around since 2011.
However, we have done some early research into this which might help:
In November 2018 we did our quarterly analysis of nine of the UK’s leading robo advisers - which you can read more on here: performance comparison of the major robo advisers. We found that higher risk investment portfolios at seven of these nine robos outperformed the FTSE 100 (and therefore passive index tracker funds) over that past 12-month and 24-month periods.
Over that 24 month period, we found that from a starting £5,000 investment, higher risk portfolios at the average robo adviser returned £5,895 (17.9%) compared to the FTSE 100 which grew to £5,862 (17.2%). However on average, medium risk robo portfolios returned 10.2% over the two years analysed, while low risk portfolios returned 2.3% - the same as a leading easy access cash ISA.
Through this research, we found that the level of risk which investors are exposed to in terms of volatility is significantly reduced in comparison to the FTSE 100, if assessed in terms of monthly swings in valuations, or monthly drawdowns.
Meanwhile, we've also done a research project for Quilter, about the effect of DIY investors' bad habits.
We found that investors who build their own portfolios can suffer from seven bad habits, which can lead them to miss out on 11.3% of potential gains a year. Our research showed that the typical unadvised investor takes a huge amount of investment risk and gets very little back for it.
These are the seven habits we identified which can reduce a DIY investors' investment return or increase their risk:
Ultimately as a new investor, it may be wisest to start out with a robo adviser to get a feel for things.
However if you're sure you know what's what and fancy a bit more control over your investments, we'd suggest starting with a Vanguard LifeStrategy portfolio which should be a good introduction to your DIY investing journey.
Hope this helps!
Phoebe
We are not regulated to give personal financial advice - This isn’t full-fat regulated financial advice. Boring Money is a publisher and not regulated by the FCA.
This means we can't help with specific personal circumstances or recommend specific investment products. It also basically means that if we say something daft, you have no recourse to come back and complain.
We’re only allowed to give you a steer or share an opinion or tell you the facts - That said, we promise that our answer to you is an independent unbiased perspective with no commercial gain to make. If you need regulated financial advice, you can find a good adviser via sites such as Unbiased & Vouchedfor.
"I'm nearly 30 and looking to open a private ready made pension, and also an investment ISA for retirement funds or towards a property, but very unsure what risk level to choose (low to medium, or medium to high)? Any comments or advice welcome."
Susan, West Midlands
24/07/2018
Read our replyI'm nearly 30 and looking to open a private ready made pension, and also an investment ISA for retirement funds or towards a property, but very unsure what risk level to choose (low to medium, or medium to high)? Any comments or advice welcome.
Susan, West Midlands
24/07/2018
Hello Susan,
First, congratulations on opening up a private pension as well as an ISA, both are very healthy financial steps to take!
It's important not to think of risk as a measurement of how likely it is that your investment will disappear in a puff of smoke. In reality, it’s a measurement of how much the investment’s value goes up and down over time. So, your risk level for any investment depends on how long you plan to hold it for.
For your private pension, which you’ll keep for a long time before you need to use it, a managed fund with a higher proportion of shares makes sense. If you want to use the money in your Stocks and Shares ISA for property within the next 5 years, say, you would be best with a lower risk portfolio.
Have a look at some of the robo-adviser options like Nutmeg, Wealthify, Wealthsimple and Moneyfarm for your Stocks and Shares ISA. These companies will run you through a risk questionnaire before you invest and give you a ready-made low cost investment package that you can contribute to regularly if you want. You can learn about them here. Nutmeg is the most well-known of these.
For your private pension, have a look at our top 5 DIY pension options, just updated in July. We break it down depending on your time frame, fees and charges, and how much control you want to have on a day-to-day basis. You shouldn't be paying more than 1% in fees and if you want something low-cost and ready-made, we suggest AJ Bell Youinvest, which won Best Online Pension Provider AND Best Online Investing Platform at the Consumer Investment Awards in June.
Good luck!
We are not regulated to give personal financial advice - This isn’t full-fat regulated financial advice. Boring Money is a publisher and not regulated by the FCA.
This means we can't help with specific personal circumstances or recommend specific investment products. It also basically means that if we say something daft, you have no recourse to come back and complain.
We’re only allowed to give you a steer or share an opinion or tell you the facts - That said, we promise that our answer to you is an independent unbiased perspective with no commercial gain to make. If you need regulated financial advice, you can find a good adviser via sites such as Unbiased & Vouchedfor.
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