-
Compare
Independent, no-nonsense ratings and reviews
- Tools
-
Personal Plans
- Money Guides
- Money Goals
- Money Tribes
- Articles
- Ask an Expert
Independent, no-nonsense ratings and reviews
Probably the best of all so-called ‘robo advisers’– easy options that run users through a simple questionnaire and then build you a ready-made portfolio. The team has also created Socially Responsible Investment options. Everything is straightforward and simple enough to follow.
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
Confident Investor
Really easy to use
Pre-packaged investments
The most established 'robo'
Don’t want to take our word for it? We ask existing customers and investors to rate their experience with the company – based on value for money, overall service and the website. We need at least 20 customer reviews before we add anyone to our Best Buys list.
Based on 120 reviews
Straightforward, transparent information and good investment performance.
15/02/2020
Heard about Nutmeg on the Money Saving Expert website and decided to swap my ISA to them, turned out to be a good decision.
15/02/2020
Return on investment has been way higher than any of my other investments, and the fees are very reasonable indeed. Also find the updates on my investment strategy easy to read and informative.
15/02/2020
No comment.
14/02/2020
I'm a bit of a nervous investor, but Nutmeg has been superb. The investment performance excellent - around 8% - and the clarity of information also excellent. Would recommend.
14/02/2020
No comment.
14/02/2020
You can set clear investment goals and your personal risk tolerance. Although an experienced investor, I made an investment to a Nutmeg portfolio three years ago to test their approach. Very pleased so far. Minor issues with the amount of capital gains that are generated each year (i.e. quite a lot of turnover of holdings) but overall performance is impressive.
10/02/2020
As a novice it's been an easy way to start investing. I was encouraged when they ran a few articles a while ago about women and investing, and had always had some women involved in their monthly updates but that has stopped, which is a shame. They now give off that all-male investment firm vibe which I'm keen to avoid, so may have to look elsewhere at a company that is more inclusive of women across their company, not just in the backroom where no-one can see them. Women investors want to hear from other women about investing, not just from men please.
08/02/2020
Informative, concise monthly video updates. Excellent, clear easy to navigate website. Reasonable, transparent charges. Light years away from old style, paternalistic financial advice services I have used in the past.
08/02/2020
No comment.
08/02/2020
I find Nutmeg to be transparent and informative. The occasional check to see if your risk level needs tweaking is reassuring. I don’t recommend companies lightly but I would encourage anyone seeking to invest to look at Nutmeg.
07/02/2020
This is an amazing product. Very good for people who are new to investing and feels like they personally care about each customer :)
07/02/2020
I invested in Nutmeg in 2014 long before the 'B' word. My experience is wholly positive. I'm absolutely delighted with my return. Its not for you if you are thinking short term gain or are of a nervous disposition. At the time of writing this I am up over 25%. I have not made any withdrawal over the period, but my partner has made several. My only observation is that expect it to take a whole week for your funds to hit your bank on withdrawal. One withdrawal of a gain funded a new Skoda... so she's delighted. I am not connected with this company in any other way and live in rural Shropshire.
07/02/2020
Great provider, very clear and reasonable pricing structure. Transparent with a sensible long term approach.
07/02/2020
A user friendly website, good communications, very acceptable rate of return at low costs. Useful information supplied to users. A good product and easily recommended!!
07/02/2020
Good user interface, good communications - always thoughtful and helpful. Clear information on risk etc.
07/02/2020
Easy to use and helpful articles.
07/02/2020
Very easy and transparent. Compared to other fund managers much better visibility on costs and how funds are performing/invested.
07/02/2020
As a beginner to stocks and shares ISAs, I found Nutmeg to be very easy to use. Fill in the online risk assessment and once you're happy with the results, you can begin to invest. I've been using for a year and have had pleasing returns compared to my cash ISAs. They keep you informed with monthly updates explaining what's happening in the markets that will affect your investment. So far, so good.
07/02/2020
As a novice it has been very helpful in explaining what is happening and what options are available. It probably isn't the *highest* performing option available, but their no-nonsense approach means I trust what they are doing and don't feel like things are being obscured. At some point I would like to make the leap to managing the investments more directly and I don't know if Nutmeg is the platform for that, but for a first go with a couple of ISAs on the go it is a great start. The website is intuitive and I have never known it to fail or glitch and I can see they're now branching to IFAs too.
23/01/2020
For a newbie to investing Nutmeg ticked all the boxes for a first experience into investment
23/01/2020
Easy to use and functional. Not enough detail on monthly/yearly performance. Figures show overall performance.
10/01/2020
Signed up through a website link a couple of months ago for free management fees for 12 months and transferred both my £145,000 SIPP and £33,000 Cash ISAs. Very poor online communication and documentation i.e. initial adviser on their chatline used technical jargon which didn’t mean a thing to me and their system wouldn’t accept my pension application and had other problems. Nearly gave up, but eventually was told these problems often due to using an old iPad and was sent a paper form. I haven’t received any (agreed) official hard copies of documents either! Won’t use for drawdown!
03/01/2020
They asked me to invest as one of their customers in their crowdsourcing and I lost all trust in Nutmeg. I spent time signing up, expressing interest and reading up on nutmeg. Logged in on the first day and saw there was ages before the investment closed. So I went away as I had to release some funds to invest, and by the time I was ready they had pulled the investment, days if not weeks early. Basically if you're capital rich and investment experts you got to invest, but if you are novices like me (who Nutmeg are supposed to be there for) you lost out. Their communication has been terrible.
25/06/2019
Good basic platform.
16/02/2019
Introductory offer. Don’t drop in investment
19/12/2018
It's very easy and user friendly. I don't think I can set up a standing order to pay money monthly into the accounts.
19/12/2018
each stock you hold could show whether it is in deficit or profit
19/12/2018
The free cashback! Return on investments
19/12/2018
Transparent pricing. User friendly app. Easy to set up new pots and adjust risk comfort level.
19/12/2018
Like that its easy to use. Would add more products
19/12/2018
Like the simplicity & hands off approach. Would improve performance!!
19/12/2018
Like the simplicity, ease of use and understanding. Would improve costs as they are high compared with Vanguard
19/12/2018
Good customer service and good returns. Would like more rewards for staying with them over long periods.
19/12/2018
No comment
19/12/2018
Like that professionals are creating your portfolio. App could be improved as it is useless
19/12/2018
I opened a Nutmeg ISA on the recommendation of a money saving website, and a supposed 9 month % fees offer which did not materialise. I found the communications from Nutmeg were patronising, and after losing money I withdrew my money to another provider, who is a lot better. I would not recommend Nutmeg from my experience.
05/12/2018
No comment.
04/12/2018
Helpful explanation from the start, online and by phone. Easy to use and understand with regular, clear updates. Good performance too, over the 15 months I have had mine.
10/08/2018
Quite good, but mobile app could have improved functionality.
06/06/2018
no comment
27/03/2018
Trying company out at regular investment project.
30/01/2018
Like their website.
30/01/2018
It's pretty simple to use. I like the grips and modelling tools. It's accessible and not as confusing as many investment sites. I like that I can change things easily. I like their monthly updates in simple language. I feel like they are at least attempting to be transparent and offer something different.
30/01/2018
Easy to use, nicely set out app and website. Decent returns so far.
30/01/2018
I liked the initial introduction and e-mails. Not much information once invested.
30/01/2018
Fair return on my investment. Too early to offer thoughts on improvement.
30/01/2018
Simple, clear website.
30/01/2018
I'm relatively new to their services but pleased with everything so far.
30/01/2018
Very easy, both to set up an account and keep an eye on how things are going. Not the cheapest, but the customer service is good.
30/01/2018
Make charges upfront.
30/01/2018
Easy to use website is good. I'd like to see some graphs on the percentage performance.
30/01/2018
Easy set up, simple to understand and minimal effort required by me.
30/01/2018
Provides data on movements in easy to understand graphs.
30/01/2018
I like how easy it is to set up and how responsive they are. Unfortunately they do not offer specific investment products for US citizens so I will have to move my ISA out.
30/01/2018
Easy to use for people with little knowledge of stocks and shares.
30/01/2018
Fees are too high as balances grow. Will eventually move my accounts away from Nutmeg.
30/01/2018
Ease of access, helpful breakdown of investments and performance chart. Also liked that my portfolio is based on my attitude to risk.
30/01/2018
Website and app very easy to use. It encourages me to invest more.
30/01/2018
Simplicity of service. Relatively low fees. Early returns seem to be good relative to peers.
30/01/2018
Very nice service if you want a simple savings strategy. Love the monthly webcast updates on investment strategy.
30/01/2018
I like how it invests all your money in fractions of shares so it doesn't keep much as cash buffer.
30/01/2018
Takes care of investing for me, robo adviser, a range of portfolios, good website tools. Fees opaque, although I don't get a good feel for performance over time compared to other funds etc, lack of benchmarking.
30/01/2018
Communication. Don't like not being able to see which ETFs in my account are winners or losers.
30/01/2018
Very clear and easy to understand website. Invest and forget type of investment but with regular monthy video updates. Range of products on offer could be better, but are OK for me.
30/01/2018
Good clean and modern website with support for two-factor authentication. The returns this year are good. It would be nice if they had a mobile app.
30/01/2018
Easy to use platform, and ideal for the first time investor unsure of where to place their money. Nice app, nice website.
30/01/2018
Only a single level of security. Returns very good.
30/01/2018
I think the Nutmeg website platform is the best I've used. Very user-friendly. Interactions with staff have always been friendly, quick and effective. They seem to ensure you deal with the same person for a particular issue and the continuity makes things more effective. My only criticism is that with Vanguard offering the same investment model more cheaply, they might lose business.
30/01/2018
Easy to use, decent website and app, good introduction offers. Excellent investment performance so far.
30/01/2018
Everything works well and very easy to navigate.
30/01/2018
Simple to use.
30/01/2018
Ease of use.
30/01/2018
Nice and easy to use. Good updates. Could be made easier to have a few different pockets of money in different risk profiles.
30/01/2018
Simplicity.
30/01/2018
Simple and easy to use, strong investment management.
30/01/2018
No comment
17/12/2017
Would love to see a JISA offered.
26/09/2017
Good products.
26/09/2017
They have a great value proposition. Don't really have to think much about it. The funds perform well, but nowhere near the returns I am getting with Hargreaves Lansdown.
26/09/2017
Simple and easy - and uses classic tracker methodology.
26/09/2017
Had a lot of issues setting up this account and transferring in my ISA from another provider. More investment news would be good
26/09/2017
Simplicity.
26/09/2017
The online user experience is excellent, the platform is slick and fun to use, and the customer service is decent. I was frustrated with fairly low returns though and somewhat expensive fees in relation to the returns I was getting (for the passive investment option).
26/09/2017
Just simple and all the fees upfront.
26/09/2017
Ideal for those not confident in investing in funds themselves. Takes away work of doing so. Spreads risk. I sometimes find the performance details rather opaque compared to fund factsheets on Fidelity as an example. Sometimes gains aren't as large as I might expect and hard to get a handle on why.
26/09/2017
Being new to investing, I like the simplicity and information available not only on the website, but their blog "Nutmegonomics" is also very interesting. It also gives the whole company a very personal feel and whenever I've had questions the online chat facility is very good.
26/09/2017
App is amazing.
26/09/2017
DFM service and digital footprint.
26/09/2017
N/A
26/09/2017
I quite like using this. It's pretty simple. Some stuff is a bit hidden – cannot find any help I need for my tax return. But in general works well.
24/09/2017
Decent service
05/07/2017
Good advertising, easy to use website and app.
04/07/2017
Reputable, historically good performance.
04/07/2017
The simple layout is good.
Z
04/07/2017
Simple to use. Great customer service.
04/07/2017
I like that it's simple. The fees are too high.
04/07/2017
Good customer service.
04/07/2017
Nothing really.
04/07/2017
Simple, clear way to invest. Good detail on funds and investing. Website is a bit plain, could be improved.
04/07/2017
Good all round service. Good website but mobile app could be better.
04/07/2017
Was recommended as one of the best LISAs to get so have only just opened the account.
04/07/2017
it's easy to use.
04/07/2017
I like the simplicity. Clear website and offer. I think the SIPP drawdown product could be improved.
04/07/2017
Value for money with low charges for trading. Great if you want to be a passive investor.
04/07/2017
Its easy to understand and managed for me. Possibly providing other products would improve the service.
04/07/2017
I like the modern interface and the new customer offers.
04/07/2017
I like the ease of use but needs more products.
04/07/2017
Simple, intuitive and very responsive. I love the five min investment updates every month. Just gives the impression of being friendly and accessible. Returns have also been quite acceptable.
04/07/2017
Lovely website and easy to get information on holdings valuations etc. Very modern and clean interface. Better performance information on individual holdings of a portfolio would be good to see.
04/07/2017
Good customer service, easy to understand and easy to use/make changes.
R
04/07/2017
Clear and precise investment strategy. I like it.
04/07/2017
Service fees are small. The website is generally good and the customer service is helpful. The returns on the investment are low. Around 0.5%
04/07/2017
I like everything about this service!
04/07/2017
Most things are clear, they are certainly keen to make sure the customer knows what he or she is saying but not so open about invididual investments in a portfolio. I feel this company is less open than they claim to be. I also believe that their business model is not much different to that of others. Smoke and mirrors!
04/07/2017
Simple to use, fast and user friendly.
M
04/07/2017
Lots of information in personal account. I would like to see a table to see how the ETFs are performing in your personal account so that they show if they are losing or making money as it doesn't have this.
04/07/2017
I almost understand it! Other options seem scary and complicated. I sometimes think I'd like to understand how it works a bit more but if I did wouldn't I choose a more active form of investing?
04/07/2017
Great experience, simple without being patronising. Good quality products. Mobile experience is pretty basic.
04/07/2017
Good communication about markets, would benefit from lower fees.
04/07/2017
Best Buy for ISA and Best Buy for DIY Pension
Nutmeg scored well with customers, however they were a little weaker on service.
Best Buy for Beginner Investors
Nutmeg received strong Boring Money tester scores for novices, as well as good customer ranking for their website.
Best Buy for Sustainable Investors
MSCI rankings make it is easy for Nutmeg investors to swap from mainstream to Socially Responsible portfolios.
Nutmeg is pretty easy to navigate and use. Detailed information on portfolios and performance (past and predicted) is readily available.
Interactive charts and tools are useful for viewing portfolio and performance information. Although, when combined with the volume of information and imagery/videos, the initial experience can be quite overwhelming compared to other robo advisers. That said the questionnaire is clear, the illustrations and projections are good and the account set-up and funding are also solid.
Overall the Nutmeg app is very strong on both Android and ioS. Checking the value of your investments and the type of assets you are invested in is clear and easy to use. There is a good balance of additional detail for those who want it, but it doesn’t overwhelm those who will not be interested.
Users are also able add money to an existing “Pot” and socially responsible investment information on your portfolio is included. However, articles are not available.
Account establishment and management is fairly straightforward and everything worked well. Nutmeg sends annual prompts for a check on your goals and targets. This is a rare example of a communication which is relevant and useful – it’s not the usual diet of investment-heavy articles or regulatory-led communications about MiFID etc
Monthly portfolio updates are succinct and helpful.
This wordcloud has been created from customer reviews of Nutmeg.
Pink is positive and grey is negative.
The size of the word indicates the frequency of mentions.
Stocks and Shares ISA
Junior ISA
Lifetime ISA
Investment Account
Pension
Ethical investments
Chosen for you
Robo advice / ready-made portfolios
The biggest of the UK 'robo advisers' with over £2bn under management today. Suits people who don't know where to start or who are not interested in managing their investments on an ongoing basis.
You choose between 10 different options according to your financial situation and attitudes and get plopped into a ready-made portfolio of lots of different investments from across the globe. You can only use their portfolios – you can’t pick your own funds or shares.
You can choose their low cost automated 'fixed allocation portfolios' or pay a bit more if you'd like their team to manage your investments in a more hands-on way. They also offer a range of socially responsible portfolios which are managed by their team. The managed portfolios cost around 1% per year, or £10 on every £1,000. Socially responsible portfolios cost around 1.13%, or £11.30 on £1,000 invested.
A nice digital option which will suit busy people on-the-go. With 5 years under their belt, by far the most experienced of the UK 'robo advisers'.
| Provider Size: | The largest UK robo-adviser, with over £1.5bn invested |
| Minimum amounts: | £500 minimum initial amount for an ISA, pension or investment account. £100 minimum for a Lifetime ISA or Junior ISA |
| 12 month indicative performance: | A medium risk portfolio returned 14.2% in 2019, after charges. |
"I'm a 48 year old with minimal pensions. I would like to start a new pension to save for the next 12 years. I've already set up a Stocks & Shares ISA with Nutmeg, so would like to start my pension with another provider. I know little about investments so would like to use a company that has ready made funds based on risk assessment. Which would you recommend?"
Sam, Norfolk
30/05/2019
Read our replyI'm a 48 year old with minimal pensions. I would like to start a new pension to save for the next 12 years. I've already set up a Stocks & Shares ISA with Nutmeg, so would like to start my pension with another provider. I know little about investments so would like to use a company that has ready made funds based on risk assessment. Which would you recommend?
Sam, Norfolk
30/05/2019
My first question is why you want to look to set up a pension elsewhere.
There are benefits in having your ISA and pension managed in the same place.
Nutmeg and most other investment providers will ring fence client money from their account.
So if anything goes wrong, your money is held by what we call a custodian. They are also covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which covers you for up to £85,000 we hold with any one provider, if they get into troubles. So do have a look at that.
If you still want to look elsewhere, not so many of the robo advisers have pensions. You could, if you're worried about security, look to stick with a household name such as Aviva, who will let you buy a DIY pension online from them.
Other options would be to use more of what we call an investment supermarket. Hargreaves Lansdown is the country's biggest. It's a FTSE 100 firm, if you're worried about security. So that might be a good place to look. They can be expensive for much larger accounts, but if you're getting started with the pension and their service is good, then the fees won't be relatively out of line with with the market.
Other places you could look to start a DIY pension, would be AJ Bell Youinvest. Unlike with Nutmeg and Aviva, both of whom offer ready-made pension investment packages, with Hargreaves and AJ Bell Youinvest you will have to pick the investments you actually put into your pension.
If you want the investment equivalent of a ready meal, then have a look at what we call multi asset funds to put inside your pension. Vanguard's Lifestrategy range or BlackRock's Consensus range are two such options.
On balance, if you've got a relatively small amount in your ISAs and are starting off with a pension, I think it sounds like it may make sense just to stick with the provider you're with and the service that you know.
Hope this helps,
Holly
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 am a beginner investor and would like to invest in a "socially responsible" Stocks & Shares ISA. I have looked into the Nutmeg and Wealthify funds, having found out about them through the Money Saving Expert website. Is there information about any other such providers on your website? And do you have any advice about how to compare the "socially responsible" criteria on the different funds?"
Joy, Glamorgan
16/04/2019
Read our replyI am a beginner investor and would like to invest in a "socially responsible" Stocks & Shares ISA. I have looked into the Nutmeg and Wealthify funds, having found out about them through the Money Saving Expert website. Is there information about any other such providers on your website? And do you have any advice about how to compare the "socially responsible" criteria on the different funds?
Joy, Glamorgan
16/04/2019
Hi Joy,
Great to hear that you're eager start investing, and are particularly interested in ethical/socially responsible investing.
This is an area of the investment world that has been seeing a lot of interest recently. More platforms are introducing ethical ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) options for their customers to choose from.
There are many naysayers who dislike ethical investing because they feel that, while being a nice tree-hugging hippy thing to do, your investment returns will be poorer for it. However with the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warning in October 2018, that we only have 12 years to bring global warming under control and avoid a 'climate catastrophe' - the support for ethical is growing.
As is the performance of the ethical options which already exist. If we look at three different funds ranging from ethical to not-so-ethical, we can see that ethical performance has been on the up ever since 2014. (For more detail - take a look at our full article).
While the Vice Fund doubled investors’ money in its first five years (2002–2007), by the start of 2019 the FTSE4Good was the leading fund of these three. It even beat the benchmark set by the all-encompassing FTSE All Share.
This just goes to show the naysayers, that you don’t have to sacrifice returns anymore to invest in the future of the planet. But then again, nothing with the stock market is ever certain.
As we are pretty interested in ethical investing here at Boring Money (having written a report all about it in 2018), our Best Buys page and a few of our articles might be helpful to you. Why not take a look at:
Our Best Buys page - use our 'ethical investments' filter to whittle down the list providers to just those who market their own ethical options. As of April 2019, the only providers on our Best Buys page who offer ethical options are: Vanguard, Nutmeg, Wealthify, PensionBee, Barclays Smart Investor, Wealthsimple, and Moola.
Of these ethical options, we review all seven as suitable for beginner investors. However you can filter them again, using other filters such as: 'Low cost for small portfolios (<50k)' and 'Start with £100 or less', to find the best providers for you to explore further.
There is a lot of confusion about what counts as 'socially responsible', ‘ethical’ or 'ESG'. Some of this is due to the fact that one person’s ethics are not always in line with another’s.
Unfortunately, because of the relative youth of ethical investing, and all the confusion over how to define 'ethical' options, there is currently no easy way to compare the ethical options out there. Beyond reading up on them and doing your homework, there's no quick way to see at a glance how one ethical investing option differs from another. You just need to comb through the details yourself, and see how these ethical options measure up to your ideas of what 'ethical investing' means.
This being said, Morningstar are working toward creating a tool which could be really helpful for investors who'd like to do this. And we are hoping to have the functionality to help readers compare ethical investing products in the future. Unfortunately though, these projects are still in development.
Meanwhile, some investment platforms such as Fidelity, do offer investors helpful info to help them find out more about the ethical funds on their platform.
Take a look at the bottom of this page, to see the top 10 most bought and sold ESG funds on the Fidelity website in February 2019: www.fidelity.co.uk/funds/esg-investing
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 have a rough total of £30,000 in two separate company pensions from previous employers. For the last 12 years I have not contributed to a pension. I am now 44 and know I need to put money into one. I'm not financially aware and the robo providers sound tempting but, obviously, I want the possibility for the best return at medium risk. I aim to invest about another £30k immediately. Your Q2 2018 results update showed Nutmeg’s Portfolio 10 as returning 7.92%, but the Best Buys page for Nutmeg says it returned -5.9% in 2018 - I read at as a 5.9% loss. Please can you advise why the figures are so different? I've also heard that things like Vanguard Lifestrategy 60 are also a good choice but they don't have a SIPP - but then I don't know if I need a SIPP - I just want a good, solid pension. Many thanks."
Dave, West Yorkshire
26/03/2019
Read our replyI have a rough total of £30,000 in two separate company pensions from previous employers. For the last 12 years I have not contributed to a pension. I am now 44 and know I need to put money into one. I'm not financially aware and the robo providers sound tempting but, obviously, I want the possibility for the best return at medium risk. I aim to invest about another £30k immediately. Your Q2 2018 results update showed Nutmeg’s Portfolio 10 as returning 7.92%, but the Best Buys page for Nutmeg says it returned -5.9% in 2018 - I read at as a 5.9% loss. Please can you advise why the figures are so different? I've also heard that things like Vanguard Lifestrategy 60 are also a good choice but they don't have a SIPP - but then I don't know if I need a SIPP - I just want a good, solid pension. Many thanks.
Dave, West Yorkshire
26/03/2019
Hi Dave,
It is not going to be possible to tell you what you should do in your situation – sadly, this is because we don’t know each other well enough.
However, I can give you some facts that might help guide you.
Firstly...
Your point about whether you need a SIPP? Self-Invested Personal Pensions originated from rules that allowed people to manage a range of different assets and investments, all under one umbrella. Including property. And even fine art.
The flexibility idea took off but sadly, that flexibility came with a high price tag. And when people didn’t use the flexibility – most people as it happened – that price was definitely not one worth paying.
Personal pensions – and stakeholder pensions – on the other hand, have always been more straightforward, offering only a few funds, but with a lower overall price tag.
Today, however, the lines are becoming more blurred.
Price competition is increasing across the pension landscape. As long as the fees you pay for your situation are competitive, the question of whether that is via a SIPP or a Personal Pension is generally less important.
In terms of the actual investment...
The idea of targeting a multi asset, passive fund is a good one. You can choose something that suits your risk profile, benefit from great diversity AND keep your costs down, all within a single fund. After making the decision to save in the first place, these are three of the most important factors in your potential for future wealth.
The Vanguard LifeStrategy funds are excellent examples of multi-asset, passive funds. But they are not the only examples.
And no, Vanguard do not currently offer a SIPP (or any personal pension) via their own platform. But… You can access their funds via another provider (and the Best Buy tables on here include some providers that will allow that) or you can consider the equivalent fund offered by the provider(s) which do not.
Either route, with the appropriate amount of risk, should provide you with a good foundation for that solid pension plan.
Good luck,
Lesley James
So you've got about £30,000 to put into a pension.
One of the first things...
You'll need to choose is where go. Our Best Buys tables will help you.
A robo adviser could be a good idea because they will do a lot of the investment heavy-lifting for you.
When it comes to selecting the type of portfolio you choose, you'll need to work out what your risk profile is.
Nutmeg who you mention, have a questionnaire online which will help you to think about where you sit on the risk spectrum, between their Portfolios 1 - 10.
With the higher risk portfolios you would typically expect to make more over the long run, but it will be a bumpier ride, so there will be some years where they will do much worse than the mid risk lot. There will also be sometimes when they will be much better.
Returns
So the Nutmeg Portfolio 10 is their highest risk portfolio. You can see that over the short time frame you talk about, in one year it did make nearly 8%.
While our Q2 2018 update shows Nutmeg’s Portfolio 10 returned 7.92%, our Nutmeg Best Buys page says it returned -5.9% in 2018 - you're right to read this as a 5.9% loss over 2018.
There's a few things to note here, however:
At this stage I wouldn't focus too much on specific and short time frames. I would just spend my focus on making sure that you're in the right risk portfolio for you.
Time frames
You're 44, so we're looking at a minimum of a 13 year time frame - the minimum age for access to a pension is rising from 55 to 57 in 2028.
With this time frame, you can afford to take a decent amount of investment risk, so make sure you factor this in to account. Don't just plump for the 'middle toaster' in a range of investment returns, make sure you're really thinking about what's best for you and you will be comfortable with.
The Vanguard LifeStrategy range is a similar type of investment, as in it's pre-packaged and assembled by the experts.
As you say they don't yet have an online pension, although we believe this is launching imminently.
As well as the robo advisers which you can read up about online, you can think about more mainstream investment and pensions companies, such as Aviva, which offer ready-made pre-packaged pensions. Again, see what you think in our Best Buys.
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.
Our free weekly blog with Holly's
no-nonsense opinions, tips & food for thought.
If you change your mind, you can unsubscribe at any time. We'll never share your details and you can unsubscribe any time.
