Who did best with £500? Best 2018-2019 online investment platforms and robo advisors revealed

18/01/2019

Investment fees are a bit like flying on a dodgy budget airline. Quite often the advertised price is bumped up by extra charges for sandwiches, the cheek of having a bag, and even needing a wee. It’s too hard. So we decided it’s time to do something about it.

More and more people are choosing ready-made investment solutions. Rather than agonising over all the individual components, we’re getting the investment provider to blend one for us. It’s like going to M&S to buy a ready-meal, rather than a basket of ingredients. But how to decide where to go?

One of the most obvious ways to compare them would be to look at what you stand to earn: the actual £ value of projected returns minus the charges. But some platforms have charges that others don’t, some call them by different names, and some seem to hide them completely. And most fund managers only tell you what they’re going to charge for the brainpower and administration, not including the additional charges you pay when they buy and sell.

It’s too hard. And it’s bloody frustrating. So we decided it’s time to do something about it.

1. We opened 20+ test accounts with different investment platforms and robo advisors.

2. We invested £500 into each of them, choosing simillar investments and portfolios.

3. We came back after a year to measure our new account balances.

The endless and complex industry debate around performance attribution, methodologies and cost disclosures is intellectual self-indulgence - all I care about as a customer is what is the £ balance left in my account at the end of my investing timeframe?

– Holly Mackay, Boring Money CEO

The difference between this and that is £120

2018 was a pretty rough year for the stock market, with values falling left, right and centre. As a result, all our test accounts lost money (though most of them still beat the FTSE 100), but some investments did remarkably worse than others once the charges were paid.

We’re not just talking a difference of £10, £20 or even £50 here. The gap between highest and lowest return was a whopping £120: our Wealthsimple account balance dropped 4% to £481 (including charges of £3.43), compared to Alliance Trust Savings’ drop of 28% to £361 (including charges of £120). More on charges shortly.

Here’s what that looks like on a chart:

Why such a big difference in account balances?

Does this mean some platforms are just rubbish compared to others? No. Not quite. There are a few variables in play here.

What’s actually inside these portfolios

Although we picked funds that were as similar as possible to each other – own-brand funds managed by the investment outlets with about 60% allocated to shares – the exact make-up of these shares differs from provider to provider.

• Some parts of the world did better than others so those with more in US shares, for example, will have done better.

• And some people got cold feet about shares during the year and reduced their holdings from 60%. Given the dodgy markets last year, this would have boosted their comparative returns. If something’s heading down, you do better if you own less of it! Our top three performers reduced their exposure to them by 15%–17% over 2018.

The way charges and fees are handled

Market movements affect the value of your investments – that’s a given. What’s surprising is just how big an impact the charges had too.

• As you can see on the chart above, the five lowest balances belonged to accounts with either a flat fee pricing structure or %-based fees with minimums. In proportion to an investment of only £500, these fees have a huge impact – Alliance Trust Savings charge £120 a year, for example, which is colossal here but a drop in the ocean for a larger investment.

• So to be fair to the guys with fixed fees or monthly £ minimum fees, we would expect them to look bad based on these small test account sizes. But if you’re Jeff Bezos, for example, paying £120 a year for your gazillions is not a bad deal!

• If we had invested £10,000 or £100,000 instead, these charges would likely have balanced out and our leaderboard would look quite different. After all, before subtracting the charges, our combo of Vanguard (investment) and Alliance Trust Savings (admin) was actually the third best performer, not the twenty-first.

Take a look at the rankings in this table for greater detail (best to worst: dark blue to dark red):

Why did none of our investments grow at all?

Because we’ve only looked at 12 months’ performance so far, and investing is a long game. There will always be good years and bad years, ups and downs, which is why we always recommend you invest for at least 5 years. As long as you’re not forced to withdraw your money during a bad year, you should be okay.

When it comes to bad years, 2018 was a stinker.

January was particularly dodgy, with larger daily swings in market values than usual. They were peaking when we set up our test accounts (of course!), and then they started a tumble that hasn’t yet recovered. If we had waited until February to invest, our accounts would probably have been in the black by now. Typi-bloody-cal.

That’s not our way of telling you to try and time the market – nobody can read the future – but it’s worth noting that our reduced balance wasn’t entirely the fault of the online investment platforms and robo advisors.

Besides, the funds still beat the market

As we mentioned, it was a bad year for the FTSE 100 in the UK, which fell 12.75% over the same timeframe as our test accounts. It’s a similar story for the S&P 500 in America, which fell 10.9%.

Compare these figures to our test accounts, which spread our investments across these two markets and beyond, and we still get a small success story. Before accounting for charges, our test accounts fell by between 3.8% and 9%. So despite losing a little, we were still protected from the full force of the stock market’s slide, which shows the benefit of globally diverse portfolios that are managed by professionals. They can’t dodge every bullet, but they can certainly thicken your armour.

TLDR: What should you take from all of this?

1. Knowing how charges work is important. If you’re only investing a small amount of money, don’t choose a platform with a high annual £ fee that eats up your earnings. Do the maths to see if a %-based fee will leave you better off.

2. Diversify and spread those bets around. All our test accounts outperformed the FTSE 100 before charges were applied.

3. The best performers were Wealthsimple and Wealthify. Whether you include or exclude the charges, these two robo advisers always came out on top. Special mention too for IG Smart Portfolios, which came third after charges were applied. But (sorry to rain on a short-term parade) 12 months is just the start and not long enough to evidence skill over luck.

4. The industry needs a big kick up the jacksie. They need to cut the smallprint and tell us how they’ve done in a way which makes sense.

In the words of Holly Mackay, Boring Money CEO:

Conducting what should be a simple analysis was head-bangingly difficult. I needed to have over 20 test accounts, take a day to trawl through the data and to have 20 years’ experience of looking at platform charging models to produce these findings on a comparable basis. If you’re shopping around, have a look at our Best Buy tables to see what other customers have to say. And keep an eye on performance after charges. If you have any questions, send them our way.

The test account saga continues… see you in 2020

Come back next year to see how our test accounts fare as the economy rises and falls.

After all, a long-term view is the best one to take with investments. And who else is crazy enough to drop £10,000+ on an experiment like this to give you that view? Not Joe Public, and not Mr Moneybags of BigCorp. This is a job for your friendly neighbourhood money owls, so watch this space.

[CEO’s note: It’s actually more like £9,300 now. Scowl.]

Want to know more?

2 year platform performance for ready-made solutions

Working out which investment providers have performed well after fees
is no easy task. So we've tracked 19 ‘medium risk’ accounts since January
2018, seeing how they've done with an initial investment of £500.

So how have they done?

What type of Sustainable Saver am I?

Take our one-minute quiz and discover which of our 6 Sustainable Savers you are. Eco Warrior? No Nasties? Pure Returns?

Take the quiz

2020 platform performance for ready-made solutions

How have robo advisers & investment platforms done with their ‘ready-made’ investment solutions for investors?

Trying to work out which investment providers have performed well after fees is no easy task. After much frustration and endless Excel spreadsheets, we decided that the easiest and least controversial way to measure who does well was simply to open an account, stick £500 in and see how they did. Here is our January 2020 independent guide for consumers.

Platform performance for ‘ready-made’ solutions

What's next?

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Comments

Ryan Letley

Very interesting research. I thought that I would try opening an IG Smart Portfolio, which was the easy part on the IG side. However, they took me to the James Hay site and I eventually gave up tring to set it up. I have just sent an email asking both James Hay and IG to close down the smart account which I started to configure. It would be good to get this done again, so that we can see if the process has changed since Holly initially configured the accounts. Not that I would want Holly to bang her head anymore than she already has.

04/07/2020 14:48:59

0 0

Boring Money

You can take a look at the 2020 platform performance for these ready-made solutions at: www.boringmoney.co.uk/learn/articles/platform-performance-for-ready-made-solutions

27/01/2020 12:27:22

1 0

David

Hi, Are you going to repeat the analysis for the performances of full year 2019? Thanks

26/01/2020 03:58:15

1 0

Mark McNee

So how did 2019 work out for you guys?

20/01/2020 13:32:24

0 0

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Dr Richard Bradley's Response
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Nick | Surrey | 16/01/2019 | 11
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Hello, I really enjoy your website and find it useful and concise. My question is, what is meant by long term savings? I am 54, so what should I consider to be an appropriate time frame for any investment I make, that could supply the best results?

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Victor | Kent | 14/01/2019 | 1
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Phoebe Smith's Response
I’m a 20 something year old woman who’d like to learn more about investing. Do you have any books or reading material that gives a complete beginner a better understanding of how investing works?

Precious | Surrey | 03/01/2019 | 0
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Phoebe Smith's Response
From my retirement I received a lump sum of money and a monthly pension. I have £100,000 that I do not need for the foreseeable future... One of my main concerns with Financial Advisers are their costs... All I want is simply to see this money grow to its potential, sensibly and above inflation... Therefore my next thoughts are Stocks and Shares ISAs... My only concerns here are the current Brexit problems - I saw the FTSE drop this past week. I cannot find any information out there to assist with my decision making if this is certainly a good time to invest... I am aware that I can place £20,000 for this year. Come April 2019 I place another £20,000 and so on until the £100,000 has been utilised. Do I have to place it into the same fund or can I choose another different fund with a different company?... Please can you help to ease some of this burden, which has proved an awful part of my retirement and made me frightened to spend any money.

Katherine | Derbyshire | 02/01/2019 | 0
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Dave | Hertfordshire | 27/11/2018 | 1
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Holly Mackay's Response
I’ve been investing in Nutmeg’s Risk 10 profile for three years which helped my deposit for my house. I am now wondering whether to use Nutmeg again, or should I use LifeStrategy for my £1000 per month? Is there a difference between Vanguard's LifeStrategy option and let’s say a well known robo adviser like Nutmeg? I am still a beginner and would like to keep things simple, but happy to take risk and prepared to leave my investments for a long time.

Jordan | Surrey | 26/11/2018 | 19
- Robo Adviser
- Online Investment Platforms
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Phoebe Smith's Response
Do you have any recommendations for books that I can buy my 18 year old daughter for Xmas on the subject of pensions and investments so she can start to understand the subjects? She's young I know but I would like to get her started. Many thanks!

Nicki | Devon | 15/11/2018 | 2
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Catherine Morgan's Response
I was lucky enough to inherit a significant sum from my father... currently in Alliance trust platform in 10 investment trusts. They have delivered well in the last 20 years. But they are UK equity based. And highly risky. Do you offer a sanity check service for confused individuals like myself? I don’t know what to do...

Paul | Berkshire | 12/11/2018 | 2
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- Funds
Holly Mackay's Response
I am 35 and working part time on a reasonable salary. I've recently taken out a Stocks & Shares ISA with Wealthify (from reading the recommendations on Boring Money) where I pay in £40 per month. However, I'm wondering if I should be doing more? Should I be diversifying and using more than just Wealthify? Or is it better to increase the amount into Wealthify?

Holly | Sussex | 17/10/2018 | 1
- Stocks and Shares ISA
- Online Investment Platforms
Lesley James's Response
I am 25 and starting to seriously financially plan out my future. I would really welcome a 'sense check' on my thinking as well as some help on which investment choices to make. My goals are: To invest for 15 years - my risk appetite is very high (i.e. I could afford to lose all my money). Goal 1 - More Important: To have an investment pot of £1,500,000. Goal 2 - Less Important: To be mortgage free. My plan is: 1) Open an annual Stocks and Shares ISA each of the next 15 years. 2) Open Share trading/dealing account. 3) Reduce my mortgage term to 6 years by 2025. I appreciate the above is a lot to go though, but I'd welcome any help and guidance.

Mo | London | 15/10/2018 | 5
- Stocks and Shares ISA
- Shares
- Online Investment Platforms
- Funds
- Other
Holly Mackay's Response
I shall have £10k to invest shortly, and I want to use an actively managed portfolio in a quality company. How would you rate - Investec Click & Invest/True Potential Investor/Nutmeg on the basis of ROI/customer relationship/quality/risk factors etc? I would class myself as a mid-grade risk-taker/reasonably adventurous if appropriate, with a high quality company. I presently use Hargreaves Lansdown and Wealthify but feel the need to diversify. What do you recommend?

Richard | Shropshire | 03/10/2018 | 1
- Online Investment Platforms
Holly Mackay's Response
The recent Metro article which Holly participated in has really inspired me and made me think that investing in shares is something which I would like to do. Unfortunately I am completely thrown about where to start. I would be grateful for any advice you could pass my way. Realistically, I would only have about 2k to invest, so any tips would be gratefully received.

Sarah-Jane | London | 12/09/2018 | 3
- Stocks and Shares ISA
- Cash
- Online Investment Platforms
Holly Mackay's Response
Is there a reason you don’t list Saga in your Best Buys? Additionally, I have purchased a few investment trust shares but can’t work out how the dividends are paid. Scottish Mortgage is an example. I wasn't given an option to choose how to receive the dividends. It would be useful if you could provide some clarity on how investment trusts pay their dividends.

Carl | Buckinghamshire | 07/09/2018 | 1
- Shares
- Online Investment Platforms
Holly Mackay's Response
Can you advise me on the best approach when looking to invest in a product that offers compound interest? I’m thinking about funds rather than bank accounts. I also have 4 different pensions on the go. Should I keep them separate to diversify the risk? Or consolidate them? How will these pensions be treated when I retire? Will they be considered in aggregate by the tax man?

Craig | Clackmannanshire | 16/08/2018 | 1
- Private Pension
- Online Investment Platforms
- Funds
Helena Wardle's Response
I have about two thirds of my ISA in funds with Charles Stanley Direct and about one third left with St James's Place. I was planning to transfer the remaining one third to Charles Stanley Direct. However the recent platform price increases seem to put me in the worst position possible. After Charles Stanley Direct's fee increase, could I do better elsewhere?

Gerry | Bedfordshire | 15/08/2018 | 7
- Private Pension
- Online Investment Platforms
- Funds
Holly Mackay's Response
I invested my money in a St James's Place managed fund, split into ISAs and bonds, after advice from an adviser who was a St James's Place partner. My investments have done reasonably well, but I've read disturbing reports about St James's Place. Should I have concerns? Should I have found an independent financial adviser?

Glyn | Essex | 09/08/2018 | 8
- Funds
Holly Mackay's Response
I wanted an investment trust with an income, so I put £10,000 into The Investment Company. It delivers a reliable quarterly dividend but the capital value has dropped by 10% since I invested 2 years ago. What are your favourite investment trusts?

Fran | Greater London | 08/08/2018 | 4
- Shares
- Funds
Mark Dampier's Response
Is there an average number of funds that one should ideally hold? I have in excess of 20. I am happy with my portfolio and coverage, but wonder if I have too many funds. The second part to the question is how long should you leave an underperforming fund?

Richard | Hertfordshire | 06/08/2018 | 4
- Funds
Holly Mackay's Response
I'm 24 and would like to begin investing. Am I better off using a robo advisor such as Wealthify/Wealthsimple or a fund such as Vanguard LifeStrategy?

Amanda | Greater London | 06/08/2018 | 7
- Shares
- Robo Adviser
- Online Investment Platforms
Holly Mackay's Response
I am 73 and cautious. There are two areas that your advice would be helpful..what if you just spend thousands on buying the gold standard footsie companies like shell and the rest and keep them for five years and then cash them in ?

DB | UK | 24/07/2018 | 6
- Robo Adviser
- Online Investment Platforms
- Funds
- Pension
Holly's Response
Nutmeg require a minimum investment of £5,000. As I have less than £5,000 per annum income I am a bit confused about how much I can put into a pension. I know the government will only gross up a maximum of £2,880 per year but can I put more than this in and forgo the gross up?

Barbara | Hertfordshire | 10/07/2018 | 1
- Robo Adviser
Richard Allum's Response
I hope you can help. I recently consolidated two modest pensions into a SIPP in readiness to start UPFLS drawdown in May (2018). Whilst I was hoping for growth in my investments I wasn’t expecting it to rocket and now find I could well be looking at exceeding the lifetime allowance, possibly even before my first annual drawdown in May, and I’m unsure what, if anything, I should do.

John | London | 03/07/2018 | 9
- Private Pension
- Funds
Richard Allum's Response
What are the differences between income and accumulation income funds? How do you declare income reinvested in a fund on your tax return?

C | 05/06/2018 | 0
- Funds
Helena Wardle's Response
We have a portfolio of ISAs/PEPs worth around £250k, currently invested via Cofunds, managed by Chelsea and Bestinvest. I'm told this is quite an expensive option regarding platform charges. Are there better options?

John | Berkshire | 08/05/2018 | 6
- Robo Adviser
- Online Investment Platforms
Helena Wardle's Response
I would like to open a Junior shares ISA for my Grandson for about £50/month. How do I go about it and can you recommend some reliable companies?

Roger | Surrey | 26/04/2018 | 2
- Junior ISA
- Shares
Holly Mackay's Response
Can you recommend some very basic books for a 69-year-old widow who is now having to manage her money?

Martha | 12/04/2018 | 0
- Shares
- Funds
Helena Wardle's Response
I just found your web site (recommended in Andy Bell's book on Do It Yourself investing). Could you say why you do not review Halifax Share Dealing in your list of ISA providers? Is there anything wrong with this ISA provider for you not to include it?

Gerald | UK | 11/04/2018 | 0
- Shares
Richard Bradley's Response
Hi, I've got an old D.B. pension, approximate value £12k. I would like to invest & top up each month. Who would you recommend? Also I would like to make an investment, & don't know where to start? Thanks

Eve | 04/04/2018 | 5
- Funds
- Pension
Helena Wardle's Response
I am post-divorce with a good settlement which I have only partially invested. Are there any courses you can recommend? I have sat in a number of meetings with accountants and financial advisers feeling somewhat patronised! I am sure that there are plenty of women in a similar position to me (aged 55!).

Eavan | Ireland | 14/03/2018 | 3
- Shares
- Funds
- GIA
Holly Mackay's Response
How can I find a good financial adviser?

Byron | Greater London | 01/03/2018 | 1
- Shares
- Funds
Holly Mackay's Response
I am very lucky to have just received a gift which I want to invest for our retirement. My husband and I aim to retire in around five years. We have 11 more years of school fees to fund, then hopefully university fees for two after that. I've put together a plan for us - can you have a look and see if it makes sense?

Fiona | UK | 18/01/2018 | 6
- Private Pension
- Stocks and Shares ISA
- Junior ISA
- Shares
- Cash
- Online Investment Platforms
Holly Mackay's Response
We have four grandchildren (2 English living in UK, and 2 Irish living in Eire). We have decided to start savings plans for their futures. Their ages are 18yrs, 11yrs, 8yrs and 4yrs respectively. My age is 75yrs, and my wife is a little older. What should we do, please?

John | Buckinghamshire | 01/01/2018 | 1
- Junior ISA
- Lifetime ISA
- Shares
- Funds
- Inheritance
Martin's Response
I am already receiving a pension from a final salary scheme and I am retired. I have a sum of money I want to invest. Can I start another pension as a saver and, if so, how much can I put in every year?

Collette | Greater London | 25/11/2017 | 0
- Private Pension
- Online Investment Platforms
Boring Money's Response
How do I start investing, buy stocks, bitcoin, etc with £100?

Claudette | Bedfordshire | 18/11/2017 | 1
- Shares
- Other
Holly Mackay's Response
I am a 59 yr old retired lady with no income but I have reasonable equity..is it worth starting a pension or is it too late?

LL | Norfolk | 10/11/2017 | 2
- Private Pension
- Shares
- Pension
Cherry Reynard's Response
I am getting long in the tooth at 79, a little forgetful and I am going through a painful divorce. This has shattered my confidence and I need help.

Richard | Kent | 05/11/2017 | 3
- Private Pension
- Funds
Holly Mackay's Response
I have just sold my house and have a significant sum of money I want to invest. I may want to draw some income but also want to achieve capital growth. Are there funds that aim to achieve both or should I just invest for growth and draw money as I need to for income?

Jon | Surrey | 13/09/2017 | 1
- Funds
Peter Matthew's Response
I have a delightful 12 year old daughter and she has just opened her first bank account. I am dreadful with money but I would like to know what I should teach her so that she does not pick up my bad financial habits. Do you have some top tips of things to teach our children so they are wise and responsible with money please?

Louise | Greater London | 11/09/2017 | 1
- Junior ISA
- Shares
- Cash
Lesley James's Response
I am particularly interested to know whether it is best to diversify and try and cover of a number of shares with investments or to pick out a smaller number and invest more?

Richard | 05/02/2017 | 3
- Shares
Holly Mackay's Response
I am confused about index funds, e.g. Vanguard Equity fund. Do they track an index or include the yield? In the case of Vanguard, their low cost is attractive but their portfolio is made up of other Vanguard funds. I assume these probably each carry a fee structure - is this correct?

Robin | Gloucestershire | 03/09/2018 | 0
- Online Investment Platforms
- Funds
Boring Money's Response
Is it worth using a financial adviser when it comes to switching pensions funds, or should I do the research and pick the funds myself? I am no expert in stocks and shares.

Helen | Dorset | 10/08/2018 | 4
- Private Pension
- Shares
- Funds
Helena Wardle's Response
I've got £20,000 from an endowment policy (astonishing, I know), and I'm looking into how best to invest to get a reasonable return without excessive risk. Any thoughts much appreciated!!

Penny | Peterborough | 09/08/2018 | 1
- Stocks and Shares ISA
- Cash
- Online Investment Platforms
- Life Insurance
Boring Money's Response
I use H&L and although they are a bit 'plumy' on the phone I quite like their website and the costs are OK. So I was thinking of H&L for [my son]. I would be telling him to open these two funds and regularly invest and forget about them for 10 years!

R | Greater London | 29/05/2018 | 1
- Lifetime ISA
- Robo Adviser
- Online Investment Platforms
- Funds
Holly Mackay's Response
Should I be even thinking about the stock market?

Lysa | Greater London | 06/09/2017 | 0
- Stocks and Shares ISA
- Shares
Holly Mackay's Response
What funds could my millennial children invest in?

Anthony | Greater London | 06/09/2017 | 2
- Funds
Holly Mackay's Response

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