Build a fortune – with an investment broker on your smartphone
A RISE in the number of investment apps is attracting more people to start or continue building wealth via their smartphones.
Their ease-of-use has mass appeal for those with busy lives and is pulling in people who are either already au-fait with the rules of investing or dipping their toes in for the first time.
Holly Mackay, founder of investing website Boring Money, says: ‘Some financial companies report that up to half of all share and investment fund trades are being placed via a mobile. Investment apps are becoming mainstream.’
How investors use apps largely depends on which one they use. Some are an extension of already established investment companies and work in tandem with existing online accounts.
Others are standalone which a customer might use as a way to invest for the first time.
Here we look at some of the available options and what they are about.
DABBL
WHO IS BEHIND IT? Co-founder and chief executive Mark Ackred.
COST: £2 a month membership, with the cost of three investment transactions included, and £1 a trade thereafter.
HOW IT WORKS: Dabbl is a stockbroking app that lets customers invest in the shares of companies they love. It supplies bite-sized information about companies so as not to overwhelm customers with financial jargon.
It is explained by bosses as the ‘Shazam’ of investing. Shazam launched in the UK in 2002 and was a way for people listening to music in a bar to find out what song was playing using their mobile phones, so they could go on to buy it.
Dabbl has a tool that lets you upload a photo of a favourite product with your smartphone to find out if you can buy shares in the company that owns it.
Customers can easily search for brands or categories of shares to find opportunities, which they can buy in ‘two clicks’. They can also track market trends.
Ackred says the aim is ‘to make investing a part of your lifestyle’. It will soon offer an Isa- wrapper to make investing tax-efficient.
BEST FOR: Brand-loving newbies who see share opportunities in the products they regularly buy – and who want to have fun when they are investing.
HL
WHO IS BEHIND IT? Hargreaves Lansdown and specifically the company’s digital director Chris Worle.
COST: It is free to use, but normal charges apply to any share or fund buying.
HOW IT WORKS: Hargreaves Lansdown revamped and relaunched its app for Android and iPhone users early last year.
Users can access their account with either standard log-in details or biometrics – using fingerprint technology. From there investors can add money, trade, view transaction histories and manage any pending orders (share buys or sells).
The app can also be used for quick access to market information and investment research.
Worle says 70 per cent of all account log-ins during September this year were via the app. He says: ‘The increase in the use of mobile shows no sign of slowing down.’
Customers have the same access to their portfolios as if going through the website.
BEST FOR: Existing investors with an appetite for thorough research and a wide choice of investments.
MONEYBOX
WHO IS BEHIND IT? Entrepreneurs Charlie Mortimer, who previously helped launch online marketplace Wowcher, and Ben Stanway, who co-founded flower company Bloom & Wild.
COST: £1 per month subscription (first three months are free), covering all transaction costs. The platform fee is 0.45 per cent of the value of your annual investment. Fees for the tracker funds used range from 0.22 to 0.24 per cent per year. HOW IT WORKS: Customers link the app to their bank account or credit card. Everyday spending can be rounded up to the nearest pound and the spare change invested via a cautious, balanced or adventurous fund. Each fund is a different mix of three funds: Vanguard Global Equity; iShares Global Property Securities Equity; and Janus Henderson Cash. Customers can choose to make regular or one-off deposits with no compulsion to use the rounding-up service. They can start investing with £1.
The founders say their focus is on helping people build wealth rather than assisting those who already have it. Since launch in August 2016, some 135,000 people have downloaded the app and started investing. It is planning the launch of a pension and more fund choices next year. BEST FOR: Beginners investing for the first time and who seek simplicity.
TRUE POTENTIAL INVESTOR WHO IS BEHIND IT?
True Potential, which provides technology services to one-fifth of the country’s financial advisers.
COST: The app is free, but there are transaction and platform charges – around 0.4 per cent a year for using the platform and 0.76 per cent to cover fund charges and transaction fees.
HOW IT WORKS: Users can track, manage and top up investments. Accounts can be opened from £1 and investments are made through one of its managed global portfolios. It allows users to add top-ups to their portfolios, again starting from £1, with just a few touches of the app.
Users can link their bank account, credit card and savings account to the app so as to get a view of their finances all in one place.
Everyday spending transactions can also be rounded up to the nearest pound and the difference invested. BEST FOR: Existing investors who want to invest and track their investments on the go.
AJ BELL YOUINVEST
WHO IS BEHIND IT? Investment platform AJ Bell. COST: The app is free but normal account charges apply. HOW IT WORKS: The app is available to AJ Bell Youinvest customers and allows them to manage a pension, Isa or share dealing account on the go.
Customers can check balances, find research and buy and sell investments.
The app allows users to message customer service teams and view financial accounts from other providers – investments and bank accounts for example – using the My Wealth tool.
Anyone with more than £4,000 in their account can get a free weekly digital copy of Shares Magazine, which can be read via the app. BEST FOR: Existing investors who want access to a range of investment types – funds and shares.
PLUM
WHO IS BEHIND IT? Co-founders Victor Trokoudes (previously of currency disruptor Transfer Wise) and Alex Michael.
COST: £1 a month (first month free). Platform fee of 0.15 per cent of sum invested a year and a fund fee of between 0.22 and 0.9 per cent.
HOW IT WORKS: Unusually, Plum is not itself an app but works within another – Facebook Messenger. This is where customers can go to sign up and link their bank account. Plum then analyses your daily spending to determine what spare change can be automatically swept into investments – either an Isa or a general investment account. There is a choice of six mutual funds.
Anyone with questions can ask them in Messenger, find answers from Plum’s blog or by interacting with other users via its investment academy group on Facebook.
BEST FOR: Beginners who are tech-savvy and comfortable with a somewhat informal introduction to investing.