M&G Wealth and Moneyfarm have partnered to launch an investment platform offering tailor-made portfolios with ETFs to retail investors.
Clients using the &me app are asked to fill out a questionnaire to ascertain their risk appetite and financial goals to match them with one of six ‘classic’ or ‘targeted’ portfolios.
The ‘classic’ portfolios rely on passive equity and fixed-income ETFs and have an investment fund fee of 0.19%.
The ‘targeted’ portfolios have a 0.42% investment fund fee and use a mix of passive and actively-managed funds capturing stocks, bonds and alternative assets.
Clients choose a portfolio and then invest a minimum of £500 through a stocks and shares ISA, JISA, pension or general investment account. They can also message or call Moneyfarm staff through the platform or arrange a video call with an &me consultant.
The accounts also charge a management fee in addition to the investment fund fee based on the amount of assets being invested.
Invested sum
Management fee
Under £10k
0.75%
£10k-£20k
0.70%
£20k-£50k
0.65%
£50k-£100k
0.60%
£100-£250
0.45%
£250k-£500k
0.40%
Over £500k
0.35%
Source: M&G
The &me app is live on Android and iOS just a year after M&G Wealth led a £44.1m funding round in Moneyfarm.
David Montgomery, managing director of M&G Wealth, commented: “[&me] is designed to help people invest with a long-term view and approach, encouraging them and helping to educate through the app and the dedicated &me consultants.
“This is an easy-to-use investment app that guides people through the process of investing, but more importantly, has real people to help answer real questions. Not everyone wants, or can afford, to take full advice and we want to enable more people to save and invest for the financial future they want and dream of.”
Daniel Giddings, head of business development UK at Moneyfarm, added: “To bring a bespoke ‘platform as a service’ solution and new brand to market in just nine months is almost unheard of.
“We have offered full flexibility of approach in the launch of &me and provided a fully outsourced solution. &me brings together Moneyfarm’s best-in-class technology, M&G Wealth’s investment expertise and the all-important human touch provided by the dedicated &me investment consultants.”
The new app will target young investors in the UK, with Boring Money estimating up to 6.5 million potential customers are open to digital advice in the region.
Elsewhere in Europe, new ETF-based digital platforms are being rolled out at full steam. Within the last month, BlackRock partnered with Bux to offer ETF savings plans across eight countries while Vanguard launched the Invest Direkt service for German retail investors to access ETFs and mutual funds.
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