Updated: 22nd January 2022
Moneybox Review
A clear and easy to understand website with great descriptions of what they have to offer. And one of only a few to offer round up investing to make it really easy.
What is Moneybox?
Moneybox is an investing app with a difference – you can also use Moneybox to save your money in a range of accounts, and they offer help in finding a mortgage if you’re looking to buy a house. Moneybox is also different from some other platforms as you need to use an app (available on both iOS and Android) to access their services. Launched in 2016, Moneybox now has a community of over 800,000 people, and offers a range of different accounts including a Junior ISA and the Moneybox Personal Pension.
One other feature we like at Moneybox is the fact that as well as offering ready-made portfolios, you can also ‘pick your own’ from a range of 20+ funds which cover everything from Islamic Global Shares to Cyber Security companies.
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What is Moneybox?
Watch our Moneybox review
Our View
What accounts are available?
What kind of investments can I make?
What account features are available?
How can I access my account and get support?
How much does it cost?
Is my money secure in Moneybox?
Can Moneybox be trusted?
Is Moneybox a good investment App?
Do people make money from Moneybox?
Watch our Moneybox review
Overall Score 3
Overall Score
Our View
What accounts are available?
A credible score here for the Moneybox platform which puts them mid-table in this section. All the basics are covered with General Investment Accounts, ISAs and SIPPs on offer, and there’s a Junior ISA option too. In addition to the Lifetime ISA you can also get mortgage advice, and there are cash savings options for both instant access to your money and a 95-day restricted access acount.
Score 3.5
Score
What kind of investments can I make?
Moneybox is different from most of the other DIWN type platforms in that, as far as we can tell, there’s no questionnaire or survey to help you determine what level of risk you should be takign with your investments. There are 6 portfolios to choose from though, based on cautious, balanced and adventurous risk levels: 3 with a socially responsible outlook and three without.
Score 4
Score
What account features are available?
This is a pretty low score for Moneybox – if they do offer all the things on this list that are missing, we just couldn’t find mention of them online. However, one stand-out feature for which they must take credit is their ’round-up investing’ feature. This is where you can use your bank account to get into the investing habit by using small amounts less than a whole £1 to go towards your investment pot. It’s very easy, and if you don’t have a bank account with Moneybox, you can just link your existing account with most of the major banks available as partners.
Score 1.5
Score
How can I access my account and get support?
A mid-range score here as there are two features lacking that might be important to some investors. The first is telephone support. Yes, there is a chat app, and you can email them – but there’s no way to speak to someone that we could find. This may be an important factor if you’re just getting started. Once you’re signed up there’s also no access through a conventional website. Everything is done via the iOS and Android apps. Again this may not be an issue if, like most, you’re a smart phone user but there could be times when you need/want to do something from your conventional computer.
Score 2.5
Score
How much does it cost?
Moneybox are the only platform under review that charge a ‘subscription fee’. It’s not much, but it does add on to the platform fee and underlying fund costs figure, so we reflected it here as part of the percentage costs for an imaginary £20,000 ISA. Other than that, platform fee is low and more in line with that you might expect to pay at a DIY platform.
Score 5
Score
Is my money secure in Moneybox?
Yes and no. As of 2022, if Moneybox were to go bust, then investments you hold with them are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), but only up to the value of £85,000. Beyond that you are not protected under the scheme.
Moneybox’s pension provider (Gaudi Regulated Services Limited) is also covered under Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) for up to £85,000 per person for claims relating to investment products.
For Savings products, such as the Cash LISA or Notice Accounts, funds are protected by the bank holding your money. Moneybox does not hold your money itself, it uses third party banks.
The banks Moneybox partners with are covered by the FSCS. You are covered up to £85,000 per person per bank for your total eligible deposits with a particular bank, whether that is deposited through Moneybox, other providers, or directly with the bank.
Can Moneybox be trusted?
We think Moneybox can be trusted. Nothing in life is 100% certain, of course, but Moneybox was launched in 2016 as an app and has since then grown to a community of over 800,000 people.
We rate the features and charges Moneybox offer as 1.5 out 5, and 5 out of 5, respectively. The 1.5 may seem low, but Moneybox actually offers a lot of features weren’t looking for, for example mortgage advice and fixed notice period savings accounts.
The Moneybox app scores 5/5 on the Apple App Store and 4.5/5 on Google Play. It’s also won awards from The Times, Moneyfacts and Altfi.
Moneybox has a Trustpilot score of 4.5/5 based on over 1,100 reviews at the time of writing.
Is Moneybox a good investment App?
Overall, we rank the Moneybox investing app 3 out of 5, which is a credible score. It’s strong when it comes to costs, the accounts available and the kinds of things you can invest in. For example, in the app you can choose from 6 ‘starting options’ portfolios, each with a different level of risk and comprised of a range of cheap tracker funds. All of the portfolios include a global shares fund and you can choose for this fund to be socially responsible, or not.
Less good are the additional features available and the way you access your account – you can only access the full service through the Moneybox app, as there’s no website equivalent. So, if you find yourself without your mobile or just find it more convenient to use a desktop machine, then it’s not going to work for you.
Do people make money from Moneybox?
Moneybox don’t offer projections to show what their customers might expect to receive in returns in the future. However, to make starting out easy for beginners, they do show ‘what you would have won’ had you invested in the past.
Moneybox show historical returns for each individual year for the last 10 years, as well as overall for the period. Looking through 10 years of data up to the start of 2022, the ‘adventurous’ portfolio performed the best – £1,000 invested in 2012 followed by contributions of £50 a month, would’ve been worth £13,633.13 at the start of 2022. In other words, your £7,000 investment would have grown by 94%.
Don’t forget though, that things may be different in the future, and this might not be what you get back in the next 10 years.