Circa5000

jackiefoy

Does anyone in the forum have experience of the investment ISA with Circa5000?

tebbins

No.
This looks like a very small, very new firm. It is FCA authorised  (https://register.fca.org.uk/s/firm?id=0010X00004ZAYIEQA5#what-can-this-firm-do-restrictions). IMHO seems best avoided by amateur/retail investors.

masonic

Why would anyone use an obscure investment platform named after the Latin word for "approximately"?

Albermarle

It is the new name for Tickr- an ethical/sustainable investment platform launched a couple of years ago.

As still a small and newish venture there is always the possibility it could fold at some point and could take some time to get your money back .
Fees are in the range of 0.4% to 0.9% , so not too bad for ESG .

grumiofoundation

masonic said:

Why would anyone use an obscure investment platform named after the Latin word for "approximately"?

Hopefully not a sign of how they will display your total investment value! 

grumiofoundation

Used to be called tickr.

I signed up a while ago when it was tickr (so can't comment on any changes) with a small amount based on a sign-up/refer a friend bonus. Quite liked the platform overall but never put more than a minimal amount in, as I didn't want to commit large amounts in an early stage of a company. 

I seem to remember they changed the fees which made it very expensive to have small amounts so I closed. From a brief look online can't seem to find many details now e.g. what the fees are, maybe need to download app. 

I found it quite difficult to find what you were actually invested in (although could find it after a while), which I didn't really like, but may not be an issue for many of their customers (online says 90+% of customers are first time investors so seems to be the market they are pitching too). 

If you like the investments on offer I don't see any harm in having for small amounts but would worry about putting large amounts into it at this stage (as mentioned above could take time to get money back if it holds).

From an investment point of view having all your investment portfolio invested via this platform would probably* be seen as more risky than what is generally suggested for new investors which is to diversify as much as possible. Multi-asset funds (mix of equity, bonds and possibly other assets) and/or passive global trackers (100% equity) are generally suggested (see link below). So if you were going to investment significant amounts in this platform you may want to look at doing so as part of a wider portfolio? (caveat with don't know the exact investments they are offering)

https://monevator.com/passive-fund-of-funds-the-rivals/
Some companies are offering 'ethical' multi-assest funds
https://www.bmo.com/main/personal/investments/mutual-funds/sustainable-portfolios/
https://www.mandg.com/investments/professional-investor/en-gb/funds/mg-sustainable-multi-asset-fund/gb00bhr43049


If you want to do more research you will find there are many, many ethical/ESG investments options available - (edit: options below not recommendations just examples.) Obviously your definition of ethical will be quite personal so what is ethical to you may not be the same as to me for example.

One option you can get are ESG-screened global trackers. Example below screens out various 'dodgy' companies - weapons, coal miners, tobacco but still has facebook, apple, microsoft as top holdings.
https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investments/vanguard-esg-developed-world-all-cap-equity-index-fund-uk-gbp-acc 
This fund is passive  - the managers make no active day-to-day decisions in which companies to buy, it tracks an index so buys the companies listed in said index.

An alternative is active investments  - which will cost more but will try and get better returns. But may have ethical criteria more in line with your aims. There are a lot of global 'ethical' managed funds.  
e.g. https://www.triodos.co.uk/impact-investments/global-equities-impact-fund
or you can get more 'thematic - e.g. investing in clean energy, water etc
which I suspect is where circa5000 would fall (assuming investing in a similar way to tickr)
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6289460/sustainability-environmentally-friendly-funds-e-g-jupiter-ecology/p1

Albermarle

I seem to remember they changed the fees which made it very expensive to have small amounts so I closed. From a brief look online can't seem to find many details now e.g. what the fees are, maybe need to download app. 

CIRCA5000 fees for GIAs and ISAs

• Subscription Fee of £1 per month

• Platform Fee of 0.3% p.a. for accounts with a balance over £3,000

Fund fees vary based on the portfolio you choose to invest in (People, Planet or Planet & People) and the risk level you choose (Adventurous, Balanced, Cautious), between 0.24-0.65% p.a.