Opinions on Nutmeg?

Owleyes00

Hello!

I have recently got over my first major financial hurdle and bought my own house. I am now looking to invest some of the regular monthly money I was previously squirrelling away for a deposit. 

I’m considering a Stocks and Shares ISA with nutmeg and wondered if there were any views/experiences?

I usually save about £800/month which was previously all going into a deposit fund. I’m now looking to do something more like:
-£100 mortgage overpayment
-£400 emergency fund/short term savings eg. Holidays
-£100 invest
-£100 extra spending money to treat myself!

dunstonh

Robo providers are not the cheapest option but they are quite good for inexperienced investors looking to put in very small amounts.   They effectively fill the gap between those that can DIY well and those with more money who cant DIY but have larger amounts that are catered for by the full advice market.

I usually save about £800/month which was previously all going into a deposit fund. I’m now looking to do something more like:
-£100 mortgage overpayment
-£400 emergency fund/short term savings eg. Holidays
-£100 invest
-£100 extra spending money to treat myself!

Anything for the pension wrapper?

Alexland

Owleyes00 said:

I’m considering a Stocks and Shares ISA with nutmeg and wondered if there were any views/experiences?

Easy to use, good customer service and usually some cashback signup offers.

Their fixed allocation portfolios are adequate and the least expensive but still not cheap.

Only invest for the long term 5-7 years or more to have a good chance of a positive result.

Don't go too low risk or you will get a load of low return bonds.

Would be cheaper with Vanguard investing in LifeStrategy or HSBC investing in Global Strategy funds.

-£100 mortgage overpayment

Assuming your LTV doesn't yet give you access to the best interest rates this may be worth doing.

Owleyes00 said:

-£400 emergency fund/short term savings eg. Holidays

Have enough emergency money before investing/spending/overpaying then it shouldn't be a regular budget item.

Budget for holidays seperately.

Owleyes00 said:

-£100 invest

Consider if addiitonal pension contributions or Lifetime ISA contributions (depending on your circumstances) would be better than S&S ISA contributions.

Owleyes00 said:

-£100 extra spending money to treat myself!

Only once you have an adequate emergency pot.

In the meantime download the Greggs app and get a free festive bake and hot drink.

Thrugelmir

What's your pension provision like? 

DoublePolaroid

I was a punter for a while. 

Customer service really is excellent as indicated above. For what it’s worth the website and app are slick and user friendly too. 

I switched away in order to take a more hands-on and cheaper approach to my investing - they are expensive for what they offer. I think they’ve since arrange a tie-in with JP Morgan which included an update of their product offerings which I’m unfamiliar with. 

Owleyes00

Thanks everyone! Sounds like it might be a good place to start. It would be lovely to have massive sums to invest but maybe in the future 🙏🏻

To answer a few questions:
- I pay into a local government pension which is taken direct from my pay about £280/month and LA pay in about £700/month. Current projected pot will be £36k/year assuming the same levels of earning but appreciate I have a long way until retirement!
-I have “some” emergency savings, about a month-6 weeks worth of cash. I do also have an income protection policy in place in case of loss of job, illness etc.

Alexland

On small amounts Nutmeg's not cheap fees won't matter too much but you will quickly outgrow them if you hang around this forum and learn about the cheaper options we talk about. Signup via a cashback site if you are happy with the proposed contribution pattern.

MX5huggy

As you’re in LGPS, investigate the additional pension options open to you. If they offer Salary Sacrifice AVC’s you’ll be able to contribute £100 to the pension at a cost to you of only £68 reduced take home or £59 if you pay student loan. Then when you retire you can take the AVC as part or all of your tax free lump sum so not paying any tax on it. 

Albermarle

Current projected pot will be £36k/year assuming the same levels of earning 

It is not a 'pot' but a promise to pay a guaranteed income when you retire . It is a very valuable thing to have, and one of the main ( financial) advantages of working in the public sector.

jbrassy

Nutmeg charge pretty high fees for the service they offer. Nutmeg are a robo-advisor so they ask a bunch of questions to try and gauge your risk appetite and allocate your investments to funds based on this.

A cheaper entry level alternative would be to set up a stocks and shares ISA with Vanguard then buy into their Lifestrategy funds. The more risk averse you aware, the more weighted you should be towards bonds and the more risk-loving you are the more weighted you should be towards equities.

george4064

Nutmeg isn’t the worst option out there, but you could get the same portfolio for significantly cheaper if you went DIY and managed it yourself.

If you drill down to what Nutmeg will be investing in (a variety of ETFs), then compare the costs to investing in those same ETFs on other platforms you can calculate the true difference in cost. However Nutmeg do a lot of the work for you (trading, rebalancing etc) which is partly why their fees are higher!