Interactive Investor: Official Review 2024, Pros and Cons

27 April 2022

Summary:

  • UK-based organisation regulaed by FCA
  • 2 account types available
  • ISA and SIPP offered
  • Highly rated Customer Support

pros Pros:

  • Fixed account fees are very affordable for large portfolios
  • First trade each month is free
  • Free regular investing

pros Cons:

  • Minimum account fee of £120 p.a is expensive for small portfolios
  • Third-party support for charting or trading software is unavailable
  • Forex and leveraged CFD products not offered
  4.5
Safety:
90/100
Fees and Costs:
84/100
Products and Markets:
83/100
Trading platform:
72/100
Tax regime:
70/100
Ease of use
83/100
Overall rating
81/100

Interactive Investor review

Interactive Investor (“II”) is the second-largest dedicated stockbroker in the UK. The firm is privately owned and serves over 400,000 clients.

Interactive Investor’s spectacular growth has seen the business add over 50,000 new UK clients each year for the last few years. 

Our review concludes that these clients are drawn to Interactive Investor in the search for rock-bottom fees. In 2019, the broker adopted a unique fixed-price model that caps the cost of investing regardless of the size of your portfolio. 

Most brokers charge an account fee based upon a percentage of your account value. This means that as your investments grow, your account charges will grow with it. In stark contrast;  Interactive Investor charges a monthly fee of £9.99, £12.99 or £19.99 for different account plans. These fees are expensive for tiny accounts but translate to an insignificant % for large portfolios, making Interactive Investor the natural home for cost-conscious investors with portfolios worth in excess of £100,000.

Interactive Investor is a stable UK financial institution that falls under the oversight of the Financial Conduct Authority. It was recently announced that Interactive Investor will be acquired by Abrdn, an asset manager based in Scotland that was founded in 1825. This is a further sign of confidence in the long term future of the broker.

In this broker review, we’ll uncover the features of Interactive Investor that have underpinned its success and explain which types of investors may find an Interactive Investor account to be their ideal investment platform.

Safety

Interactive Investor is a UK-based organisation. It currently operates from offices in Manchester, Leeds and London, with a total team of over 500 staff.

The firm was founded in 1995 and grew during the following decade which saw an explosion in share dealing online. This has meant that Interactive Investor has always been tech-focused and mindful of the future of wealth management. 

Interactive Investor Services Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Interactive Investor, is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. The register of the FCA states that as a firm with permission to handle client money; ‘This firm must protect the money it holds and/or controls on behalf of customers. It cannot lend this money or use it to finance its own business.’

This refers to ‘ringfencing’, the concept of separating the assets of clients from the assets used to operate the business activities. This process helps to ensure that in the event of bankruptcy, client assets should remain intact and available for outward transfer to another stockbroker after fees.

As a client of a fully regulated FCA broker, you would also be entitled to up to £85,000 in compensation from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme were you to lose money directly as the result of the failure of the firm.   

At the time of writing, Interactive Investor is set to be acquired by Abrdn, a modern asset management stalwart that oversees £465 billion of assets. This transaction will provide further peace of mind to clients that Interactive Investor is a sustainably-run organisation that will be around for the long term. 

Interactive Investor Account

Interactive Investor has recently refreshed the account types and pricing plans available for UK investors. With a simpler range and more features packed in each account plan, choosing the ideal account for you has never been easier. 

The account types available are:

  • General investment account
  • Stocks & Shares ISA
  • Junior ISA
  • Self-Invested Pension

All of the accounts have a similar range of investment options available, such as domestic and international equities, funds and bonds.

With the exception of the Self-Invested Pension (also known as a SIPP), you can open one of each account type without attracting any additional fees. That’s because your charges are paid as a subscription plan based on your trading activity across all of your accounts, rather than on a ‘per account basis’. More details on pricing will follow in our ‘Fees and costs’ section.

Interactive Investor does not offer a cash ISA or Lifetime ISA option, unlike some large UK competitors such as AJ Bell [See our full AJ Bell review for more information]

Finally, the broker offers joint accounts and corporate accounts for more complex ownership scenarios. If you’d like to jointly own a portfolio of shares with your spouse, or better utilise company cash then you may want to consider one of these specialist options.

Charges for these accounts are entirely separate because they are not operated by a single individual.

» Interactive Investor minimum deposit

An Interactive Investor account may be opened with as little as £1, or via the setting up of a regular direct debit from your bank account for £25 per month

Once opened, you can invest as little as £25 a time with your account.

This low deposit minimum makes the Interactive Investor accounts one of the easiest to open, however, it’s worth remembering that the minimum account fee of £9.99 per month would make it unaffordable to manage a portfolio of less than £1,000.

» Interactive Investor demo account

A demo account is not currently offered by Interactive Investor. This is not necessary because all the relevant information about platform fees charges and investment options is publicly visible on their website.

This allows potential clients to make their decision to open an account with confidence using all the information readily available. 

Author of the review:

Alfredo de Cristofaro
Founder
Graduated in Economics of Financial Intermediaries, after having worked for several years at one of the main financial brokers in Europe, he decided to make available to investors the knowledge gained over the years. On QualeBroker.com he's responsible of reviewing the stockbrokers, making sure that the highest standards of safety and transparency are guaranteed.
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