Updated: November, 10, 2022
Pros
Cons
Interactive investor is an award-winning online investment service where both newcomers and experienced investors can open and manage several trading accounts.
In this article, we’ll go over what the platform offers, how it works, and how interactive investor reviews rate its service.
interactive investor, sometimes referred to as ‘ii’, is the largest subscription-based, online investment flat-fee service in the UK.
It offers a wide range of investment products, including index funds, shares, bonds, gilts and investment trusts.
ii is one of the few investment platforms that charge a fixed flat fee. The company currently has three service plans, the lowest one starting at £9.99/month.
The fixed-fee model is great for those with medium-to-large portfolios, such as people who trade shares regularly or have over £60,000 to invest. Those with a smaller portfolio might not experience the same cost benefits and may be better off with a site that implements a percentage-based fee, like AJ Bell Youinvest.
Interactive Investor is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Customers’ funds are also secured by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which covers assets of up to £85,000.
interactive investor offers several types of accounts.
With ii, customers can open a Stocks and Shares ISA and several Junior ISA for one flat fee, a feature that interactive investor ISA reviews particularly praise.
A Stocks and Shares ISA allows you to invest up to £20,000 in a variety of instruments, without paying tax on your returns. (which is just one of the many benefits of an ISA).
With ii you can open or transfer a Stocks and Shares ISA in under 10 minutes, there are no withdrawal penalties, plus the platform’s experts can provide you with ready-made portfolios and investment ideas on where to put your money.
In addition to regular ISAs, ii customers can open Junior ISAs for as many children as they have, allowing you to put aside up to £9,000 tax-free every year, which your child can access once they reach 18 years of age.
With an interactive investor SIPP, you have complete control over your account and the freedom to choose and manage your own investments.
The platform gives you access to over 40,000 UK and global stocks, funds and trusts, as well as expert impartial advice on where you can invest your money.
Best of all, interactive investor’s fixed SIPP charges means that new customers can open a SIPP for only £12.99 a month, while users who already have an ISA or Trading Account can add a SIPP to their portfolio for £10/month.
ii SIPP accounts also provide options to those who choose to move some or all their pension money in a drawdown pot. These clients can either choose their own investment or follow one of the platform’s Investment Pathways (four straightforward and low-cost investment options chosen by the company’s in-house team of experts).
Further Reading:
This account is designed for users who have a SIPP or SSAS with another provider, but link their Pension Trading Account to ii and use it to buy and sell a variety of investment products available on the platform.
With a Pension Trading Account, you can manage all or part of your pension investments, as well as transfer some or all of them to your ii account, while all other aspects, including making contributions and updating personal details, are carried out by your regular pension provider.
This is the company’s general investment account that lets you invest in a wide range of products, such as UK and global shares, gilts, tracker funds, ETFs, bonds and more.
There are no upper limits to how much you can invest, which means you can opt for higher investment amounts than the limited annual ISA contribution. You can also withdraw funds whenever you like and manage your money in nine different currencies, significantly cutting down on FX costs.
ii has a flat monthly fee of £9.99, which also lets you open a Stocks and Shares ISA and several JISAs without paying any additional fees.
On the other hand, ii’s trading account is not tax-free, which means you will have to pay tax on any gains above £12,300 a year.
Other general investment options by interactive investor include:
interactive investor’s Cash Savings account, powered by Flagstone, lets you hold your cash savings in one place. All you need to do is deposit money into the Cash Savings account directly from your nominated bank account, choose the best interest rates from more than 25 banks and building societies in the UK, and put the money in your chosen deposit accounts.
Once the term ends, the funds will be transferred back to your holding account.
Worth noting: Long-term investors interested in mutual funds and ETFs in particular, should take a look at what Vanguard has to offer.
To open an account on interactive investor, you need to:
Unlike Barclays and Charles Stanley Direct, which usually take between 3-7 working days to open an account, ii’s application process usually takes around 5 minutes, while registration is complete within 24 hours.
interactive investor offers ready-made portfolios and expert advice to help you choose the best investment for your risk appetite and experience.
Interactive inventor allows you to transfer all your investments to the platform, including Cash ISAs, pensions, shares, funds and ETFs.
The entire process is quite simple; the only downside is that you won’t be able to withdraw your pension while the transfer takes place.
interactive investor also has a slick and easy-to-use mobile app that enables you to use the platform’s services while out and about.
What can you do with the ii mobile app?
More than one online interactive investor app review has praised its straightforward and intuitive design as well as the number of features the app provides.
The platform really goes all out to help new investors get their bearings.
To that end, ii has a demo account (research account) available for newcomers, maintains a ‘Knowledge Centre’ where you can find useful educational materials such as podcasts, relevant articles, webinars, and general educational videos, and has a set of investment ideas that can make it easier to manage your finances.
That said, Barclays also has an extensive knowledge hub which could provide invaluable advice to new investors, although it lacks some of ii’s other features.
Users can log into their account with their username and password, but interactive investor also offers an extra layer of safety, including a two-step verification login and biometric authentication, both on the website and the app.
With Quotestream, you can get real-time access to market data, analytics and research on up to 30 portfolios of up to 300 symbols each. You can customise your stream by changing colour and font settings or implementing custom layouts that will help you get organised and start creating your portfolio.
Since 2021, interactive investor clients can vote at company annual general meetings and have a say in the way the company they have invested in is being managed. You will be notified when you are eligible to place your vote, although this is not mandatory by any means.
With this feature, users can top up monthly (from as low as £25) instead of investing a lump sum at once. This way you are less at risk if the market is going through a rough patch, while at the same time increasing your chances of making a bigger profit.
With interactive investor you can reinvest the dividends you receive for just 99p per trade. ii lets you set up automatic dividend reinvestment for most UK shares, ETFs and investment trusts.
Placing orders in the app or on the website is a quick and easy process. Once you’ve set up a trade, all you’ll need to do is click on ‘order list’ in the ‘trading’ menu.
Some of the types of orders available include market, limit, stop-loss, as well as limit orders, such as fill or kill and good ‘til Date (GTD).
One of the platform’s major selling points is that it charges a flat fee for all trades, which means you can open several trading accounts and ISAs without paying additional interactive investor ISA fees.
The company has three service plans to choose from:
Other fees include:
UK taxes and levies apply as does financial transaction tax in the countries where you buy and sell international stock. For the full list of fees, take a look at the interactive investor site.
Worth noting: Investors with portfolios up to £50,000 could pay less in fees with Hargreaves Lansdown, another great ii alternative.
You can fund your account via debit card or by monthly Direct Debit. If you want to add non-sterling currencies, you can do so via bank transfer.
Withdrawals, on the other hand, are only possible via bank transfer.
The cash will be transferred to your account the same day if you requested it before 2 pm. Otherwise, you will receive the funds in two working days. There is an urgent withdrawal option as well, although this costs an additional £15.
To withdraw funds:
Worth noting: To withdraw funds in other currencies, you will need to pay a fee of £15. ii lets you withdraw funds in euros, US dollars, Canadian dollars, Hong Kong dollars, Singapore dollars, Australian dollars, Swiss francs and Swedish krona.
Customers can also reach ii’s customer support via
interactive investor also maintains a Help Center and Customer Hub, which can give you answers to the most common questions.
Ii’s support team is highly-rated, although if you are looking for a company whose customer service is second to none, consider Charles Stanley Direct
interactive investor has a 4.7-star rating on Trustpilot based on 20,626 reviews, most of whom have positive comments about the helpful customer service, efficient procedures and the features the platform offers.
interactive investor is a top-notch investing platform that offers a variety of accounts, fair pricing, and flat fees. The best part about this platform is that it has excellent investing tools that can help both amateur and experienced investors create a portfolio that matches their needs
interactive investor was acquired by Abrdn in December 2021.
ii offers a variety of tools that can help investors build a portfolio and make investing easier for beginners. The app is beginner-friendly and the website features a Knowledge Centre where you can find educational articles and videos to help you get a better grasp of the field of investing.
ii’s customers’ funds are protected by FSCS, which means you’d be covered by up to £85,000 if the company were to go under. Most interactive investor reviews say they’re happy with what ii does in terms of money protection and security.
My name is Marija, and I'm a financial writer at DontDisappointMe. Although finance might not be everyone's cup of tea, my 10+ years of working in one of the biggest banks in my country, and my interest in extensive research on everything finance/investment-related, have made me somewhat of an expert in the field (if I do say so myself). No longer having the passion to work in a corporate setting, I decided that I couldn't let all of this knowledge go to waste so I started writing. And, here I am! Today I try to share my knowledge with my audience in the hopes of making this topic as simple and interesting as possible. In my leisure time, I like spending time with my family and travelling to new locations.