About eVestor
Today’s digital start-ups often pivot their proposition until they find their sweet spot, but eVestor went one step further and split its robo into two. Until April 2019, eVestor customers could also get financial advice, but the advice element has now been hived off into OpenMoney, a more grown-up solution for people.
No doubt it had its reasons, and perhaps it thought the two-in-one would be confusing, but it’s a crying shame because a robo with access to human advice was a standout feature for eVestor — not many robos offer both.
eVestor is a simple and low-cost robo aimed at novice investors. Investors can open ISAs, general investment accounts (GIAs) and pensions from as little as £1. The beauty of the app is that investors can also link savings, current accounts and credit cards to gain a comprehensive view of their finances and manage their money better. The linking is optional, but it allows investors to see all their finances in one place and encourages them to set goals (savings, paying down debt etc).
Easy peasy, lemon squeezy
The app is exceptionally easy to use and investors can sign up in minutes. eVestor kicks off with questions about investment experience and capacity for loss. For those with no experience at all, it will suggest chatting to an OpenMoney financial adviser. Investors can plough on by themselves and are presented with three portfolios to choose from regardless of the answers they’ve given on attitude to risk and capacity for loss.
There are three portfolios available: Level 1, 2 and 3, with Level 3 being the riskiest. The underlying investments are a range of index tracker funds from the usual heavyweights like Fidelity and BlackRock. There’s no suggestion of which is best suited, which makes the questions feel pointless. First little niggle.
Are you vulnerable?
The second little niggle is that investors are presently with a notice in which they’re told they may be vulnerable, and if they are, they should use the webchat. The onus is on the customer to know if they’re vulnerable, which is tricky because most vulnerable people don’t know they’re vulnerable.
Wrapper choice
The third niggle is that investors are asked to choose between products; eVestor assumes that investors understand the difference between ISAs, pensions and GIAs. Novice investors are unlikely to know what a GIA (General Investment Account) is, so these terms may well confuse them.
Investors can ask the webchat for guidance of course, which is really good. But what would be nice here is if eVestor helped customers understand what product they needed with a few questions on savings goals and existing products. The onboarding process would take longer though.
No flashy offices and salespeople
Fees are competitive at 0.35% and portfolio cost is a maximum of 0.18%. For a £5,000 ISA that works out at £26.50 a year, or about the cost of a coffee every month. With no other charges for investing or withdrawing money, eVestor is one of the lowest cost options around. eVestor say it can do this because it doesn’t spend money on flashy offices and salespeople.
The help section has lots of useful Q&As and there’s access to live chat to nearly all day. The live chat system works well and we got fast, clear answers to all our questions.
In summary, eVestor is easy to use and, cost effective. The ability to view other accounts is a fantastic feature that encourages people to look holistically at their financial health.
