Insiders score
More info4.0out of 5
The Beanstalk app is all about simplicity and easy investing. It offers an adult stocks and shares ISA as well as a Junior ISA. Although Beanstalk is a relative new kid on the block, it's owned by KidStart, which has been focused on helping families save money for their children for over 15 years.
Capital at risk.
31.7%
26.4%
31.7%
26.4%
Beanstalk does not provide any investment advice service so although it's intended for beginners, it is only suitable for those who are comfortable making a decision about their money without seeking professional financial advice.
Accounts
With Beanstalk, you can open a:
Beanstalk is therefore only for people wanting to invest through an ISA. There is no general investment account.
With an investment ISA, you can put up to £20,000 (for an adult ISA) or £9,000 (for a Junior ISA) per year into investment markets without needing to pay tax on any gains or income you make.
The Beanstalk adult ISA is a flexible ISA. That's really handy if you feel you might need to access the cash in your ISA in an emergency. It can be withdrawn, and then paid back within the same tax year, without it counting as two separate contributions. That helps protect your annual allowance.
In other good news, Beanstalk's Junior ISA accepts transfers from Child Trust Funds. Not every provider offering Junior ISAs does this. It also facilitates a regular investment service allowing you to set up automatic deposits into your Beanstalk account every month. Slightly annoyingly though, they don't let you choose the date you want the transfers to happen – it'll happen automatically on the 18th of each month.
If you want to compare Beanstalk with other providers, we've got a handy list of our top-rated stocks and shares ISAs and top-rated junior ISAs.
And if you're a beginner and you're not sure what ISAs are all about, try our Guide to ISAs for starters.
Account benefits
There are a few nice features with a Beanstalk account which make it stand out from other Junior ISA providers.
The company behind Beanstalk – KidStart – has linked up with 2,500 retailers to provide cashback at stores such as John Lewis, Amazon, Sky and TUI, meaning you can turn your family spending into added investment income. Any cashback you earn goes directly into your child's JISA.
In addition, as a Beanstalk user, you can invite family and friends to gift money into your child's JISA account. They'll receive an email invitation, which they can accept or decline through their own app. If they accept, then they can make a contribution through their app – handy for grandparents or other friends or family members who want to give donations for birthdays, Christmas or a christening, for example.
For both JISA and ISA users, there's a round up tool which uses the Government-backed Open Banking initiative to allow you to opt into seeing your bank data through the app and, where you want to, round-up any of your purchases, with the spare change going into your investment account.
Assets
Beanstalk offers a choice of two funds from well-known providers. You can allocate how much you want to save into each. The two funds are:
Just two funds means very limited choice when compared to other providers. However, that may suit your needs perfectly if your goal is get investing and you're likely to be put off even getting started by anything that requires complex and time-consuming investment decisions. With Beanstalk, a well-diversified equities fund and a popular cash fund have been selected for you.
That said, you do still have some element of choice as you'll need to decide how much of your money is allocated to each fund. You can choose to have 100% of your money in the stocks and shares fund, or, for example, 60% in stocks and shares, and 40% in the cash fund. However, it isn't possible to hold more than 80% of your money in the cash fund. If the relative safety and security of a cash fund is what you want, you may be better off looking at a
Fees for using Beanstalk are very straightforward. You'll just be asked to pay:
And that's it. There are no fees for using the app, doing round-ups or making contributions. It's a welcome change from some of the more complex fee structures employed by other providers. However, much of this simplicity is owing to the fact that Beanstalk only offers two funds, so variations on cost are limited.
How do these fees compare with Beanstalk's competitors?
Beanstalk's annual fees are far from the cheapest, however, there are no dealing fees to consider on top and the two fund costs are low so total costs for using Beanstalk could end up being lower than many of Beanstalk's competitors.
Beanstalk is regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and so has to adhere to strict rules on keeping client money and investments separate from their own. It is also covered by the Financial Service Compensation Scheme meaning that your investments up to the value of £85,000 are protected in the event of Beanstalk ceasing business.
Beanstalk is a good option to consider if you're just starting out, or looking for something very quick and simple to get you going with an investment fund.
Beanstalk offers two investment products: an individual savings account (ISA) for adults, and an ISA for children, known as a Junior ISA. It also allows friends and family members to easily contribute to your children's Junior ISAs.
The only way to contact Beanstalk customer services is via email on: support@beanstalkapp.co.uk.
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