Investment firms often give incentives like free cash to get you to give them your cash. Here are a few I’ve spotted.
These offers are extra cash payments and freebies you can get via starting an investment. I’m only sharing these promotions as a way to get some free cash.
If you are wanting to invest for the best returns then I’d recommend you do your research and look elsewhere as these won’t necessarily have the lowest fees.
Also, if you open up a stocks and shares ISA for one of these promotions then you won’t be able to pay into another one in this financial year (it resets on 6th April). You can still open up a Cash ISA, though you’ll likely get better interest rates elsewhere.
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When you open these accounts you can open up an ISA and a general investing account. If you haven’t already got an investment ISA for this financial year, and you don’t plan to do so before 5 April, then that’s the best account for you as any gains you make will be tax free.
If you have one already then don’t open a new one, opt instead for the general investing account. In this account you’ll only pay tax on profits after selling your share if it brings you over the Capital Gains Allowance – which is £12.300 a year in 2022/23, but down to £6,000 in 2023/24.
Freetrade: Free share worth £10
New customers of trading app Freetrade can get a free share worth £10
You need to sign up via this link. You’ll need to fill in a few forms and add at least £50 to the account. You can withdraw this later.
Since there’s a £3 monthly charge for the ISA you’re probably better off with the general investment account.
The free share will be added to your account within seven to 10 days. Once you’ve got it you can sell it or keep it. Full terms and conditions are here.
Trading 212: Free share worth up to £100
This promo code will give you (and me) a free share on the Trading 212 app. The value of the share is up to £100.
When I signed up my freebie was for General Electric and valued at $10.70, which converted to £7.92.
To get the free share you need to sign up by this link and then add £1 to your account within seven days. You can keep that in the account and choose to invest it (or more), or you can withdraw it.
It took about three days for the share to be added after adding the £1. You can sell your free share as soon as you get it, but it will take 30 days for you to receive the cash. Or you can keep it invested.
It’s due to end on 2 March 2023, though could be extended.
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Cashback bonuses
Chase x Nutmeg: £100 bonus
If you have a Chase current account you can get a £100 bonus if you join Nutmeg and invest at least £1,000. It’s only for new Nutmeg customers, so if you’ve ever had an account before you’ll miss out.
You need to sign up via the Chase app, and once you’ve activated the Nutmeg app, add the cash before 5 April 2023. If the offer isn’t showing yet, keep checking as it’s being rolled out from the start of February.
You must also keep your money invested with Nutmeg until 30 June 2023. Do this and you’ll get £100 added to your Nutmeg account.
To activate the offer you need to log into Chase and follow the instructions in the “Save & Invest” tab.
Quidco: Cashback via ISAs
If you sign up for an investment ISA via Quidco you will be able to earn some cashback. Among the providers you can choose between are:
- Scottish Friendly Investment ISA,
- Scottish Friendly Junior ISA,
- Shepherds Friendly Junior ISA,
- Shepherds Friendly Stocks & Shares ISA,
- Foresters Friendly Society,
- Fidelity Stocks and Shares ISA
- Moneyfarm Stocks and Shares ISA
You’ll only be able to open up one of these ISAs if you haven’t already paid into a Cash ISA in this financial year (since April 6 2022).
Make sure you read all the terms and conditions of these accounts, for example you might need to keep investing for a number of months, and there might be exit fees if you take the money out before a set date.
There are often extra bonus cashback rates offered for short periods, often towards the end and the start of a financial year.
Again, this is a great hack to get bonus cashback. If your priority is investing you might want to consider other platforms.
With Scottish Friendly you’ll also get access to further deals (see below).
Other offers
Scottish Friendly: discounts at retailers
Open an ISA with Scottish Friendly and you’ll get access to “Friendly Rewards” which offers discounts at cinemas, shops, restaurants and more. I use it to get 6% off each time I do the shopping at Waitrose. There’s also the chance of cashback on top.
I’ve opened accounts at both Trading 212 and Freetrade and received the free shares – thanks Andy. However, for anyone who intends to engage in more extensive share trading activity I’d sound a word of warning about Freeserve. Most share trading platforms only allow you to trade in whole shares. Some allow trading in “fractional” shares – instead of specifying the number of shares you want to buy you specify the amount you want to spend. So you might end up with, say, 2.3456789 shares in a particular company. That can be handy for “balancing” a portfolio or buying US stocks, which are typically much more expensive per share than UK ones – some US stocks cost hundreds of dollars for a single share. Where a platform offers fractional shares you usually get both options (Trading 212 provides this) – to buy a certain number of shares or set what you want to spend, in which case you’ll end up with a fraction. Freetrade, however, ONLY offers fractional shares and, even if you try to buy a set number by entering the precise price you’ll often end up with a tiny fraction more or less due to miniscule price changes between placing the order and execution. None of this is a problem in general use and provided you want to continue dealing through Freetrade. BUT fractional shares cannot be traded on the markets and, if you want to transfer away from Freetrade – say they change their fee free model and hike their dealing/platform costs – you’re going to have problems moving to a platform that doesn’t support fractional shares.
I should have added that this only applies to US shares – UK shares, ETFs etc can only be bought as whole shares. Although this isn’t entirely clear (and somewhat confusing) as you still have to enter the amount you want to spend rather than number of shares you want to buy, so you have to do a little mental arithmetic if you have a particular number of shares in mind.
Hi Andy, I get 4% off all my shopping at Morrisons and Sainsburys from the Vectis deal from Scottish Friendly. May I point out that if you’re willing to forgo the cashback, your investments with Scottish Friendly are a lot cheaper, though you pay more in. The My Prime has an all in charge of .5% per annum, against 1.5% for the other policies. A big difference, though if you only pay a small amount, say £100, mainly for the cashback and discounts, that’s not a bad idea either. Of course, 1.5% of £100 is only £1.50. You’d likely save that on one or two supermarket shops. I know this is not an investment site, but I’ve found the stock market returns are pretty good too. All you really need, unless you’re an investment hobbyist, or into esoteric shares. Very easy to manage too.
Hi Andy, I get 4% off all my shopping at Morrisons and Sainsburys from the Vectis deal from Scottish Friendly. May I point out that if you’re willing to forgo tha cashback, your investments with Scottish Friendly are a lot cheaper, though you pay more in. The My Prime has an all in charge of .5%, against 1.5% for the other policies. A big difference, though if you only pay a small amount, say £100, mainly for the cashback and discounts, that’s not a bad idea either. Of course, 1.5% of £100 is only £1.50. You’d likely save that on one or two supermarket shops. I know this is not an investment site, but I’ve found the stock market returns are pretty good too. All you really need, unless you’re an investment hobbyist, or into esoteric shares. Very easy to manage to.
I can’t get the Freetrade offer as I’m a dual British/US citizen
Hi Andy,
I followed your link to receive the free share, but the section of the Trading 212 where I land had absolutely no mention of the free offer. Are you sure the link is correct?
Yes it’s strange isn’t it! But it does work
Hi. Was there an actual promo code for Trading 212 in the article? I just clicked on the link and it prompted me to download app and sign up. Didn’t see a box for a promo code.
Yes, it’s weird isn’t it!? I thought the same. But the link does work.
Did the same had to chase and show evidence of offer but got allocated a redrow share worth £5.73 after contacting them.
Hi Andy, pretty certain you can open an investment ISA if you’ve already paid into a Cash ISA in the current tax year, just not if you’ve already paid into another investment ISA. You can open Junior ISA in addition in either case. Cheers
I received my 1 free share in National Grid within an hour. £8.71 value.
Cheers Andy
ahh wish i knew about the £50 offer earlier. I don’t think i can open a current account in a date in time. I need a new stock and shares isa account. Do you have anymore recommendations?
I’ve heard Vanguard have very low fees for trackers.
Invest Engine have zero platform fees and offer Vanguard funds