Nutmeg Stocks & Shares ISA review

This robo-advisor has a huge selection of portfolios

Nutmeg is an investment app known as a robo-advisor. All you’ve got to do is choose one of its portfolios, and it’ll invest on your behalf. Plus, it has a range of investment experts on hand to answer any questions. Here’s what you need to know about how Nutmeg works and how to get started.

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Here at Be Clever With Your Cash, we’re not regulated to give you financial advice. We aim to give you the facts about a provider or investment but it’s up to you to decide if it’s suitable for you. If you’re looking for more personalised guidance, find a financial adviser who can give you specific advice. Remember that your capital is at risk when investing — don’t invest more than you are prepared to lose. 

What is the Nutmeg Stocks & Shares ISA?

The Nutmeg Stocks & Shares ISA is an account available to invest in with Nutmeg, owned by major bank JP Morgan Chase. It lets you use your £20,000 ISA allowance, so you can invest without paying any tax on your earnings. 

The Nutmeg Stocks & Shares ISA isn’t flexible, so you would sacrifice your ISA allowance on any withdrawals you make within a tax year — some providers allow you to return the money to your ISA within the same tax year. However, investing isn’t for the short term, so ideally, you’re not withdrawing money from your investments within a year of investing. 

You can transfer your existing ISAs over to Nutmeg. You can even book in a call with one of the team to talk through the process. 

When you transfer an existing ISA to Nutmeg, any existing investments will be sold and transferred as cash. This will then be invested into the portfolio you’ve chosen. You can’t do an ‘in specie’ transfer – which is where you stay invested, as Nutmeg won’t offer the investments you already have elsewhere. 

What you can invest in with Nutmeg

Nutmeg is a robo-advisor, so it only offers ready-made portfolios. However, it’s one of the only providers that offers several different types of portfolios — there are a few different investment styles you can choose from. There are 30 portfolios, plus a range of thematic portfolios.

Name of style	Description	Number of portfolios
Fixed allocation	These are diversified portfolios that are created by an investment team and are only reviewed once per year. You’ll save money as you won’t have to pay for continuous management.	5 risk levels
Fully managed	These are portfolios that are continuously managed by experts. They make decisions to buy and sell investments for the portfolio.	10 risk levels
Thematic investing	These are portfolios created with a central theme. You may need to choose a few of these to diversify.	3 risk levels – but only higher risk options available
Socially responsible investing	These are portfolios that consider the environmental, social and governance impact of the companies they invest in.	10 risk levels
Smart Alpha	Portfolios ran by Nutmeg’s sister company J.P. Morgan Asset Management. These portfolios are managed by experts.	5 risk levels

Nutmeg fees

You’ll be charged fees based on the amount in your portfolio, and this will depend on the type of portfolio you’ve chosen. 

There’s a Nutmeg fee of 0.75% up to £100,000 and 0.35% on anything above that for all portfolios except fixed allocation, which costs 0.45% up to £100,000 and 0.25% on anything over that.

There are also fund fees and market spread fees. These are estimated as they’re charged by the fund providers.

Style	Nutmeg fee Up to £100,000 / Portion over £100,000	Fund fee	Market spread
Fully managed	0.75% / 0.35%	0.19%	0.04%
Thematic investing	0.75% / 0.35%	0.23%	0.04%
Smart Alpha	0.75% / 0.35%	0.32%	0.04%
Socially responsible	0.75% / 0.35%	0.23%	0.04%
Fixed allocation	0.45% / 0.25%	0.16%	0.04%

Features for beginner investors

The Nutmeg Stocks & Shares ISA is designed for beginners, as it’s only got a range of ready-made portfolios available to invest in. It’s got the largest range of portfolios available with any other robo-advisors. You can choose ones that are fully managed by experts, which allows beginners to invest completely hands-off. 

Is Nutmeg safe?

Nutmeg is an FCA-regulated company in the UK and is authorised to hold client money. It’s owned by J.P. Morgan. 

In addition, Nutmeg keeps your money separate from its own. Assets in your account are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which protects up to £85,000 — this can be claimed if it were to go bust. 

How to open a Nutmeg Stocks & Shares ISA

You can open a Nutmeg Stocks & Shares ISA online or via its app. You need to be over 18, be a resident in the UK with a UK address. You’ll need to have your National Insurance number and bank details to hand, as well as a valid ID. 

You select ‘Open an account’ and it’ll take you through basic account creation questions and verification. Then, you go through the process of adding money to your account.

After this, there’s a risk assessment, which helps Nutmeg work out how you feel about risk. Then, it’ll take you through questions about your affordability, which is designed to work out how much you can afford to invest. After all of this, you’ll create an investment pot and can choose a portfolio. 

Pros and cons of Nutmeg

Pros

• Very straightforward
• Lots of ready-made portfolios to choose from
• Responsible investment options
• No extra cost for ISA

Cons

• Very expensive platform
• Can’t invest yourself and limited options for learning

Nutmeg reviews

Over on our sister site, Smart Money People, Nutmeg customers have rated the Stocks & Shares ISA 4.83 out of 5. Positive reviewers find it easy to use, with many saying it’s particularly good for beginners. 

There are only a few negative reviews, but they mostly focus on the customer service, however, Nutmeg has an abundance of praise for its customer service, too. 

Read customer reviews of Nutmeg 

Is Nutmeg any good?

Zoe’s analysis

Nutmeg has a decent Stocks & Shares ISA, especially for beginners. It’s got a huge range of portfolios with experts who manage them and a slightly cheaper fixed allocation option if you’re willing to go without the constant management — maybe an option for when you’re investing for much longer terms.

However, it’s expensive, one of the most expensive robo-advisors of the lot. While the platform’s got great customer service, an attractive platform and the backing of a major investment company, this still eats into your earnings.