New: Automate your investments strategy with recurring buy orders
Plum is the smart money app that can help you across different areas of your personal finances. We do this by automating the boring bits to save you time, and potentially reduce the effort required to implement your financial plan.
Our Automatic algorithm works by adapting to your income, transactions and available balance to calculate affordable amounts to be set aside. Which can make it ideal for topping up your budgeted savings if you have a little extra.
The Automatic Rule can be used in conjunction with other auto-deposit methods, like Pay Days (which works more like a traditional Standing Order), or the 52 Week Challenge and Rainy Days Rule. Additionally, our Splitter can be customised to distribute deposits between Interest Pockets* (like a savings account) and any investment funds selected.
With recurring investment buy orders, customers can now automate their entire strategy by including regular investments in company stocks. We have some of the best-known brands available, with fractional shares from the likes of Tesla, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Meta, Etsy, Nvidia and Disney.
*Easy Access Interest Pockets are provided by Investec Bank Plc. and money is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
What is automated investing?
Automated investing refers to the process of executing an order without requiring direct human intervention. Though, customers should make their own decisions or seek independent advice before automating investments.
Investing money is not something to be taken lightly… So, while the mechanics of placing orders can be arranged to happen automatically, the overarching investment strategy should be considered to ensure it’s suitable given your circumstances and financial position. When you automate and invest, always monitor performance through regularly scheduled reviews.
In practice, there are numerous possible ways to automate your investments, which we’ll cover in detail below.
Is automated investing a good idea?
There are some potential benefits when it comes to automating investments, but these can’t shield you from the inherent risk, so you still need to be sure that the securities you pick make sense for you.
Automation can help ensure that the securities we’ve chosen for regular investments are remembered when life gets in the way. And it may also reduce the temptation to make knee-jerk alterations. Because, although it’s sometimes necessary to adjust your strategy in response to market changes, investment value volatility can smooth out over a longer time horizon.
Whether automated trading is a good idea will depend on each individual’s circumstances and investment goals. Although there’s no single way to fully automate investments, there is opportunity to reduce the number of day-to-day decisions that need to be made when you invest your money.
An investment app like Plum can be used to place buy orders based on the specific investments that’ve been previously selected. You can invest with as little as £1, which can make Plum an ideal solution for customers who are using a Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) strategy to regularly drip feed money into their chosen investments over the long term.
If you’re considering using Plum to automate investments you should be satisfied it’s a suitable solution given your financial position and the risks you are prepared to take.
Alternatively, if you want to take automated AI investing to the next level, there are alternative mobile apps that will act as a robo advisor. These virtual investment advisors will actually suggest portfolio options based on the priorities and risk tolerance you specify when you sign up to the platform and may even offer fully managed portfolios.
Robo advisor offerings might make sense for people who want to take a totally passive approach to managing their investment portfolios. However, they’ll also pay for this convenience, as associated management fees for these automated investment platforms will tend to be higher, and they may also impose a higher minimum investment amount for trades.
How can I automate investing?
If you’ve decided to start investing, there has never been a better time to take your pick from the best automated investment apps available in the UK.
Open Banking made it easier for people to control who they share their financial data with and it led to a rise in the number of trading apps available.
Although this can be seen as good news in terms of making investing accessible for more people, many of these platforms merely offer a means to manually purchase chosen investment assets.
If you’re looking for a way to automate your investments, you’ll need to find an investment app or platform that also allows you to schedule investment orders so they can be executed automatically at a future point in time.
It always pays to be discerning when choosing who to trust with your finances, so here are a few other things to look out for:
- Diversity of investment options
- Minimum order amount or account minimum
- Platform fees and additional charges
One solution that offers a flexible way of setting up automatic investment orders is Plum. And with the ability to budget your savings and investments across a range of stocks and funds, we like to think that Plum is a little different from other investing apps!
With Plum, you can choose your account type by picking from a Stocks and Shares ISA or General Investment Account, then start investing with just £1.
Customers using the Basic (free) version of Plum can buy or sell shares from a selection of over 900 companies from US stock markets.
Alternatively, we have a range of investment funds that are actively managed by professional investment managers. These fund managers periodically review the underlying composition of the funds and make adjustments, as they deem fit, in response to changes in market conditions.
The basic range of funds is available for Plum Pro subscribers (priced at £2.99 per month, with a one-month free trial).
For customers wishing to access our full range of investment options, we offer Plum Premium (priced at £9.99 per month, with a one-month free trial).
Our top subscription tier allows customers to invest in up to 21 different funds, each arranged around a particular theme (e.g. Tech or Environmental, Social & Governance), plus they can choose from around 1,100 extra stocks, giving a total of 2,000, with more being regularly added.
To learn more about Plum you can check out our website.
Your capital is at risk if you choose to invest, so the value of your investments can go down as well as up. If you use our automatic solution you should be satisfied it is suitable for you in light of your circumstances, your financial position and the risks you are prepared to take. You should always monitor your investment performance when using our automatic solutions
This article should not be read as financial advice and individuals should make their own decisions in relation to their financial planning or seek help from an independent financial advisor. You shouldn’t invest in or deal in any financial product unless you fully understand it and the inherent risks.
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