+1 for Lightyear. Really nice app
1 Like
+1 for Lightyear.
Oh Lightyear looks really good. And theyāve constant trading 
I would stick to T212 theyāve got a strong customer base and great offering. Plus they have a lot of AUM and have profitable annual accounts. If you look at these smaller ones, lightyear or investengine theyāre making big losses year on year. Personally I wouldnāt want to put my money in a loss making small investment app.
Shares are safeguarded so even if Lightyear was to fail the shares would simply be transferred to another platformā¦
Again just my personal preference
Yes but how long would that process take?
Seeing as you want a trading platform thatās instant instead of trading once a day and youāre asking in the Nationwide thread about when youāll get confirmation of something you already know so you can rest easy would you really want all your investments inaccessible for an unknown amount of time?
1 Like
Sometimes youāve just got to accept the risk. Monzo could close effective immediately today, but I still do all my banking with them. These will be investments I donāt need to touch for years. Retirement age ideally. And I only need to get my shares to Ā£100k. At that point I will move them across to HSBC for Premier status.
So why does it matter if they trade once a day or instant?
Iām not disagreeing with you though. I have investments with a few smaller companies to try them out knowing that they donāt make a profit and may introduce fees at some point or could close down unexpectedly.
Back to your earlier question though, I have an ISA with Freetrade. I find the app nicer than T212 but there arenāt fractional shares available in ISA yet (sure I read somewhere it was coming soon)
1 Like
I always find it interesting how many people really value a āniceā app.
Iām generally only buying stuff to hold (very) long term, so how often trades are done daily or the quality of the app are much further down the list for me.
I check my portfolio probably 3/4 times a year as Iām really aiming for set and forget. This avoids making bad short term decisions when Iām in the red.
Horses for courses.
1 Like
Thatās assuming by the time you get there the requirement hasnāt increased to Ā£150k 
2 Likes
Once-a-day thing is for unit trusts and OEICs regardless of platform. ETFs should be instant unless youāre using Investengine I think 
If itās an ETF then it is traded and valued like an individual share. I think Freetrade do the Vanguard LifeStrategy funds as well, though, which are only valued once each working day.
Functionality does matter for some types of operations.
For me personally, cost is more important, I could live with a clunky app or website, if the cost is low.
A lot of the more recent apps/websites just happen to provide a nicer experience and are also very cheap.
I personally prefer platforms which are profitable, but Iām aware that of the platform went bust, my shares would get transferred. I just would prefer to avoid the stress. Itās not insignificant sums involved, as itās for my retirement.
Iāve decided to stop searching for nice provider apps and vibecoded my own to keep track of my investments. Added benefit of being able to run any sort of crazy analytics if I feel like it
Absolutely. Iām a pretty low needs user as I make very few transactions and am not analysing return constantly.
Iām by no means an expert, but Iām definitely prioritising very low platform fees as these compound massively over time.
I open plenty of current accounts for āfunā, but when it comes to my proper savings and investments, I much prefer sticking to tried and true institutions.
1 Like
How are you tapping into your current investment balance to then use in your own app? Trading 212 API?
That would have been neat!
T212 is not my main platform however, I only use it for fun stock picking.
I manually input my buy/sell trades and dividends received and get prices from yahoo api. My previous work pension is invested in some propriety fund, so for that I just put end of months values and contributions. I can do the same for other illiquid assets and savings accounts.
All of that gives me a good overviews of all of my assets, with aggregate TWR and allocations. I can then compare my T212 fun sub portfolio to a boring index funds or really do anything else to tailor the app to my specific needs and wants.
1 Like