Tillit - Invest in best-in-class funds

So I found these the other day in my research for an alternative to Freetrade (and more broadly Charles Stanley and Nutmeg). They piqued my interest for similar reasons to Prosper, but seem more up my alley.

They handpick and vet a fairly concise range of investment funds, which I think is a nice step above what robo-investors like Nutmeg and Monzo offer. It’s the same sort of paradigm, but with a little DIY component to it.

I have a personal preference for funds over ETFs for a few reasons.

  1. They can bring exposure to some private companies I’m really excited about. Like SpaceX and OpenAI.
  2. They’re more selective than ETFs and can be value-led through active management, which can let me focus on a better mix of diversification without compromising on my personal values.

I like the level of insights they offer. The fees look fair and reasonable, and with their dark universe, I should be able to transfer my Polar Capital Technology Trust shares into their platform and continue investing in it (whilst it’s not part of their own fund universe).

Strongly considering a dual stack approach here with Tillit for my funds (consolidating my Nutmeg and Charles Stanley into them), whilst using Robinhood for my own ad-hoc investing.

Anyone else come across them before? Like with Prosper, I’m still a little apprehensive, but I think they’d be a better fit for me than Prosper is.

Yeah, I used them for a while before moving to T212. No real problems, but T212 offered a lot more options which suited me better.

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So I’ve decided to sign up and try it out.

Onboarding was a very pleasant and smooth experience. Easy peasy compared to some other experiences.

I like their platform, in theory. Their model, their approach. I’ve always been fond of curation-driven endeavours (where folks who know best curate the very best options for folks who don’t). Think Wirecutter, but for investing in funds.

They pass on the full holding account interest rate for in invested money, which effectively eliminates their platform fee, and earns you a decent rate, so that’s nice.

There are a few downsides. There’s no app (but that might be a good thing in disguise), and their universe isn’t quite as diverse as I would have liked, often only having one or no fund with a focus on a particular niche I’m interested in. But I trust their chosen fund is likely to be among the best of a pool in that niche. I’d appreciate the ability to still look at and consider those other options myself.

But this is a business after my own heart. The welcome email from their founder was nice. They outline beautifully the why of their existence and I admire their ethos.

I’m Felicia, Founder & CEO and I’m delighted to welcome you to TILLIT. In this email, I’m going to give you a quick introduction to our mission.

I spent the first 8 years of my career as a Fund Manager at Baillie Gifford. I spent those years analysing stocks and bonds and co-managing $2bn of assets across Japanese small-cap equity funds for both institutional and private clients. You could call me an industry insider.

But outside of work, I got really frustrated that I couldn’t find an investment platform that gave me the tools and information I needed to manage my own savings and pension properly. This might come as a surprise given my background, so let me explain.

I wanted to:

  • be in control of my investments (expensive advisor, no thanks!);
  • invest in funds, not stocks (funds are much more efficient for diversification);
  • have a mixture of active and passive funds (there is a time and place for both);
  • know what I was investing in (sounds obvious, but based on the quality of information on offer, this was the hardest);
  • discover hidden gems (once a Fund Manager, always a Fund Manager!)

But the problem was:

  • I didn’t want to sacrifice range and variety - I wanted to access different investment styles, asset classes and regions to build my ideal portfolio;
  • I didn’t have the time (or willingness) to properly review the thousands of funds available in the market - I wanted a short-list, not 378 options for each style;
  • I didn’t know much about any funds other than those managed by the firm I worked for - I needed high-quality information to (properly) understand what I was putting my money in.

And that platform didn’t exist. So, I decided to create it.

Over the last few decades, access to investing has been democratised and more people are investing than ever. But access is only half the battle. The hard part is knowing what to do with it. Which investments should I pick? What information matters? And if past performance is no indicator of future returns, then what should I base my investment decisions on?

This is where we come in. TILLIT is built and backed by industry experts with decades of experience. We select the best-in-class active and passive funds across asset classes, regions and styles, from well-known classics to trailblazers and wildcards. We do the due diligence and tell you exactly what you need to know, all in plain English. And we support you when you need it, so that you can make better investment decisions.

We are so excited to have you on the journey with us. Our mission is to empower everyone with the tools and the information they need to make great, long-term investment decisions. We will tell you how we’re doing this over the next couple of weeks in a series of emails, helping you to get the most out of TILLIT.

TILLIT means ‘trust’ in Swedish and our goal is to earn yours.

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