You can withdraw at any time but Investments are a long term game. Think 4-5 years due to the turbulence of the market. It’ll go up and down.
The idea is, over the long term you’ll have (taking into account dips and falls) made more money out of it than if you had just stuck it in an interest bearing pot.
Thank you @JIMMWX
There are a bunch of guides in the Monzo app that help explain it all. I’d recommend reading them before you invest anymore money.
It goes through questions, like the one you’ve asked, in a nice slideshow.
Oooo I’ve cancelled it. Just seen this video on YouTube and doesn’t sound like a good investment.
I’m not saying he’s right or that he’s wrong, but sounds like you were easily swayed by his video 
Zero research, no idea what you’re doing and then swayed by a dramatic YT video.
Probably best you’re not investing! Have a look for some more balanced views, there is plenty of advice for and against in this thread and other comparisons online.
Interesting video. I skim watched but seems quite brutal about the Investment product. I’m sort of in agreement with this line, though it’s perhaps a little harsh.
“Monzo had a great opportunity to do something really good for it’s customers, and they’ve completely missed the mark”
In some ways I agree with that. The fee’s are not competitive, even to other bank based offerings, but then again I doubt a serious investor would use a bank offered product anyway. So for leisure investors it’s probably nice and convenient to have it all under one roof.
But, I’m not too sure just how radically different Monzo could have been here.
FWIW - If I still banked with Monzo I’d probably use it, for convenience. Seems to work nicely and unless I win the lottery Im not likely to be investing six figures any time soon so the fee’s are not too impacting.
Yeah. I don’t mind paying abit more for the fee side as you say it’s all under one roof. But the bit that concerned me if the “managed” business. Why have investments that are managed and only have about 12 shares to pay into. I’ll stick to keeping my money in a savings account as I need to look into investments abit more.
This might help
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/investment-beginners/
Tl;DR Investment is a risk, but can have rewards (as well as losses). Only invest what you can afford to lose.
But in short; Someone has to do the leg work of taking your real money and ‘investing’ it into shares, that’s what the managed part is. They do the admin, they look at the markets and make the decision, although a lot is a computer doing this part automatically.
Regarding the 12 shares bit, I don’t know fully what you mean but the in-app guides seem to be quite good at giving guidance.
What a load of nonsense.
A 0.45% platform fee will “DESTROY your financial future”
This is a good video - some people may be offended by the blunt and unforgiving tone of it but there’s nothing untoward about what they said. Caveat is they’re clearly not the target market for Monzo’s offering as they’re intermediate level investors going off the knowledge/financial literacy they seem to have.
However, you are a novice investor as you’re at the beginning of your journey and so this is why Monzo’s offering may well be best for you to start off with. As you learn more and become more comfortable with investing, you can then explore other platforms/providers who offer more choice and lower fees.
Do not be discouraged by anyone in this forum. Just watching that video alone is a lot more research than a lot of people unfortunately do not do in this country. Keep going, keep learning and keep it simple. We all have to start somewhere.
The Blackrock ESG’s which are under the hood, have 12 holdings, but those 12 are in a mix of ESGs and EFTs that Blackrock manager, so the investment isn’t in 12 shares, it’s a diverse group, but only via 12 funds. It’s all here
Then you drill into those funds, and for example this one have 560 different holdings, Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) | iShares UK – BlackRock
These guys are offering you a vary narrow opinion of the investment product and much of what they say is nonsense. My guess is that neither of them are qualified to provide advice in this area, usual YouTube twaddle…
“Destroy your long term financial future”
It’s not shares that you’re paying into - it’s funds that comprise a mixture of shares. The “managed” part refers to the fund manager regularly changing the composition of the fund to maximise the fund’s objective.
It’s almost as if internet media is chiefly clickbait or something.
This is the kind of thing you need to do your research on. Even a minuscule variation in fees can, over the long length of an investment product (talking 25 years here) potentially add up to tens of thousands of pounds more.
Gawd they must really scream when they see Nutmeg and Moneybox fee’s
Im sure I said it somewhere else in this thread - but those guys in the video are not the target. Anyone even mildly interested in proper investing will of course be using another platform or an IFA.
The monzo offering is for those that are really entry-level investors. Its to target and encourage those that have no investments at all.
Agreed… Monzo is building a product for the masses. Undoubtedly there are other routes to invest where you an incur less fees, but this is a fantastic introduction and way to encourage people to invest from an earlier stage. This is also their first iteration of Investments… this will evolve over time for sure
I struggle with the increasing levels of pure negativity in this forum. Monzo are building products for the masses, not for the few.
Just curious - Once you have opened an investment account, let’s say General investment account, is it possible to change the type from say Balanced to Adventurous and vice versa, or does one have to close the existing investment account and create a new one with the newly desired investment fund type?
Having checked various screens in the app, I have not found a button to simply change the investment fund type. Hence the question.
Also, are we free to close and recreate our investment account as many times, as there does not seem to be possible to create multiple general investment accounts at the same time, for example. Not that I am in need of such a feature, but just asking as a feature thing.