Ready-made Investments

With interest rates remaining at all time lows, you might be looking at investing for the potential to achieve a bigger return from your savings.

How does it work?

  • Ready-made investments are an easier investment option.
  • Help your money grow in our Investment Account or for a tax efficient option, our Investment ISA.
  • Simply apply online, choose your fundsFunds are managed by professionals and pool investors' money together and invest on their behalf. Since your investment can be spread over a range of different stock markets, sectors and investment types, the risk involved may be reduced. and let the experts take care of the rest.

Investing vs Saving

  • Cash savings grow steadily but slowly and can be accessed easily.
  • Your savings may be impacted if the rate of return is lower than inflationInflation causes a rise in costs for goods and a drop in your purchasing power over a period of time. e.g. a pint of milk in 1990 was 25p whereas today a pint of milk will cost you 43p..
  • Investing can offer greater returns, but this is not guaranteed and your investments can fall as well as rise.

Why try it?

  • Easy - Complete your application online in a matter of minutes then simply leave the rest to our investment experts.
  • Flexible - Start investing from £100 per month or a lump sum of £2,000.
  • Low Cost - Our ready-made funds offer some of the lowest charges in the market.

The differences between Savings and Investments

Although there is no tie in period, our investments are designed for the medium to long-term so you should plan to hold them for at least 5 years. Whilst investments tend to outperform cash savings over the long term, you should always make sure you have enough cash available for emergencies or short term expenses like car repairs, or new home appliances.

Cash savings offer much more predictable and secure growth which is why experts usually advise that you should keep around 3 months’ worth of expenses in cash as a minimum. Once you’re comfortable that you have enough cash savings for an emergency or short term expenses, investments could help you achieve a higher return from the rest of your money over the longer term.

Inflation makes things more expensive over time

Your savings may be worth less in the future if returns are lower than inflation.

Inflation makes things more expensive over time.

Cash savings vs Investments

Cash savings grow steadily but slowly. Investors aim to benefit from greater returns and accept this is not guaranteed.

Line graph showing Cash savings versus Investments.

Cash data in the graph is based on the Moneyfacts 90 day 10k index between 01/04/2016 and 01/04/2021.

Investments data in the graph is based on the actual performance of the FTSE All Share index between 01/04/2016 and 01/04/2021. A ready-made investment would be impacted by the investment’s charges which are currently a maximum of 0.62%. These figures are based on the past, and past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

Source: Web Financial Group (1st May 2021) and Moneyfacts.co.uk (1st May 2021).

Although there is no tie in period, our investments are designed for the medium to long-term so you should plan to hold them for at least five years. Please remember that the value of all investments can fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than you invest. If you’re not sure about investing, seek independent advice.

Your Money, Protected

Our Ready-made investments are protected up to a total of £85,000 by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. This limit applies to the total of any investments held across Halifax Share Dealing Limited.

This is in addition to protection from any other current or savings accounts held with the group.

Investment funds explained

1. What are investment funds?

Professional fund managers combine investors’ money and invest in a wide variety of assets, so you could benefit from:

  • Spending less time and effort because investment experts do the work on your behalf.
  • The risk you accept being spread out without needing to buy a host of different assets yourself.

2. What is an asset?

Funds are invested in 'assets'. There are four types of asset in our ready-made investments:

  • Shares - Own a small part of a company (such as Lloyds Banking Group).
  • Property - Invest in houses, business premises or in a fund containing these properties.
  • Bonds and Gilts - A loan made by investors to governments and companies paying out a fixed return.
  • Cash - Investors’ money can also be stored as cash too as a way to lower risk.

3. What’s the risk?

Think about the amount of risk you are comfortable taking.

  • Low - Bonds and gilts will be the main type of asset held in the fund so risk and potential growth will be lower.
  • Medium - A more balanced investment between lower risk assets (e.g. bonds) and higher risk assets (e.g. shares) to offer steady potential growth and risk.
  • High - The majority of investment will be in shares. Funds with higher risk offer potentially higher returns. Be aware the value of your investment can fall as well as rise..

What is a fund?

A fund will have a mixture of investment types so you don’t have to pick your own.

A fund with mostly bonds and gilts will be lower risk with lower potential growth.

A fund with mostly shares will be higher risk with higher potential for growth.

Types of funds.

Our ready-made investments

Managed Growth Fund 2

Fund manager approach: CautiousOur Cautious fund is dominated by lower risk assets such as government bonds and high quality corporate bonds but additionally may include small exposures to high-yield bonds. Our Cautious fund may also have some exposure to shares (UK and International), property and other riskier assets which have the potential for higher returns than bonds.

Risk level: Lower

Investment splitThis is the fund’s strategic asset allocation. The current asset allocation can be found within the fund’s factsheet.

Low risk donut graph


Purple block  Shares - 25.5%

Light blue block  Bond & Gilts - 61.5%

Grey block  Property - 6%

Orange block  Other - 7%


Charges:

You would pay charges of £6.10 for this amount. This is based on you investing £1,000.


Key documents:

Managed Growth Fund 2 KIID (PDF, 108KB)
Factsheet (PDF, 138KB)

Managed Growth Fund 4

Fund manager approach: BalancedOur Balanced fund aims to hold a mixture of shares and bonds typically on a relatively equal basis. This fund may have exposure to property and absolute return strategies and other assets.

Risk level: Medium

Investment splitThis is the fund’s strategic asset allocation. The current asset allocation can be found within the fund’s factsheet.

Medium risk donut graph


Purple block  Shares - 50.5%

Light blue block  Bond & Gilts - 35%

Grey block  Property - 6.5%

Orange block  Other - 8%


Charges:

You would pay charges of £6.10 for this amount. This is based on you investing £1,000.


Key documents:

Managed Growth Fund 4 KIID (PDF, 107KB)
Factsheet (PDF, 138KB)

Managed Growth Fund 6

Fund manager approach: ProgressiveOur Progressive fund is dominated by exposure to UK and International shares but may also have some bonds, property, cash and absolute returns strategies to aim to lower volatility during market fluctuations.

Risk level: Higher

Investment splitThis is the fund’s strategic asset allocation. The current asset allocation can be found within the fund’s factsheet.

Higher risk donut graph


Purple block  Shares - 76.2%

Light blue block  Bond & Gilts - 15.3%

Grey block  Property - 3.5%

Orange block  Other - 5%


Charges:

You would pay charges of £6.20 for this amount. This is based on you investing £1,000.


Key documents:

Managed Growth Fund 6 KIID (PDF, 107KB)
Factsheet (PDF, 138KB)

If you want more information about the three funds, read Our Fund Range and InvestmentsPDF opens in a new tab. (PDF, 2MB). This document contains details of how the funds are managed, their objectives and risks, and a detailed breakdown of the charges.

Our fund performance

Our funds were re-launched in September 2019 so there’s no performance data available before 2020. These figures refer to the past and past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. Performance over the previous 12 months has been affected by the recent upturn in market conditions and this level of performance is not guaranteed to continue. Investment performance can fall as well as rise.

Date

Managed Growth Fund 2

Cautious

Managed Growth Fund 4

Balanced

Managed Growth Fund 6

Progressive

Date

31 Mar 2020 – 31 Mar 2021

Managed Growth Fund 2Cautious

13%

Managed Growth Fund 4Balanced

19.7%

Managed Growth Fund 6Progressive

26.3%

Date

31 Mar 2019 – 31 Mar 2020

Managed Growth Fund 2Cautious

N/A

Managed Growth Fund 4Balanced

N/A

Managed Growth Fund 6Progressive

N/A

Date

31 Mar 2018 – 31 Mar 2019

Managed Growth Fund 2Cautious

N/A

Managed Growth Fund 4Balanced

N/A

Managed Growth Fund 6Progressive

N/A

Date

31 Mar 2017 – 31 Mar 2018

Managed Growth Fund 2Cautious

N/A

Managed Growth Fund 4Balanced

N/A

Managed Growth Fund 6Progressive

N/A

Date

31 Mar 2016 – 31 Mar 2017

Managed Growth Fund 2Cautious

N/A

Managed Growth Fund 4Balanced

N/A

Managed Growth Fund 6Progressive

N/A

The data is correct as of June 2021.

Source: FE fundinfo

Understanding what you’ll pay per year

Our charges are based on the value of your total investment and are paid every year.

Fund charges

Cautious: 0.61%
Balanced: 0.61%
Progressive: 0.62%

Service feeThe service fee is 0.24% and is calculated monthly (minimum of 20p per month) based on the total value of your investment and is then paid to us once a year. This fee covers our costs for managing your account.

0.24%

Ongoing chargeThis is charged by the fund manager for their services and is built into the total value of your fund.

Cautious: 0.28%
Balanced: 0.26%
Progressive: 0.26%

Transaction costsTransaction costs are incurred when the fund manager buys and sells investments within the fund. These costs are built into the fund's value.

Cautious: 0.09%
Balanced: 0.11%
Progressive: 0.12%

  • Our charges are based on the value of your fund and are calculated once a month (minimum of 20p a month) and charged once a year.

    Value of your investment

    Managed Growth Fund 2 (0.61%)
     

    Cautious

    Managed Growth Fund 4 (0.61%)
     

    Balanced

    Managed Growth Fund 6 (0.62%)
     

    Progressive

    Value of your investment

    £1,000

    Managed Growth Fund 2 (0.61%) Cautious

    £6.10

    Managed Growth Fund 4 (0.61%) Balanced

    £6.10

    Managed Growth Fund 6 (0.62%) Progressive

    £6.20

    Value of your investment

    £5,000

    Managed Growth Fund 2 (0.61%) Cautious

    £30.50

    Managed Growth Fund 4 (0.61%) Balanced

    £30.50

    Managed Growth Fund 6 (0.62%) Progressive

    £31.00

    Value of your investment

    £10,000

    Managed Growth Fund 2 (0.61%) Cautious

    £61.00

    Managed Growth Fund 4 (0.61%) Balanced

    £61.00

    Managed Growth Fund 6 (0.62%) Progressive

    £62.00

    Value of your investment

    £20,000

    Managed Growth Fund 2 (0.61%) Cautious

    £122.00

    Managed Growth Fund 4 (0.61%) Balanced

    £122.00

    Managed Growth Fund 6 (0.62%) Progressive

    £124.00

Important legal information

The Lloyds Bank Direct Investments Service is operated by Halifax Share Dealing Limited. Registered Office: Trinity Road, Halifax, West Yorkshire, HX1 2RG. Registered in England and Wales no. 3195646. Halifax Share Dealing Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority under registration number 183332. A Member of the London Stock Exchange and an HM Revenue & Customs Approved ISA Manager.

Important share dealing information