What are Smart Investor Ready-made Investments?
Ready-made Investments are a number of funds which we have selected, giving you access to balanced investment portfolios with different levels of risk. The funds are run by Barclays’ team of investment experts.
How do Smart Investor Ready-made Investments work?
The Ready-made Investments give you exposure to a wide range of leading specialist third-party asset managers, including fund managers from around the world whose services are usually available only to institutional, rather than individual, investors.
Who manages the Ready-made Investments?
The funds are run by Barclays’ team of investment experts. The day-to-day investment decisions are made by some of the world’s leading investment managers, researched and selected by our team of in-house experts. They manage the funds according to Barclays longer-term ‘strategic asset allocation’ and shorter-term ‘tactical asset allocation’. It’s an effective blend of our investment philosophy and know-how, with their industry-leading management expertise.
We’ve partnered with asset management experts Blackrock, leaders in ‘passive’ portfolio management, to implement the risk profiles that we’ve developed.
How often funds are rebalanced and why this matters
The funds are monitored on a daily basis and rebalanced when Barclays economics team change their views on the best asset allocation for the current conditions. This ensures that the funds are kept to the risk profile that you selected.
What tax will I pay on the fund?
If you’re holding the investments in an ISA, there is no tax due on either the income you receive or on any capital gain you may make in the value of your investment.
If your investment isn’t held in an ISA you may need to pay income tax on the income you receive – even if income is retained in the fund rather than being paid out in cash, as happens when you hold Accumulation units.
Depending on your level of income you may have an allowance for both dividend and interest income you receive. Otherwise tax may be payable.
Tax on investment income is no longer deducted at source.
If not held in an ISA, when you place any sale of your Ready-made Investment holding you may need to pay capital gains tax. This will depend on the amount you’ve gained, and whether you’ve ‘disposed’ of any other chargeable assets in the same tax year.
We can’t offer advice, so if you’re not sure about your tax situation, seek specialist tax advice.
How these funds have been constructed
Barclays use a set of investment approaches to match a range of different risk profiles. The funds are built around our investment principles and they combine our investment heritage and expertise with some of the world’s leading investment managers. Ready-made Investments are designed to give you an easier way to gain access to world markets.
Ready-made Investments combine modern portfolio management techniques with our insights from behavioural finance and investment psychology. Our overall approach reflects our global outlook on the economy, on macroeconomic trends and on the state of world markets today. The result is an overall investment strategy tailored to the risk profile you choose.
What the charges are for the funds
Each of our five Ready-made Investments has an ongoing charge of 0.45%, plus a 0.20% customer fee that covers the running of your account. Total ongoing charges are 0.65%.
There is also a transaction fee of £3 when you buy or sell, or £1 per purchase if set up as a regular investment.
Your Smart Investor account has a minimum £4 monthly fee. Please view our rate card for more information.
How to make a withdrawal
Making a withdrawal from Ready-made Investments follows the normal Smart Investor process for selling from your holdings. You’ll need to log in, then from ‘My hub’ click on ‘Portfolio’ to get started. From here, click on ‘Manage’ and then choose the ‘Withdraw’ option, and follow the onscreen instructions. Once your deal settles you can withdraw any cash you need from your Smart Investor account.