Investment Account
Low-cost investing with no upper limit
INVESTMENTS
Help grow your money from £50 with our low-cost Investment Account. A great choice for when you’ve used your ISA allowance.
What is an Investment Account?
An Investment Account offers no upper limit on how much you can invest. This makes it a useful option if you’ve already used your ISA allowance. You can choose from a range of funds, shares, ETFs, bonds and more. You can also withdraw your cash at any time.
No upper limit
Help grow your money with no upper limit on how much you can invest.
Wide investment choice
Choose from over 8,000 investments or select a Ready-made Investment and leave the rest to us.
Withdraw your money at any time
You can sell investments and withdraw your cash at any time. There are no fees for withdrawing cash.
The value of investments can fall as well as rise. You may get back less than you invest. If you’re unsure which investments are right for you, please seek independent advice. Tax rules can change, and their effects will depend on your individual circumstances.
Investing could grow your money more than savings
Over the 5-year period from 1 January 2020 to 31 December 2024 holding money in a savings account would have produced different returns to investing in Ready-made Investments. The graph below shows the performance over this period of our Barclays Everyday Saver compared to investing in each of our Ready-made Investments funds. You should also bear in mind that the past performance is not an indicator of future performance.
The graph shows a starting investment of £10,000 on 1 January 2019 and the return provided over 5 years for the Everyday Saver account versus the five Ready-made Investment funds. At the end of the 5 year period Barclays Everyday Saver would have provided a return of £10,302, Ready-made Investment Defensive £10,856, Ready-made Investment Cautious £11,716, Ready-made Investment Balanced £13,022, Ready-made Investment Growth £14,095 and Ready-made Investment Adventurous £15,095.
Important information – This is one example and there are different savings and investment products available which would have earned different returns. Barclays Everyday Saver is an easy access savings account and there are other savings options available with us that could earn you a higher return. Returns are not the same each year and in some years savings can outperform investments. Returns include compound growth where income is re-invested and have been calculated before fees and charges which after being applied would lower fund performance. All comparisons exclude inflation. Data source: Barclays internal.
Our awards
We were voted Best for Customer Service 2025 and Consumer Rated Value for Money 2025 from Boring Money, and Best Stockbroker 2023 and Best SIPP Provider 2024 at The Online Money awards(1)
Why choose our Investment Account?
Low fees
One low annual fee, flat rate share dealing and no charge for many of our services.
Easy to manage
It’s easy to open an Investment Account, place a trade and check your investments anytime within Online Banking or the Barclays app.(2)
Earn interest
Earn interest on cash held in your Investment Account. See the current interest rates.
Secure
We are a FTSE 100 listed business with 48 million customers worldwide. We’re the first bank to achieve BSI KITEMARK™ for Secure Digital Banking.
"I’m really getting into investing and love spending time on the Smart Investor website. It’s really easy to understand and to manage my investments – my cash goes in each month by Direct Debit and then I can decide where I want to invest it”
– Graham, 60, Oxfordshire
How to open an Investment Account
1. Choose your account
The Investment Account has no upper limit and no restrictions on withdrawals. This account is popular with investors who have used their ISA allowance.
2. Decide how much to invest
Get started with just £50 and set up a monthly Direct Debit. There’s no charge to add to your account or make withdrawals.
3. Pick your investments
It’s easy to choose from over 8,000 investments or let the experts give you a hand with our Ready-made Investments.
Choose how you want to invest
We offer more than 8,000 investments including UK and international shares and over 2,400 funds, meaning you can build a portfolio to fit your exact goals. You can also leave the hard work to us by choosing from five Ready Made Investment funds.
Earn interest on cash
When you open an Investment Account, you’ll gain access to our Investment Saver service. This means you can earn interest on any uninvested cash you hold in your Investment Account. Find out more about the Investment Saver.
Any cash held in your Investment Saver will earn:
1.16% AER
per year variable for balances from £1
A simple, low-cost fee structure
Customer fee
0.25% p.a.
up to £200,000
and 0.05% on investments over £200,000
Buying and selling shares online*
£6
per trade**
Free to invest in funds online
|
Activity |
Cost |
|---|---|
|
Buying and selling funds online |
No charge** |
|
Regular investments (including shares) |
No charge |
|
Dividend reinvestment |
No charge |
|
Holding cash |
No charge |
|
Transferring investments |
No charge |
|
Cash withdrawal and account closure |
No charge |
*Including ETFs, investment trusts, bonds and gilts
**£25 per trade by telephone. Taxes may apply when buying shares. A foreign exchange and an international brokerage fee will be charged when trading international shares.
Learn more about our fees and Interest rates on cash.
You can also use our simple cost calculator to understand the charges that would apply.
Transfer your investments to us
If you have Investment Accounts elsewhere, you can transfer them to us at any time. First, you’ll need to open a Smart Investor account. Then, once your account is open, you can start the transfer process. Before transferring you should make sure you understand any penalties you may have to pay or benefits you may lose.
Learn more about our Investment Account
If you have a Barclays Investment ISA, or use Barclays Online Banking to manage a current account, you can log in and make it simpler to apply for an Investment Account.
If you don’t have a Barclays Investment ISA and don’t use Barclays Online Banking to manage a current account, it’s still easy to apply for an Investment Account.
Yes – you can sell investments and withdraw your cash at any time. There is no charge to withdraw your cash.
The key differences between an ISA and an Investment Account are the tax and the upper investment limit. Within an ISA your investments are protected from UK income and capital gains tax. Investment Accounts do not shelter your income or profits from tax.
There is an upper limit on how much you can put into a UK ISA in a tax year. Currently the ISA limit is £20,000. There is no upper limit on investments within an Investment Account.
Yes, you can open and pay into as many Investment Accounts as you wish.
You can add money to your Investment Account with a debit card, a monthly Direct Debit or by moving money from your Barclays account.
Exchange-traded funds offer investors access to a wide range of markets around the world usually at low cost. Most ETFs are passive investments, meaning they simply aim to track the performance of an underlying group of investments. ETFs can also help investors build a diversified portfolio. They’re listed on the stock exchange, so you can buy and sell shares in them just like you would in any other company. This means you can build and rebalance your portfolio relatively quickly and easily. Find out more about ETF investing.
Governments and corporations issue bonds when they want to raise money. If you buy a bond, you're giving the issuer a loan, and they agree to pay you back the face value of the loan on a specific date. The issuer also pays you interest payments along the way. Find out more about how to invest in bonds.
Yes – a GIA is just an acronym for a General Investment Account.
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Investment (Stocks and Shares ISA)
Tax-efficient, simple, and low-cost investing of up to £20,000 per tax year. Our ISAs are simple-to-use and come with dedicated UK customer support.
Customer Testimonials
Learn why our customers, Alison and Graham, believe Smart Investor makes investing easy.
Important information
We are one of multiple platforms to win Boring Money's value for money award which was based on a survey of investment platform customers from December 2023 to December 2024. Please note this does not guarantee profits or necessarily mean we are the cheapest platform available.(Return to reference)
You need to be 18 or over and have a Barclays Current Account to use the app.(Return to reference)
Lines are open from 7:30am to 7:00pm Monday to Thursday, 7:30am to 6:00pm on Friday, and closed during weekends and public holidays. To maintain a quality service, we may monitor or record phone calls. (Return to reference)