While stashing money away in a cash ISA is a good way to build tax-free savings, such as for an emergency fund and short term savings, once you are covered, it may be a good idea to build your long-term wealth by learning how to start investing.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves certainly thinks it’s a good idea. Since the start of the year, she has been repeating that she wants the UK to foster more of a retail investing culture.
One of the easiest ways to start investing is by using one of the best investing platforms for beginners where you can invest in funds that give you a well diversified exposure to various investments based on your risk attitude.
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But if you also want exposure to some shares, then some platforms are also offering new customers a free share.
Kalpana Fitzpatrick, editor of moneyweek.com and author of Invest Now, said: “We all love a freebie, and while you should take advantage of a free trade, don’t let it be the only thing you invest in. Exposure to one stock is not enough to build wealth; a good investment strategy allows you to have exposure across several companies by using products such as exchange-traded funds, available via fund platforms.”
We list the investment platforms where you can sign up and get a free share.
Platforms where you can get a free share
IG
For a limited time, investment platform IG is offering a bundle of free UK shares worth up to £100 to new clients.
The deal is active until 15 August and new clients who sign up during this period will need to invest a minimum of £20 into a general investment account (GIA), ISA, or SIPP account before then to get the bundle, and remain invested until 31 August.
While bagging a share bundle of £100 is certainly possible, the vast majority of customers who redeem this deal will get a bundle worth between £20 to £50.
A table showing the value probabilities of IG’s free bundles can be found below.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Approximate Value Band
Probability
£20 – £25
60%
£25.01 to £50
30%
£50.01 to £75
6%
£75.01 to £100
4%
Source: IG
Freetrade
You can get a free share from Freetrade when you refer or get referred by a friend.
By doing this, both the referral link holder and the new customer will receive a free share worth between £10 and £100.
In order to receive your free share, you will have to have deposited at least £50 into your account.
Like IG’s offer, the vast majority of people who get a free share from the promotion will get one that’s worth less than the maximum £100. A list of the probabilities can be found below.
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Free share value
Approximate probability
£10.00 to £25.00
80%
£25.01 to £50.00
15%
£50.01 to £75.00
3%
£75.01 to £100.00
2%
Source: Freetrade
Trading 212
Investment platform Trading 212 offers a free fractional share worth between £5 and £100 to new customers who sign up using a referral link from one of Trading 212’s partners or a friend.
New customers who use a referral link must verify their identity and deposit at least £1 into their account.
Once this has been done, they will receive their freebie within three business days, free to be kept or sold.
Robinhood
Robinhood offers prospective customers a free share when they open a new account with the investment platform.
However, Robinhood only allows users to invest in US-listed stocks, so anyone wishing to invest in London-listed or global shares will not be able to do so with the platform.
In order to claim the reward, you will have to have completed a bank deposit of at least £1 into your account. You will then receive a notification prompting you to claim the reward.
Your free share will have a value between $7 and $175, but the vast majority (96%) of people will receive a reward worth between $7 and $8.
Once you have received your free share, you can sell it whenever you like. If you want to withdraw what you sold the share for, you must keep that cash value in your account for at least 30 days before claiming it. After that, you can withdraw without any restrictions.
On top of the free share that users can get when they initially sign up, Robinhood also offers a referral scheme where you can receive another free share when you refer a friend.
For each friend that you invite to join, you will both be able to pick your own free share from a list of 26 of America’s leading firms on the S&P 500.
You will both receive your free share after your friend signs up, gets approved, and makes a bank deposit.
InvestEngine
ETF investment platform InvestEngine also offers a bonus offer to new customers, but unlike other incentives we have seen, they offer a cash bonus rather than a random share.
When using a friend’s referral link, new InvestEngine customers will be able to claim a bonus worth between £20 and £100 that goes directly into their account.
They are then free to use this money to invest in whatever ETF they like.
There is a catch though – in order to keep your bonus, you will need to remain invested through InvestEngine for a minimum of 12 months.
Once you’ve set up your InvestEngine account, you will also be able to refer up to 25 of your own friends and give both you and them the chance to earn up to £100.
Interactive investor
Customers new to investment platform interactive investor (ii) are also able to enjoy a reward when they first sign up, though they do not give a free share.
Instead, investors can get £100 worth of free trades when they open an ISA or trading account with ii until 31 July.
Interactive investor sets itself apart from its fellow investment platforms by offering a flat fee of £3.99 on trading UK and US shares, funds, ETFS, bonds, and gilts.
This means customers who make the most of this deal will be able to get the equivalent of 25 free trades.
Like many other platforms, interactive investor also offers a referral programme where you and a friend can get a £200 cash reward each time you refer a friend to their service.
To get the reward, your friend will need to fund their account with at least £5,000.
