Moneyfarm Review: Is 0.70% a Year Worth Paying to Have Your ISA Managed?

Moneyfarm is the trading name of MFM Investment Ltd, a London company incorporated in June 2014 (Companies House number 09088155, registered at 90-92 Pentonville Road). It says it is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority with firm reference number 629539, for investment advice, discretionary management, custody and dealing. The FCA's own register data, as at 11 October 2026, lists firm 629539 as MFM Investment Ltd, authorised since July 2015; you can check it on the FCA register before you send money.

Your investments are held under the FCA's client-asset (CASS) rules, registered to a nominee and kept separate from Moneyfarm's own investments. Moneyfarm says this minimises the chance of loss if it became insolvent. If it did fail and you lost money as a result, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) can cover eligible investments up to £85,000. Nothing covers a fall in the markets: the value of your portfolio can go down as well as up.

The pension works a little differently. Quai Investment Services Limited provides and runs the Moneyfarm SIPP, Quai Trustees Limited holds its assets as trustee, and Moneyfarm manages the investments and runs the app you use.

The managed side, which Moneyfarm calls Wealth, covers a Stocks and Shares ISA, a Junior ISA, a SIPP and a general investment account (GIA). Moneyfarm's management and platform fees are the same for all four. The Stocks and Shares ISA is flexible: you can take money out and put it back in the same tax year without using up more of your £20,000 allowance for 2026/27. You need to be UK-resident to open one.

Alongside that, Share Investing lets you pick your own shares, ETFs, funds and bonds (Moneyfarm says more than 1,000) in an ISA or GIA, and there is a Cash ISA with no direct charge; Moneyfarm is paid by the money market funds the Cash ISA uses. For pensions, its Find, Check & Transfer service traces old pensions and, before moving them, flags any exit fees, or benefits you would give up by moving, worth more than £50 (it says it can't promise to find them all), at no extra charge once they arrive.

What's missing: there is no Lifetime ISA, and the managed portfolios are Moneyfarm's models, not funds you choose. If you want to pick investments yourself, that's Share Investing, which has its own price list.

Sign-up starts with a suitability questionnaire about your goals, finances and attitude to risk. Moneyfarm then recommends a model portfolio for each account, built and maintained by its investment team, and manages your money in line with it. It rebalances without asking you and reviews whether the portfolio still suits you at least once a year.

You then choose a management style. Actively managed portfolios have their mix adjusted several times a year, for 0.45% on the first £50,000, falling in bands above that. Fixed Allocation is adjusted once a year, plus any rebalancing needed when the mix drifts, for a flat 0.15%. Smart Yield holds short-term, lower-risk debt such as government bonds, commercial paper and certificates of deposit, or money market funds plus higher-yielding ETFs, for a flat 0.05%. Every style also pays the 0.25% platform fee.

You also choose a focus: Classic, a globally diversified mix that isn't screened for ESG, or ESG, screened using MSCI data and Moneyfarm's own method, both at the same management fee. Thematic investments can be added to an ISA or GIA once the main portfolio holds £10,000, but only if your risk profile is Balanced or higher (Balanced, Curious, Adventurous or Fearless), and themes are capped at around 20% of the riskiest portfolios.

One catch: the Active fee bands count Active money only. £50,000 in Active plus £50,000 in Fixed Allocation won't reach the 0.10% band that starts at £100,000.

You pay Moneyfarm two fees, both worked out daily and taken monthly: the management fee for your style and the platform fee of 0.25% a year, with a minimum of £1.25 a month. On top come the costs inside the funds, which Moneyfarm puts at around 0.16% a year for a Classic portfolio, and market spread of up to 0.05%; for ESG portfolios its figures are 0.17% and 0.07%. Those don't arrive as a bill; they come out of the fund prices.

Moneyfarm's own example is £20,000 in an actively managed Classic portfolio: 0.70% in its fees (£11.67 a month), and up to 0.91% (£15.17 a month) with fund costs and spread. The same rates give £70 a year on £10,000 and £350 on £50,000. Above £50,000 the bands bring the rate down: £100,000 pays £575 (0.575%), or up to £785 all-in, and Moneyfarm's terms show £120,000 paying £345 in management fees.

Small balances are where it gets expensive. Below £6,000 the £1.25-a-month minimum (£15 a year) is more than 0.25%: £1,000 pays £19.50 a year in Moneyfarm fees, or 1.95%, and £5,000 pays £37.50 (0.75%).

For comparison, InvestEngine charges nothing for DIY ETF portfolios and 0.25% a year for managed ones, plus the ETFs' own costs in both cases. The gap is what you pay for Moneyfarm's active management and its human support, so ask whether you'll use them. Moneyfarm can change its fees with 15 days' written notice.

Your tier depends on the value of your managed portfolios. Core, under £10,000, gets the client service team. Premium, from £10,000 to under £100,000, adds access to Moneyfarm's investment consultants during business hours, though not one assigned to you. Private, from £100,000, adds a dedicated qualified wealth manager, priority access to in-person events and one Guidance+ session a year.

Guidance+ is a one-to-one session with scenario and cash-flow analysis, a personalised report and a virtual consultation, and can cover investments you hold elsewhere. Moneyfarm says it isn't regulated financial advice. Outside Private it costs £200 plus VAT, or you can unlock the Private tier's benefits for £12.99 a month with a three-month minimum.

Moving up happens within five business days of crossing a threshold. Moving down waits 30 days (Premium to Core) or 90 days (Private to a lower tier).

Share Investing has no platform fee. Instead, each trade in shares, ETFs or funds costs £3.95, and each bond trade £5.95, whatever the size. Anything priced in another currency adds a 0.70% conversion fee on every buy and sell. In a Share Investing ISA there is also a custody fee of 0.35% a year, capped at £45.

UK share purchases pay 0.5% stamp duty, and the PTM levy applies to trades over £10,000. Moneyfarm's fee discounts, including the referral one, don't reduce any of these Share Investing charges.

You need £500 to start and at least £100 for each top-up. Pay by Direct Debit or bank transfer from a UK account in your own name. Direct Debits typically take three business days to reach Moneyfarm, and up to seven. Between £500 and £5,000 Moneyfarm may not be able to build a fully balanced portfolio, so expect more cash than usual until you add more.

Moneyfarm processes withdrawals within one business day of your request, but warns it can take 7 to 10 working days from asking to seeing the money in your bank. It only pays to the UK bank account registered to your account, and charges no withdrawal fee. Don't keep money here that you might need at short notice.

ISA transfers out are normally handled within HMRC's 30-day maximum, although Moneyfarm depends on the receiving provider. If you transfer an ISA, Lifetime ISA or Junior ISA in, you can cancel that transfer within 30 days of Moneyfarm receiving it.

Sign up through our link or enter code MF650641 at registration, and check it shows as applied before you finish. Moneyfarm's in-app Invite a friend screen describes the reward: you and the person who invited you both get a 20% discount for six months when you start investing. It's a discount on your fees, not cash, and Moneyfarm's live terms set the exact conditions.

The screen doesn't say which fees the 20% comes off. Moneyfarm's general terms for discounts say they reduce only its management and platform fees, never fund costs, trading or currency fees; they have no cash value, and any part bigger than the fee due in a month is lost. A Cash ISA has no management or platform fee, so a fee discount has nothing to come off, and Share Investing's charges aren't covered either. You still need the £500 minimum to open an account.

In money terms it is small. On an actively managed £20,000 portfolio, Moneyfarm's fees for six months come to £70: £45 of management fee and £25 of platform fee. 20% off the management fee saves £9, and £14 if the platform fee is discounted too. On £50,000 it's £22.50 or £35. On Fixed Allocation, at 0.15%, 20% off the management fee is worth £3 on £20,000 over the six months.

Moneyfarm can change or withdraw the offer at any time and can decline to open an account. Its 2024 Refer a Friend terms said personal referral links shouldn't be published publicly and let Moneyfarm refuse the discount if it suspected they had been. If the discount hasn't been applied after your first monthly fee, ask Moneyfarm.

Disclosure: MF650641 is GetQuids' own Moneyfarm code. Moneyfarm's invite screen says you both get the discount, so we get the same 20% off our fees for six months.

On 12 October 2026 the Moneyfarm app was rated 4.6 from 1,920 ratings on the App Store (version 7.44, released on 5 October) and 4.4 from 7,679 on Google Play. On Trustpilot Moneyfarm scored 4.2 from 6,947 reviews, 58% of them five-star and 7% one-star, and it replies to about 90% of negative reviews.

The recent low-rated reviews repeat the same themes: slow transfers out and slow ISA transfers, including one Cash ISA transfer reported to have taken three months; support that is hard to reach, with bounced emails and missed call-backs or appointments; deposits and transferred-in money left uninvested for days; withdrawals taking days or longer; and recent app updates, with the October 2026 version removing landscape view on iPad and reviewers calling the app cluttered. Others question returns after fees compared with investing themselves, and one mentions a recent fee rise. Older reviews mention trouble disinvesting or closing an account, no way to delete bank details or the account in the app, and heavy marketing notifications.

You can phone Moneyfarm on 0800 433 4574 or email hello@moneyfarm.com. Complaints are acknowledged within three working days and get a final response within eight weeks; after that you can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service, free, within six months.

You need to be 18 or over with a UK bank account, and to pass identity and source-of-funds checks; Moneyfarm may ask for proof that money came from your own UK account and that your wealth comes from a legitimate source. If it can't finish opening your account within 28 days, it can refuse. Moving abroad or changing your tax residency lets Moneyfarm end the agreement.

The steps: sign up through our link or with code MF650641, complete the questionnaire, choose an account, style and focus, and pay in at least £500.

You can cancel the whole agreement within 30 days of opening it, or any single product within 30 days of opening that product. After that, give 30 days' notice; there is no penalty, but fees due up to that point are deducted. Unless you give transfer instructions, your portfolio is sold and the proceeds go to your registered bank account, at whatever the investments are worth by then.

Consider it if you want someone else to choose and rebalance your ISA, pension or Junior ISA, if you'll have £10,000 or more and would use the investment consultants, or £100,000 or more and want a dedicated wealth manager, or if Fixed Allocation's lower fee suits a hands-off investor.

Skip it if you'll invest less than about £6,000, where the platform minimum bites; if you're happy choosing a global tracker yourself on a cheaper platform; if you might need the money within days; if you want a Lifetime ISA; or if you may move abroad. And don't choose it for the referral discount alone: on £20,000 it is worth about £9 to £14, and the value of your investments can fall.