tickr Review (Pros, Cons & Is It Right For You?)

What Is tickr?

What if I told you that you could invest and make a killing while also saving the planet at the same time? tickr is an impact investing platform with a mission to make this a reality.

tickr (Yes, it’s a lowercase “t”) is an investment app that is designed around supporting businesses that strive to make a positive global impact. tickr was founded by Matt Latham and Tom McGillycuddy, an idea born out of a desire to give people the option to invest in socially responsible companies. Latham and McGillycuddy were inspired to found tickr after their experiences working in the financial industry.

tickr has been well received for its simplified approach to ethical investing. Since launching in 2019, tickr has picked up quite a few customers and has received a welcome response in the investment community.

Should You Get tickr? Is It Right for You?

tickr is an excellent choice if you want to invest while making a difference at the same time. The company is still relatively small, but they have a solid mission statement and a lot of potential for growth. tickr accounts are also tax-efficient and they offer ISA options along with investing in low-cost ETFs. tickr might be right for you if any of the following are true:

• You want to invest in socially responsible causes
• You want a low-cost way to get into investing
• You like trading from your smartphone
• You want to start saving an ISA
• You have never invested before.

Here are a couple of stats about tickr users: over 40% of investors are women, the average age of the app user is 31, and over half of tickr users had never invested before using the service. The average user invests about £120 a month so you don’t need bags of money to invest. It’s definitely a unique platform with a promising message and exciting horizons.

How Does tickr Work?

tickr is all about socially responsible investing. That means their listing of investment options include companies involved in things like sustainable energy, environmental conservation, green development in developing regions, and more.

Here’s how it works: Once you download the app and make an account, you will have to provide some materials for identity verification; the usual stuff like bank details, an ID, and your National Insurance Number.

Once you confirm your details, your account will be set up. You can fund your account using direct bank deposits or from a debit card. Note that you cannot fund an investment account with a credit card as this is against UK regulations.  

Once you have your account faded, it’s time to choose your investments.

tickr offers 4 investment “themes”; ETFs built around different socially conscious business goals. The 4 currently available themes are climate change, disruptive technology, equality, and combination portfolios. Each fund carries stock and shares from global companies that are managed by tickr’s expert team of investors and managers.

Here is the breakdown for stock sectors and allocations in the 4 themes:

• Climate change:
  • Clean energy:
    • USA: 30%
    • China: 28%
    • New Zealand: 11%
    • Austria: 7%
    • Brazil: 6%
  • Global Water
    • USA: 47%
    • UK 13%
    • France: 8%
    • China: 5%
    • Switzerland: 5%
• Disruptive technology
  • Automation & Robotics
    • USA: 31%
    • Japan: 27%
    • Taiwan: 12%
    • Germany: 6%
    • UK: 5%
  • Cybersecurity
    • USA: 87%
    • UK: 5%
    • Japan: 5%
    • SouthKorea: 4%
  • Digitalisation
    • USA: 46%
    • Japan: 12%
    • Australia: 6%
    • South Korea: 6%
    • UK: 5%
• Equality
  • Ageing Population
    • USA: 36%
    • Japan: 11%
    • UK: 8%
    • Australia: 6%
    • South Korea: 5%
  • Diversity & Inclusion
    • USA: 33%
    • Germany: 12%
    • Canada: 7%
    • Australia: 6%
    • Japan: 6%
  • Gender Equality
    • USA: 48%
    • UK: 12%
    • Australia: 10%
    • France: 8%
    • Sweden: 6%
  • Healthcare Innovation
    • USA: 45%
    • South Korea: 16%
    • Japan: 10%
    • Germany: 4%
    • Sweden: 4%

The combination theme integrates funds from all three other themes into one pot.

As you can see, tickr invests your funds in a pretty wide range of global funds, though most themes seem to favour the US for stock allocation. All tickr investments are ETFs, not individual shares. In general, ETFs are the favoured investment vehicle anyway.

Keep in mind that tickr has a £5 account minimum. Once you deposit £5 as an initial investment, you can start allocating funds. For general investment accounts (GIAs) there are no investment limits so you can put in as much as you like. ISAs are subject to the standard annual ISA deposit allowance, which currently is £20,000 (Note: this is true for all ISAs, not just ones at tickr).

tickr currently only offers GIAs and ISAs, but they plan to release junior ISAs, LISAs, and SIPPs soon. tickr ISAs are flexible, meaning that you can withdraw money and put it back in without affecting your maximum ISA allowance.

Is tickr Legit?

Yes, tickr is a legitimate investment organization. Accounts are managed by registered professionals. Your money is held in an account managed by third-party custodians that are regulated by the FCA. tickr is also part of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) and your investments are protected to up to £85,000. Obviously, this protection does not apply for losses sustained due to poor investments.

Along with FSCS protection, tickr protects your financial info with a 256-bit TLS bank-level encryption. They also do not ever sell your personal information to third parties.

What Are tickr’s Fees?

Like most of these investment apps, tickr makes money through membership fees and account fees. tickr recently changed their fee structure back in March, and now charge a flat £1 account fee per month. They give you the first 30 days free but after that, it’s £1 a month no matter your account amount.

For accounts worth less than £3,000, there are no annual platform fees. If you have more than £3,000 in your account, you are charged an extra 0.30% calculated on any amount over £3,000. The previous pricing involved a flat 0.70% fee for all accounts.

Aside from account fees, there are no extra charges. tickr is not an advisory service so there is no advisory fee. They do not charge for deposits, withdrawals, or opening/closing your account.

The only other expense comes from the provider of the investments. Depending on the theme you pick, expenses can range from 0.25%-0/49% per year.

What Else Does tickr Do?

Aside from the primary investment services, there isn’t much else available currently.

This is mostly because the app is still new, and the developers are working on adding new features in the coming months. That being said, it’s clear that the co-founders of tickr are working hard to build a brand and create a vibrant community. The company runs a blog where they post regular content related to investment strategies and guides, and one of the co-founders hosts regular live meet-ups and question panels.

One cool feature tickr allows is round up spending. This is a popular feature for micro-investment apps in which purchases to a card are rounded up to the nearest dollar. That extra change gets put into your investment account. Round-up purchases are a convenient way to continually invest funds without having to think about it too much. You can turn them off too if you only want to invest deliberate sums.

One last neat feature: tickr has referrals. If you get a friend to sign up for the platform, then you and your friend both get a £5 tickr credit. They will also plant 2 trees in your name. Pretty socially responsible, right?

What Are People Saying About tickr?

tickr has managed to pull in decent reviews on app stores. Most customers say that the process is straightforward and making deposits is easy. People also praise how easy it is to withdraw funds when they need them.

One common complaint we found was that the information displayed about stocks is a bit lacklustre. To its credit, the company recognizes this and is working on improving its informational displays.

Benefits of tickr

• Makes socially conscious investing simple
• Interesting portfolio of investment choices
• Simple deposit and withdrawal process
• Round-up investing available
• FSCS protection on funds
• No account minimums
• Low expense ETFs

Drawbacks of tickr

• Relatively limited investment selection
• £1 monthly account fee does not seem like alot, but for small accounts, it can kill investing progress
• Information on shares is limited
• Mobile-only interface; no desktop and no physical branches
• Limited account types

Our Verdict: Is tickr Worth It?

We say yes, tickr is worth it! tickr makes it easy to invest in socially responsible companies so your money can be put towards making a difference. Its simplified take on the investment process makes investing approachable, and the mobile-focus appeals to the younger crowd, though the lack of physical branches may be a turn-off for the old guard.

Otherwise, though, tickr is a good app to get started investing and building wealth without the guilt of supporting industries you might not be in favour of. You can start up a GIA or ISA and the team has plans to add more account types in the future.