- Experts rate Lightyear High-Interest Vaults highly for providing an easy-access investment product that allows users to earn competitive interest rates on idle cash. The product is backed by AAA-rated money market funds, although it does come with a 0.25% annual fee and lacks FSCS protection, which may be a consideration for potential investors.
- Across 676 user reviews on Good Money Guide, averaging 4.9/5, customers frequently commend the app's user-friendly interface, low fees, and transparent pricing. Many users appreciate the platform's simplicity and efficiency, making investing accessible for both beginners and experienced investors. However, some users have noted that while the service is excellent, there may be better interest rates available elsewhere.
Lightyear High-Interest Vaults Expert rating
Our expert rating is the average of the areas listed here, each scored out of 5 by our team.Our experts have rated Lightyear High-Interest Vaults across five key areas of our review framework.
- Pricing4.5
- Market Access4.0
- App & Platform5.0
- Customer Service5.0
- Research & Analysis4.5
Pros
- High interest rates
- AAA-rated money market fund
- Interest earn daily
Cons
- Better rates are available elsewhere
- Interest is paid monthly instead of daily
See full expert review
Our verdict
Lightyear’s High-Interest Vaults give customers a way to earn interest on uninvested cash by placing it into low-risk money market funds managed by BlackRock. These are easy-access, variable-rate investment products available in GBP, EUR and USD, designed to track short-term interest rates such as the Bank of England overnight rate.
What are Lightyear High Interest Vaults?
We rate Lightyear’s Vaults highly as they are designed for investors who want their idle cash to earn a market-linked return while remaining easy to access, rather than sitting uninvested in a brokerage account.
Lightyear's High Interest Vaults are an easy-access cash investment product with variable rates, and there are separate vaults for deposits in Sterling, Euros and US dollars. Currently, the Sterling Vault offers around 3.77% AER (variable), with interest calculated daily and paid monthly. There are no minimum or maximum deposit limits, so users can start from £1 and add unlimited amounts.
How do Lightyear Vaults differ from holding cash from savings accounts?
Unlike a traditional savings account, the Vault is an investment product rather than a bank deposit. Your money is invested in AAA-rated money market funds, meaning capital is at risk and FSCS protection does not apply to funds held within the money market fund itself.
What is your money actually invested in?
Cash in the Sterling Vault is placed into funds such as the BlackRock ICS Sterling Liquidity Fund, which invests in diversified short-term instruments like treasury bills, commercial paper, certificates of deposit and repurchase agreements. This spreads risk across multiple institutions rather than relying on a single bank.
Is it cheaper to buy the money market fund directly?
Lightyear charges a 0.25% annual fee on money held in the Sterling Vault. While investors could theoretically access similar institutional money market funds directly, minimum investments can run into hundreds of millions, so Lightyear provides retail access to these products with no minimum deposit.
Customer reviews for Lightyear
Customer ratings come from reviews left on this site. Every review is read and approved before it is published.Based on 676 reviews
- Excellent92%
- Very good6%
- Basic1%
- Poor1%
- Bad0%
Read customer reviews
Intuitive
I use Lightyear as an investing app since Dec 2023. I have a couple of investments, in ETFs and individual stocks. As of today, I consider it to be a good investing app, with user-friendly interface, plenty of options to choose from, very simple to navigate within menus and easy to understand the information relayed to us. Since I joined, the company has been making changes, namely in the interface and in the information panel for users (help of an integrated AI helper), has added stocks and ETFs from many countries, enlarging the portfolio it has. In addition, to deposit or withdraw money is very simples and fast. Nowadays, due to low interest rates in the EU, it does not compensate to have uninvested cash in the vault, but many months ago it was substantial, being one of the ways to get value for your money. Overall, a very solid choice for normal people to invest in stocks or ETFs.
excelient decipiline
shares
Easy to use
Great mobile app with excellent choice of investments, including money market funds, which is what I was looking for. Recommended.
Trustworthy
I have use it over a year and I think its absolutely the best. I really like that I get interest payment from the money that is just siting there and they try to improve it all the time to make more useful for its owners.
Great portfolio building tool
Works well with Estonian systems.
Easy to use and efficient
User-friendly and efficient tool to manage your investment. Specially happy about the fact you can also add the business account
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Keep going
I like it
I haven't used it for a long time, I like it, I'm glad that it's so easy to manage investments in the application
Lightyear
Lightyear is a good way to invest in stock markets with low fees and easy to use.
Very easy to use.
Very easy to use
Very easy to use
Very easy to use
Easy
Easy to use for people who is new in investing world
Easy to use and understand
I'm a super beginner investor and Lightyear has made it easy for me to invest!
The app is easy-to-use and I understand what's going on without having to go too much trouble.
Makes investing super easy
Lightyear is a great, transparent, user-friendly company that makes investing easy. Couldn't be happier as a customer.
One of the best!
One of the best, highly recommended!LY is very innovative, simple, low service fees and user friendly
Truly democratising how to invest
Lightyear is really going to great lengths to democratise access to serious investing, cutting out the jargon and making investing simple with an easy to use mobile and web app.
Best investing app
Easy and simple way to invest and gain dividends.
Simple
Easy to use.
Small, but good
Getting bigger
Great Investment App
Excellent customer service!
Lightyear’s High-Interest Vaults are designed to help investors earn a return on idle cash by placing it into low-risk money market funds rather than leaving it uninvested in a brokerage account. In this guide, we explain how the Vaults work, what they invest in and whether they’re a good alternative to traditional savings.
Capital at risk
Richard is the founder of the Good Money Guide (formerly Good Broker Guide), one of the original investment comparison sites established in 2015. With a career spanning two decades as a broker, he brings extensive expertise and knowledge to the financial landscape.
Having worked as a broker at Investors Intelligence and a multi-asset derivatives broker at MF Global (Man Financial), Richard has acquired substantial experience in the industry. His career began as a private client stockbroker at Walker Crips and Phillip Securities (now King and Shaxson), following internships on the NYMEX oil trading floor in New York and London IPE in 2001 and 2000.
Richard’s contributions and expertise have been recognized by respected publications such as The Sunday Times, BusinessInsider, Yahoo Finance, BusinessNews.org.uk, Master Investor, Wealth Briefing, iNews, and The FT, among many others.
Under Richard’s leadership, the Good Money Guide has evolved into a valuable destination for comprehensive information and expert guidance, specialising in trading, investment, and currency exchange. His commitment to delivering high-quality insights has solidified the Good Money Guide’s standing as a well-respected resource for both customers and industry colleagues.
