- Good Money Guide experts rate IG's Smart Portfolios highly, noting their competitive pricing and strong performance history, particularly praising the low management fees and the diversified investment strategy developed in collaboration with Blackrock. However, they caution that the portfolios have experienced erratic performance in certain years, which may concern potential investors.
- Across 746 user reviews on Good Money Guide, averaging 4/5, customers frequently commend the platform's ease of use, reliability, and comprehensive range of investment options. Many users appreciate the seamless integration of trading and investing features, while some express concerns about occasional performance issues and the platform's minimum investment requirement.
IG's Smart Portfolios 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 IG's Smart Portfolios across five key areas of our review framework.
- Pricing5.0
- Market Access4.5
- Online Platform5.0
- Customer Service5.0
- Research & Analysis5.0
Pros
- Cheaper than other robo-advisors
- Blackrock investment style
- Diversified portfolios
Cons
- Erratic performance
- A high minimum of £500
See full expert review
Our verdict
IG Smart Portfolio have been developed in conjunction with Blackrock, and let you invest in series of six smart diversified investment style portfolios including stocks, bonds and commodities that range from conservative through to aggressive risk/reward.
Are IG Smart Portfolios any good?
IG Smart portfolios are a great way to invest in pre-made managed portfolios with one of the UK's largest investing and trading platforms. IG's robo advisor offering are cheaper than other robo-advisors, follow the well-tested Blackrock investment style in diversified portfolios.
IG Group is probably best known as a provider of margin trading services be that FX, CFDs or Spread Betting, but they also acts as a stockbroker and fund manager and provide Smart Portfolios in conjunction with one of the world’s largest asset managers, Blackrock.
There are six IG smart portfolios which were launched at the end of February 2017 which either replicated existing BlackRock products were created specifically for IG, by BlackRock. BlackRock is best known as an originator of ETFs and other passive investments however the products it produced for IG are not index trackers.
The minimum investment for IG Smart Portfolios is £500 and you can request a withdrawal from your account at anytime and your portfolio will be reduced to cover the withdrawal amount.
Fee reductions
Back in 2020, IG announced that it was reducing the management fees it charges on the smart portfolios to just 0.50% per annum, and it also capped those fees at £250 a year. According to IG's Smart portfolio price comparison, their portfolios work out significantly cheaper than robo-advisor competitors, Wealthify, Moneyfarm and Nutmeg.
As IG Smart Portfolio fees are capped at £250 a year, it means that anything you invest above £50k is effectively fee-free.
Investment Strategy
IG Smart Portfolios are smart beta funds, rather than index trackers. Smart beta is an investment style that tries to benefit from idiosyncratic features associated with particular groups of stocks this is also known as factor investing. These factors or characteristics include traits and identifiers such as value, growth, momentum, size, low volatility and others.
The thinking behind this approach is that by identifying and isolating these factors we can create portfolios which could outperform or are uncorrelated to a broad market basket.
This is the type of strategy that Hedge Funds might employ.
Smart beta portfolios such as those offered by IG stockbrokers aim to bring these quantitative and qualitative investment approaches to their clients, via low-cost vehicles.
Performance
IG Smart portfolios have a six-year track record and generally perform well. Overall the growth portfolio generated the best returns for investors, with the Aggressive fund lagging due to it's shorter run time and early losses in 2018 doubtless caused by the sharp selloff in the markets at the end of that year.
However, it's been a bit of a rocky ride with some portfolios having losing years, especially 2022 when they all took a battering. The chart below shows each portfolio's yearly performance but does not include 2023, which you would expect to be good seeing as the overall markets are up around 20%.
Investing versus trading at IG
Despite this positive performance the fund management business has not caught the imagination of the IG client base in the same way that say trading CFDs or Spread bets on equity indices have.
For example, in the FY 2019 margin trading clients generated revenues of £454 million pounds for IG, whilst the investments and stockbroking division returned revenues of just £5.9 million. A positive result but a drop in the ocean when compared to the margin trading business.
Since the departure of former CEO Peter Hetherington IG has made no secret of its desire to broaden both its product range and customer base. It has recently recruited both a new chairman and a head of institutional business, with that in mind.
The reduction in fees, and in some cases the removal of them altogether, in the Smart portfolio's business is doubtless aimed at growing both funds under management and annual revenues.
Welcome though this cost reduction is, we can’t help but feel that the existing funds IG offers are somewhat staid when compared to what's available elsewhere and the type of products and trading the wider group is involved in
IG would surely be able to attract money to funds that replicated or in some way participated in the firm’s own trading book
After all the business takes no directional view on the market but rather hedges customer flows, once the firm’s risk reaches certain predetermined levels.
You can count the number of losing days that IG experiences in a year, on the fingers of one hand and surely that's the kind return that people would be prepared to pay up for.
Customer reviews for IG
Customer ratings come from reviews left on this site. Every review is read and approved before it is published.Based on 746 reviews
- Excellent38%
- Very good36%
- Basic18%
- Poor5%
- Bad3%
Read customer reviews
2/5
3/5
2/5
Pros:
Market access
Cons:
Improve customer support. Remove in-activity fee
1/5
Pros:
easy to use
Cons:
better spreads
5/5
Pros:
All the different features.
Cons:
Have lower margins.
3/5
Pros:
Detail
Cons:
N/A
3/5
Pros:
ISA is flexible
Cons:
Better customer support
2/5
Pros:
App is quite good
Cons:
Make it easier for novice investors to understand how to use their platforms
3/5
Pros:
Nothing
Cons:
None
1/5
Pros:
Trading options
Cons:
Trading
4/5
Pros:
Lots of equities, good for analysis (mostly)
Cons:
Customer service
5/5
Pros:
speed
Cons:
Allow me to aggregate my own news feed on the platform
2/5
Pros:
Nothing
Cons:
Lower cost
Gildas @ 06/30/2020 01:54
it is a great company offering an amazing product, always in front in terms of offering and technology
Dehua @ 08/04/2020 07:17
I have been trading on IG Singapore for almost 10 years. Unfortunately they started to become more disappointing since about 2 years ago. This gives me the feeling that they have shifted their focus onto how to scoop more money from things from their clients, e.g. readjusting the spreads, the interests, etc. instead of growing with clients through better customer support.
Since the system upgrade, they have been displaying the figures incorrectly on their app - fristly, they are unable to self-examine/test; secondly, half a year after i sent in feedback with screenshots of such display on their app, they are still unable to rectify it.
Things like this would you make you doubt your confidence in their other capabilities in serving their clients. And such worries are proven. For example, i called their helpline for 3 days and was unable to speak to anyone. I subsequently sent them a number of emails, but received ZERO reply! I then called and texted one of their managers and was told that he felt sorry to hear that but could not do much about it either.
Some of the configurations on the app are confusing too. Such confusions are like traps that make you make COSTLY mistakes easily.
In short, IG is deteriorating over the recent years. I was a satisfied client for many years. I am turned away by their poor system upgrade and deteriorated customer support.
IG fees are certainly on the high side compared to other platforms in the market. If they provide better customer support, I would feel it's worthy. However, in the past two years, IG has been taking more money from their clients while customer support has been reducing.
1/5
5/5
5/5
5/5
5/5
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.
