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Cash interest explained |
You will receive interest on balances in your platform cash account at the prevailing rate.
Embark Investment Services Limited acts as the custodian for investments on the Willis Owen platform and is one of our strategic partners that provides our Willis Owen ISA, GIA, Junior ISA and SIPP.
Embark places cash with a number of banking partners for safekeeping and to provide the potential for you to earn interest on money in your platform cash account. By managing cash in this way, it aims to provide better protection and a higher overall level of interest than if all funds were placed with a single bank.
The rates of interest paid by banks will vary. Embark retains a portion of the interest earned to cover its costs in managing platform cash.
Current Interest Rate
The table below shows the current customer interest rate payable on cash balances along with the amount of interest retained by Embark. The customer interest rate shown is that after accounting for interest retained by Embark:
Date From | Customer Interest Rate | Interest retained by Embark |
---|---|---|
25th March 2024 | 2.46% | 1.75% - 2.00% |
Embark can change the rate of interest at any time and it reviews the position at least quarterly. Interest is calculated and accrued daily and is credited to your account on the first of each month. If you transfer out, accrued interest is applied at the point of transfer. We will inform you if and when the interest rate changes as soon as is practicable.
Interest retained
The table below shows the yearly equivalent rates of interest Embark expects to pay based on a range of possible yearly interest rates it may earn.
Interest Embark expects to earn | Customer Interest Rate | Interest retained by Embark |
---|---|---|
0-1% | 0 – 0.46% | 0 – 0.54% |
1-2% | 0.46% – 0.94% | 0.54% – 1.06% |
2-3% | 0.94% – 1.46% | 1.06% – 1.54% |
3-4% | 1.46% – 2.02% | 1.54% – 1.98% |
4-5% | 2.02% – 2.61% | 1.98% – 2.39% |
5%+ | 2.61%+ | 2.39%+ |
Historic Interest Rates
To see details of historic customer interest rates, along with the amount of interest retained by Embark, click here.
A monthly investment plan can be a good way to maintain a long-term investment strategy and is a sensible way of being disciplined about saving for the future. It is a useful facility for those who do not have the full ISA allowance available to invest in one go, or those who prefer to drip feed their investment over time.
It is possible to set up a Direct Debit investing in Funds from just £25 a month, making regular savings a popular and affordable way of building your investment portfolio.
The example below shows how much your investment would be worth if you invest with Willis Owen in a Fund with no initial charge and an Annual Management Charge of 1.15% and if that Fund grows by 6% per annum.
Every investor knows to buy low and sell high but timing the market correctly is something that even the most experienced investor struggles to do. With a regular investment, you no longer have this worry, due to what is known as ‘Pound Cost Averaging’. Pound cost averaging is where the effect of changes in market prices on the value of your investment is effectively smoothed out. It is during periods of volatility that Pound Cost Averaging comes into its own – not only can regular investing smooth out the volatility in your Fund price fluctuations, you may actually be in a position to make a greater profit than a lump sum investor as this example shows.
Example based on £2,000 invested as a lump sum or £400 monthly
Date |
Unit Price
|
No. of Units
Purchased (Lump Sum) |
No. of Units
Purchased (Monthly) |
---|---|---|---|
January |
100p
|
2,000
|
400
|
February |
140p
|
-
|
286
|
March |
75p
|
-
|
533
|
April |
100p
|
-
|
400
|
May |
90p
|
-
|
444
|
Total number of units | 2,000 | 2,063 |
Average price for a Fund unit for the regular investor is 97p. |
Don’t forget whether investing monthly or with a lump sum, the sooner you start to invest, the more potential your Funds can grow.