Nutmeg Review 2024 (+ Portfolio Performances)

In this Nutmeg review, you’ll discover the benefits, drawbacks, and features of this online investment platform. Investing without researching brokers may result in poor choices and financial losses.

I have been reviewing investment platforms for five years. I’ve seen plenty of money-draining brokers and want to ensure you don’t become a victim. Read the Nutmeg review below to find out whether Nutmeg is worth your money.

When you invest, you may lose money. This is an independent Nutmeg review and not financial advice.

Nutmeg Review Overview

	Nutmeg
Platform	App and website
FCA regulation	Yes
FSCS protection	Yes
User ratings	3.6/5.0
Minimum deposit	£500 (£100 for LISA)
Investment style	Robo-advisor, long-term investing
Available accounts	GIA, ISA, LISA, SIPP, Junior ISA
Available markets	Nutmeg portfolios only
Fees	Under £100,000: 0.45-0.75% account fee Over £100,000: 0.25-0.35% account fee 0.2-0.28% fund fee

What Is Nutmeg?

Nutmeg is an online investment management company and robo advisor. This means Nutmeg recommends a portfolio based on your preferences and artificial intelligence. Nutmeg specialises in investing in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) across:

• Stocks
• Bonds
• Commodities

Due to their portfolios, Nutmeg has won awards for the “Best Buy ISA” and the “Best Stocks and Shares (S&S) ISA” 2015-2019. It is a popular platform with £4.5 billion in client assets.

Nutmeg is a UK-based company founded in 2011 by Nick Hungerford and William Todd. In 2021, JP Morgan bought Nutmeg. JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company.

Is Nutmeg Legit?

Nutmeg is a legit company. In the UK, Nutmeg is registered with the company number 07503666. Additionally, Nutmeg is registered with the Financial Conduct Authority.

You can also read Nutmeg’s reviews on Trustpilot. Nutmeg has an average score of 3.6 out of 5.0, with over 1000 reviews. Of all Nutmeg reviews, 80% are great or excellent.

The negative Nutmeg reviews are primarily from users who lost money. Before investing, you must understand that your money is at risk, regardless of your broker choice.

Is Nutmeg Safe?

Nutmeg is safe. Nutmeg is a member of the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme. In case of bankruptcy, you will get up to £85,000 of your money back. (This does not cover investment losses.)

Regarding security, Nutmeg has TLS encryption. TLS (Transport Layer Security) is a widely used protocol to encrypt your data. To protect customer data, Nutmeg has a “defence-in-depth” strategy. This includes:

• Secure data storage
• Staff training
• Ongoing monitoring
• Keeping up-to-date with security regulations

What Accounts Does Nutmeg Offer?

UK citizens can open specific accounts to save money on taxes. These accounts have specific rules, and not all investment platforms offer them. On Nutmeg, you can open the following accounts:

• General Investment Account (GIA). The standard investment account with no tax benefits.
• Stocks and Shares Individual Savings Account (S&S ISA). You can invest up to £20,000 annually tax free.
• Lifetime S&S ISA (LISA). You can invest up to £4000 annually and get a 25% government bonus on your savings. You can only use the money for a house deposit or retirement.
• Junior ISA. You can invest up to £8000 annually tax free for your child.
• Self-invested Personal Pension (SIPP). You will get a 20 or 40% bonus on your retirement savings.

Read more about tax-efficient saving.

Nutmeg is an investment platform and does not offer a savings account. If you want to save money, you may prefer Plum. Read my Plum vs Nutmeg comparison for more information.

How Does Nutmeg’s Portfolio Management Work?

On Nutmeg, you can’t buy individual stocks. Instead, you can choose one of Nutmeg’s five different portfolio types:

1. Fully Managed
2. Smart Alpha
3. Socially Responsible
4. Fixed Allocation
5. Thematic Investing

All portfolios contain globally diversified exchange-traded funds (ETFs). ETFs are a basket with individual shares, aiming to reduce risk through diversification.

Each portfolio type has five to ten portfolios with different risk levels. The ratio between stock and bond assets changes depending on the risk level.

If you want to buy individual assets, you may prefer Hargreaves Lansdown or Vanguard. Read more in my Nutmeg vs Hargreaves Lansdown comparison and Nutmeg vs Vanguard comparison.

1. Fully Managed

Nutmeg’s financial experts actively manage the Nutmeg Fully Managed portfolios. They constantly adjust your portfolio to ensure it remains aligned with your goals. Having human experts is more expensive but may result in better performance.

There is no guarantee for this, though. A study published in Finance Research Letters revealed that AI-managed portfolios outperform their human-managed counterparts by 5.8% annually. Note that this study was not specific to Nutmeg. It also does not mean AI portfolios are always better.

2. Nutmeg Smart Alpha Review

Nutmeg Smart Alpha portfolios are also actively managed. They seek to generate additional returns using the expertise of J.P. Morgan’s specialists.

The fund aims to “combine Nutmeg’s core investment principles, ETF and fractional investment expertise with the in-house, multi-asset knowledge and experience of one of the world’s leading investment houses”.

Essentially, you pay higher fees, hoping to achieve higher investment returns. Due to the nature of investing, there is no guarantee that J.P. Morgan’s expert can outperform the other portfolios.

3. Socially Responsible

Nutmeg actively manages the Socially Responsible portfolios like the Fully Managed portfolios. Socially Responsible offers assets with high environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards.

With these portfolios, you avoid investing in assets with a negative impact. However, remember that J.P. Morgan owns Nutmeg. J.P. Morgan is one of the biggest investors in fossil fuels. In total, it put $434 billion into non-renewable energy since 2016.

In my opinion, investing with Nutmeg is never ethical.

4. Fixed Allocation

Nutmeg investors don’t actively manage Nutmeg’s Fixed Allocations portfolios. Instead, humans choose the funds, and AI does the rebalancing. Once a year, Nutmeg’s experts review your fund. Essentially, you trade less management for lower fees.

As explained above, AI rebalancing doesn’t mean the Fixed Allocation portfolios perform worse. You might see better or lower investment returns than Nutmeg’s other funds.

5. Thematic Investing

With Thematic Investing, you can invest in long-term trends, including:

• Technological innovation
• Resource transformation
• Evolving consumer

Nutmeg’s investors have selected these themes based on more established trends. The expectation is that these trends will outperform other investment sectors. However, as with all investments, you can’t know for sure.

In my opinion, investing in a theme carries a higher risk since it is less diversified. Of course, there could also be higher gains. Still, I recommend being careful with this portfolio type.

How Do Nutmeg’s Portfolios Perform?

In 2021, Socially Responsible Risk Level 10 was Nutmeg’s best-performing fund. However, the other funds weren’t far behind, with Fully Managed Risk Level 1 being the worst.

You need to view these results in the context of the year. In 2021, the S&P 500 grew by 28.7%. The S&P 500 is a US index tracker of the largest companies. You can’t compare it to Nutmeg’s funds, but it shows that 2021 was a good year for investors.

I would expect the lower risk levels to outperform the higher ones in years with poor growth. Just because the high-risk-level funds did well in 2021, does not mean they will always do better.

Below is the complete performances of each Nutmeg portfolio for 2021:

Risk Level	Fully Managed	Smart Alpha	Socially Responsible	Fixed Allocation
1 (lowest risk)	0.1%	1.6%	0.3%	1.6%
2	1.7%	6.4%	1.8%	5.3%
3	3.2%	11.1%	3.8%	9.8%
4	5.3%	15.9%	5.8%	15.2%
5 (max. risk for 5-level funds)	7.5%	20.4%	7.9%	20.2%
6	9.9%	–	10.7%	–
7	12.7%	–	13.7%	–
8	15.4%	–	16.6%	–
9	18.2%	–	19.3%	–
10 (max. risk for 10-level funds)	19.6%	–	21.3%	–

Read my Nutmeg vs Moneybox comparison to compare these portfolios to Moneybox.

What Fees Does Nutmeg Have?

With Nutmeg, the fees depend on which portfolio type you choose:

	Fully Managed	Smart Alpha	Socially Responsible	Fixed Allocation	Thematic Investing
Nutmeg fees up to £100,000	0.75%	0.75%	0.75%	0.45%	0.75%
Nutmeg fees beyond £100,000	0.35%	0.35%	0.35%	0.25%	0.35%
Fund cost	0.22%	0.36%	0.31%	0.21%	0.26%
Market spread	0.04%	0.04%	0.04%	0.04%	0.09%
Total fee (£20,000 investment)	1.01%	1.15%	1.1%	0.7%	1.1%

Smart Alpha portfolios are the most expensive, while the Fixed Allocation portfolios are the cheapest. Overall, Nutmeg charges higher fees than its competitor, Moneyfarm. Read about Moneyfarm’s fees in my Moneyfarm review.

How Do You Use Nutmeg?

How to Sign up to Nutmeg

Nutmeg offers both a mobile app and a website. To start, download the app or sign up on the website. Click “Get Started” or “Sign up” to create your account. On mobile, follow the instructions after downloading the app. Then, enter and verify your email address.

You can also get a £100 bonus if you transfer your pension to Nutmeg. The minimum amount for this offer is £1000.

Once you have created your account, Nutmeg will ask you to do three things:

• Complete your personal details
• Complete the risk assessment
• Create an investment pot

Nutmeg needs your National Insurance Number, address, and bank details to verify your identity. This is a legal requirement. All legit investment platforms will ask you for these details.

In the risk assessment, Nutmeg will ask you about your investment preferences. You will get a portfolio type and risk level recommendation based on this.

How to Deposit to Nutmeg

To deposit money to Nutmeg, select “Pay in”. To set up a direct debit, choose “Pay in Monthly”. The lowest deposit amount is £500 (£100 for LISA accounts). Nutmeg accepts payments via:

• Debit card
• Apple Pay and Google Pay
• Bank transfer (open banking)
• Direct debit
• Manual bank transfer

According to Nutmeg, bank transfer via open banking is the easiest and fastest way to deposit. Easy bank transfer uses Truelayer to connect safely to your bank account. Typically, the money will be in your account within one business day.

How to Withdraw from Nutmeg

To withdraw money from Nutmeg, go to “Payments” and select “Withdraw”. You must use the website, as you cannot withdraw from the mobile app.

Withdrawals can take three to seven business days. This is because Nutmeg has to sell your investments first. During the waiting period, the value of your investments can change. Thus, you may not get the same amount you requested.

What Are the Pros and Cons of Nutmeg?

Nutmeg Review Pros

• LISA available
• Easy to use

Nutmeg Review Cons

• High minimum investment amount
• Cannot buy single shares
• May not be suitable for ethical investors due to J.P. Morgan’s ownership

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutmeg Fully Managed vs Smart Alpha, Which Performs Better?

In 2021, Nutmeg Smart Alpha outperformed the Fully Managed portfolios. However, the difference between portfolio types was small.

Because there are no long-term data for the Smart Alpha portfolios, it is hard to compare. Thus, I consider the two portfolio types almost equal.

Nutmeg Fixed Allocation or Fully Managed, Which Performs Better?

In 2021, the Fixed Allocation portfolios outperformed the Fully Managed portfolios at every risk level. The Fixed Allocation portfolios also have lower fees than Fully Managed portfolios.

This means the Fixed Allocation portfolios had a greater return and lower costs. However, remember that past performance is no indicator of future development.

Which Nutmeg Investment Style Is Best?

The best investment style on Nutmeg depends on your preferences and goals. While the highest risk level of the Socially Responsible portfolio performed best, it also comes with a higher risk.

Are There Alternatives to Nutmeg?

If you don’t like Nutmeg, you can try the following alternative brokers:

• Wealthify. Wealthify is not as well-known as Nutmeg, but it is a solid robo advisor. Read more in my Wealthify review.
• Moneybox. Moneybox is an automated savings and investment platform with low fees. Read more in my Moneybox review.

Nutmeg Review UK Summary

Nutmeg is a well-established robo-advisor and investment platform. It offers various portfolio types and recommends a portfolio based on your preferences. Overall, Nutmeg offers competitive fees, although it is not the cheapest robot-advisor.

If you are an ethical investor, Nutmeg may not be suitable due to its ownership by JP Morgan. You can invest with one of the best UK investment apps instead.

Read more in my Wealthify or Nutmeg comparison.

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