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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.
My advice to anyone interested in managing their live portfolio - or who is wondering about whether to invest, is give play a go
Jacqueline Mitton
play user
I've been investing in Unit Trusts for something like 30 years and managing my own portfolio for most of that time, but I don’t count myself as a financial expert. Though I often read the money pages in the weekend newspapers, I don’t have any professional expertise or follow what’s happening in the financial world on a daily basis. I’ve just picked things up along the way and having really good online tools has made it a lot easier. I have a scientific background and I think being comfortable with numbers and graphs has been a help.
In the real world, my investment strategy has been fairly cautious. I'm not a risk-taker by nature! What I’ve enjoyed about play and the competition is feeling uninhibited about taking the risks with my play portfolios that I was too nervous to do with my live portfolio. And I've found it surprisingly liberating! Building on what I’ve learned, I'm now planning to put aside a sum I can afford for investing more adventurously. Using play has definitely boosted my confidence. When I started, I didn't imagine I might choose any of my play funds for my live portfolio but now I’m now seriously thinking I will.
For the competition, I decided I would need a different strategy from the one I normally follow in the real world because the objective was different: to achieve maximum capital growth over a relatively short time - one month initially. With my live portfolio, I don’t want to be trading frequently and income yield is more important to me.
To choose funds for my competition portfolios, I reckoned my best bet was a strategy that I’ve now learned is a simplified version of "momentum investing". I tried to pick a handful of funds that have been doing well for a while and looked likely to keep rising in value for at least a month. Then I put together several portfolios from these. As I could have up to six portfolios, I also thought it would be fun to take a punt on two very speculative and volatile sectors: South America and India. My South American choice came in 4th but India turned out to be a complete dud!
When I’m picking funds for my live portfolio I take a lot of factors into account. Though good past performance does not guarantee that a fund will do well in the future, I’m looking for solid evidence that the Fund Manager knows how to deliver the goods, and you have to go on past performance for that. I also look at how the balance between income yield and the potential for capital growth fits in with my current needs. I’m definitely influenced by how funds are rated and check that out with the tools in explore.
My advice to anyone interested in managing their live portfolio - or who is wondering about whether to invest - is "give play a go" and take a little time to explore how to use the research tools, such as the performance figures and charts for each fund and the different sectors. play is a great addition to Willis Owen's online services. Like with many computer games, you can indulge in a fantasy - as a speculator investing in funds you probably wouldn’t dare to risk in your live portfolio. It’s fun and it's safe but, as well as that, it’s a way of learning about the various funds available and about the helpful research tools available in explore on the web site. There’s nothing to lose and possibly a whole lot to gain…
Jacqueline Mitton
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