FAQs

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To find out how much it costs to use Beach visit our pricing page.

Ethical investments are investments that have a positive impact on the world, while still aiming to grow your money as much as possible over time (the best of both worlds).

This usually means investing in companies that help to reduce climate change (such as green energy companies), and avoiding companies that don't have a good record of treating employees well and bad business ethics.

Investing can also mean lending money to governments around the world in exchange for interest (bonds), and ethical investments only select the very best countries to lend money to, with high ethical ratings.

Ethical investments can also be called ESG (environmental, social and corporate governance (company management)), or sustainable investing.

Advantages

• 25% bonus from the Government, added automatically.
• Grows tax-free (you might pay tax when you withdraw it).
• Claim back some 40% (or 45%) tax, if you’ve paid it.
• 25% can be withdrawn tax-free.
• Self-employed? Pay in from a limited company and save Corporation Tax.
• Passes to your family tax-free if you pass away under the age of 75.

To consider

• Add up to £60,000, or your annual income (whichever is lower), per tax year (April 6th to April 5th the following year).
• Can’t withdraw until you’re 55 (57 from 2028), or terminally ill.

Beach provides you the ability to save and invest your money for your future, and we offer investments managed by the largest investment company in the world, BlackRock. The aim of these investments is to grow in value over time.

A sensible investment strategy (such as our plans with BlackRock), will usually mean your investments go up in value over time (typically over a period of 5 years or more). However, your money will go up and down in value, often daily, and this can mean your money could be worth less than you put in.

These ups and downs shouldn’t be feared – they’re the reason why your money could grow very large over time. However, there are no guarantees, so you'll need to be prepared for your investments to go down in value, as well as up.

Beach is an app that helps people save for their future. 

Add one-off amounts, and/or set up a single monthly saving amount. 

Uniquely, money added is split between two pots, an easy access pot with quick access to the savings. And a pension pot with a 25% bonus for retirement (access the savings aged 55). The customer can choose how much goes in each (called the split) and this can be changed any time.

The aim of Beach is to provide the simplest option possible (in the UK), to invest and grow savings over time.

Your standard account can be used if you don’t want to save within an ISA, or if you’ve saved £20,000 into your ISA this tax year (April 6th to April 5th the following year).

With a standard account, you won’t get any extra benefits (such as tax-free saving), but you don’t have to worry about paying tax until you sell your investments, and typically only if you’ve made more than £3,000 in profit (you might pay up to 20% tax).

Note: the government could change these tax rules in the future, and your overall tax treatment will depend on your individual circumstances.

Your easy access pot is an ISA – this stands for Individual Savings Account, and is a government scheme to help you save.

You’ll be able to save completely tax-free, so you don’t have to worry about tax as your money grows, or when you want to withdraw it.

This means your money could grow much faster, as you keep more of it.

Plus, it saves lots of admin.You can add up to £20,000 per tax year (April 6th to April 5th the following year), and withdraw any time you like (it may take a few days to arrive in your bank account).

You can also re-add any money you withdraw within the same year, without affecting this total.

If you’ve got an existing ISA somewhere else, you can still open one with Beach, and you transfer your money over to Beach if you want to (we can do this for you).

Note: the government could change these tax rules in the future, and your overall tax treatment will depend on your individual circumstances.

An easy access pot is a savings pot that allows you to withdraw (take money out) within a few days. It’s an alternative to a pension pot that can’t be accessed until you are at least 55 years old. 

Within this savings pot, there’s two types of accounts that can be used to store and invest money. 

First, there’s a Stocks and Shares ISA, it's a tax-free savings account, meaning you don’t pay any tax on the money you make as it ideally grows in value over time. 

There’s also a Standard Account which is similar but isn’t tax free. 

When you save into your pension pot, you’ll get a massive 25% bonus from the government, added automatically.

We call this a bonus as it’s like free money from the government, which you’ll only get from saving into your pension.

It's technically called tax relief, and designed to refund you the tax you've paid on your income, to help you save more for retirement.

If you pay 40% (or 45%) tax on your income, you might be able to claim some of this back too (on a Self Assessment tax return).

So, the more of your savings you add to your pension pot, the bigger bonus you’ll get (more free money).

This also means your money can grow much larger over time, as the free money you get can grow over time too.

However, you won’t be able to withdraw your money until you’re 55 (57 from 2028). It’s intended to build a comfortable retirement for you.

Note: the government could change these tax rules in the future, and your overall tax treatment will depend on your individual circumstances.

We’ve partnered with BlackRock, the largest investment firm in the world. They manage funds, which is where many people pool their money together to buy investments.

With the easy access pot, money added is invested in a diversified fund, meaning there’s a wide variety of investments within it. This means if one company within the fund went bankrupt, the value of the fund wouldn’t drop that much, it’s seen as a safer investment strategy than buying shares in just one, or a few companies.

It’s also an ESG fund, meaning it buys investments in things like reducing climate change and ethical companies.

The fund has been rated 5 stars by Defaqto (a trusted financial services rating service).

With the pension pot, money added is invested with a fund designed specifically for retirement saving.

Remember, your money will go up and down, so you could get back less than you put in.

BlackRock is the largest investment company in the world, established over 30 years ago.

As an investment company, they develop sensible, tried and tested, investment strategies to grow money over time, which includes buying and holding lots of different types of investments, such as shares in companies (shares represent the ownership of a company), with the view these investments will grow over time.

BlackRock will look after (hold) all the investments on behalf of investors, and make gradual changes over time to ensure the investments are always on the right path to long-term growth.

They're very good at this, and in fact, they manage an astonishing £8 trillion.

Your money will be in expert hands, but there’s no guarantees. Your money will go up and down in value, meaning you could get back less than you put in.