Meet our customers: Samantha saves time but stays in control

Samantha doesn’t call herself an investing expert, but she’s comfortable selecting her own investments. However, even though she can do it herself, she chooses to save time and instead invest using Nutmeg.

It’s well known that when it comes to investing, women aren’t as engaged as men. Just 11% of women have a stocks and shares ISA, compared to 22% of men.

Read about how Samantha not only bucks this gender trend but saves time by getting someone else to take care of her investments, instead of doing it herself.

Tell us a bit about yourself Samantha

I’m in my late forties and have a daughter at university, and a son who’s finishing his BTEC. I have two cats, and commute to Maidenhead from Didcot for work.

When I’m not looking after the family, or working, I have a passion for theatre. I go a couple of times a month, to see anything, anywhere. My programme collection goes back to when I was 16.

Would you say you’re an investing expert?

No, I wouldn’t say I’m an expert. What I would say is that I have a good solid knowledge of investing and investments.

Over the years, I’ve certainly learnt enough to be able to choose my own investments and I could comfortably self-select a decent FTSE 250 tracker fund or the like.

I appreciate the foundations of investing like compound interest, the impact fees have on your returns and that investing is something you should look at as a long-term plan.

In fact, I think the longer-term view of investing is something that drew me to investing initially.

What brought you to Nutmeg?

Life these days is non-stop. Being able to select a few choice funds is one thing, but having the time and inclination to create, and look after, a diversified portfolio is quite another. The daily day-to-day of life gets in the way. I was looking for something that could offer me some control over my portfolio, while being overseen by people that really knew their stuff about investments.

I considered a few different options and found I really liked the simplicity and customer interface of your website. I liked that I would be in control of managing my own account — creating different investment pots, with different goals, across several different risk settings.

I started by moving a small lump sum across to see how Nutmeg worked for me. Once I felt I could trust you I invested more and now have my ISA and pension with you.

My investments are diversified across different asset classes, and my global exposure is more than I have time to research. I can view my account whenever I want, and when I do login I can easily see my performance, and understand what’s happening with my portfolio.

Other things that have brought me to Nutmeg are how quick and easy it is to get a response to my questions about my account from your team online, as well as the monthly investor updates from your chief investment officer, Shaun Port. I find them useful, interesting, reassuring… and brief!

I do still have some company shares elsewhere, but having a Nutmeg account gives me a truly diversified portfolio.

Risk warning:

As with all investing, your capital is at risk. The value of your portfolio with Nutmeg can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invest. Tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances and may be subject to change in the future.