Understanding the charges

Dodl is here to offer you an easy-to-use investment app, without the jargon and fuss some other apps can be guilty of. All for a simple, transparent and low-cost account charge.

But it’s up to you to make sure Dodl offers what you need, and at a price you’re happy with. To help you decide, this article covers exactly what the Dodl account charge is and how it works. And how the investments you buy will have their own charges – what these look like and how they work too.

Right, let’s get numerical! (we hope you’re sitting comfortably ☕)

 

📣 You can also dip into the the charges page of the website to compare Dodl to some other investment apps out there. Do your own research on this too but while you do, remember charges are important but not everything – make sure the investment app you choose offers everything you need it to.

The Dodl account charge   

To keep things simple, there's one charge for everything your Dodl account offers you. It’s a per account charge, so if you've multiple investment accounts, you’ll have an account charge for each of them. Here it is 👇

You may not have seen charges given as percentages before but it’s quite usual for investment providers, platforms and apps to charge like this. It means you’re charged as a proportion of how much you use the service i.e. how much you invest.

Everything you get to do with your Dodl account is covered by that 0.15% charge. There’re no extra charges to open or transfer an account, or to access all of Dodl's info and support (like this article!).

And though your investments have their own charges to buy or hold them (more on these below), there're no dealing charges on Dodl for you to buy or sell your investments, making life that little bit simpler. 😌

How the Dodl account charge works 💡

How it’s calculated 

1. The value of the investments in your account will be taken once a month  

2. 0.15% of this value will be calculated to give the annual figure 

3. Then 1/12 (the monthly proportion) of the figure calculated will be collected from your account 

Example: If the value of your investments in your account is £12,000 then 0.15% of this is £18 for the whole year. Dodl charge monthly, so you’ll pay 1/12 of this each month: £1.50.   

 

How it’s collected  

It’s an annual charge paid in monthly installments. So you’ll pay one twelfth of it at a time from the available cash floating in your account. This also helps to give an accurate and average view of the value of your investments across the whole year. 

Because the charge is collected from your account’s available cash, you’ll need to remember to leave enough uninvested each month to cover the charge (remembering also that the minimum charge is £1 per month). Don’t worry though, you’ll be sent a little reminder if you’ve not got enough in there! 

Investment charges & how they work 🤔 

The investments you choose will have their own charges too. They’re not included in the Dodl charge (and usually aren’t included within the platform fee of other providers either), so it’s important to have a good look at these when comparing investment apps and the investments you choose.

The main ones are ongoing charges for funds, foreign exchange charges and stamp duty for shares. You’ll see how much they are under the ‘what are the charges?’ section when you review your order before buying an investment with Dodl.

So you recognise them when they come up, find out more about the investment charges below.

Fund charges  

All funds available with Dodl have an ongoing charge, which you pay to the manager of the fund (not to Dodl). It covers the day-to-day costs of running and managing the fund, and the fund manager will deduct it from the value of your investment in the fund on an ongoing basis – you don’t need to do anything to pay it.  

On top of the ongoing charge is the fund’s transaction costs. It’s shown as a % of your investment in the fund, like the ongoing charge is. You’ll be able to see both in the fund’s key investor information document.  

It’s important to compare the ongoing charges and transaction costs of the funds you’re interested in before choosing which to go for because these costs may eat into your returns. 📈 

Share charges  

You’ll pay the government’s stamp duty reserve tax when you buy UK shares electronically (as you do with Dodl), but you don’t pay it when selling your shares. It's set at 0.5% of the value of the shares you’re buying and is deducted at the same time you buy them.

PTM levy (Panel of Takeovers and Mergers) is a one-off £1 charge you’ll get only when you place an order to buy or sell UK shares worth a total value of £10,000 or more.

Foreign exchange charges  

There are a few different reasons you’d get a foreign exchange (FX) charge on Dodl, and here they are:

1. When you buy or sell shares on a market outside the UK i.e. when you buy or sell US shares. Because it costs Dodl a little more to place your order when it's not a UK investment, to cover the cost of doing this and to keep all other costs low on Dodl, you’ll pay a FX charge. You’ll see it on-screen as a % of the amount you want to buy or sell.

FX charge to buy or sell US shares

Up to £10,000	0.75%
£10,000 to £20,000	0.50%
Over £20,000	0.25%

 

2. You'll also pay an FX charge if the company you're invested in pay you a portion of their profits (dividends), or you get a pay-out from a corporate action, in a foreign currency. That's because the amount will need to be converted to pounds before it can be paid into your Dodl account. The FX charge to convert dividends/corporate action payments is 0.50%.

Any other charges to know about? 

One final mention and it goes to the lifetime ISA. If you decide to invest with a Dodl lifetime ISA you’ll need to be clued-up on the government’s 25% withdrawal charge.  

It shouldn’t affect you if you’re using your lifetime ISA for its intended purpose: to a) save for your first home or b) save for your retirement. It’s only payable if you withdraw your lifetime ISA savings for another reason, and it’ll be 25% of the amount you take out. Dodl will collect it and send it back to the government. 

❗ That’s why you should only use a lifetime ISA for money you’re definitely saving for your first home or retirement. 

Feeling clear-eyed on the charges? 👀 

Hopefully this article has helped to clarify what and how you pay for your Dodl accounts, and any other charges you’ll come across when you invest with Dodl. With clear charges info on hand, you can feel confident when investing with Dodl – knowing there’s no nasty surprises around the corner!

If you're in need of more details, the charges page of the website should have you covered. Or message the team, who’ll be happy to talk them through with you.

🔔 Remember, investing carries risk and nothing in this article should be taken as advice - Dodl doesn't give advice, but we do hope the info is helpful!