Key features of the Dodl investment ISA

What's this about?
Dodl investment ISA aims
Your commitment
The risks
Questions and answers
Important notes

What’s this about?

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial services regulator, and AJ Bell Securities Limited is the Dodl investment ISA provider. The FCA asks that AJ Bell Securities gives you the most important details of the Dodl investment ISA in one place - here, in the key features – to help you decide if it's right for you.

Read the key features carefully so that you understand everything you need to about the account before opening it. You can come back and remind yourself of them whenever you need to.

Though they're important, they shouldn't be intimidating! If there are any features you don’t quite understand or need more details on, chat to Team Dodl in the app or email them at hello@dodl.co.uk – it’s what they’re here for.

Dodl investment ISA aims

To help you grow your savings by investing them, with any growth and income your ISA investments make being tax-free.
For you to take advantage of ISA tax benefits, by making one-off or monthly payments into your investment ISA.
To give you the option to transfer any cash or stocks and shares ISAs you may have into your investment ISA.
For you to have complete control over how your savings are invested, from Dodl’s straightforward range of funds, themes and shares.

Your commitment

Before opening an investment ISA, you’ll need to understand its features, benefits and risks - to check it’s what you expect and need.
You’ll make sure that any single or monthly payments you make into your investment ISA won’t cause you to exceed the ISA allowance. The ISA allowance is the maximum total amount you can pay into your ISAs each tax year (currently £20,000).
You’ll decide and manage how your investment ISA is invested.
You understand and agree to the Dodl investment ISA terms and conditions and its charges, which may change in future.
You’ll regularly check whether your investment ISA remains the right account for your needs and expectations.

The risks

Go in with your eyes open. Some risks to know about before opening a Dodl investment ISA.

Investments should be held for the long term (5+ years) as their value, and any income they make, can go down as well as up. And it’s possible you’ll get back less than the amount you originally invest.
The past performance of your investments doesn’t predict how they'll perform in future. This means there are no guarantees over how much your investment ISA with be worth when you come to withdraw it.
You don’t currently pay tax on the income or gains your investments make in an ISA, but these rules may change in future.
Dodl doesn’t offer investment advice. But you’ll find plenty of information about your options in the app or on the website. We’ll also provide you with educational content to help you as you start to use Dodl. This information is there to help you make your own investment choices but mustn’t be treated as a recommendation or advice.

If you feel unsure about the risks involved with an investment ISA, you should talk to a financial adviser. It’s also worth checking out MoneyHelper, the government’s free money guidance service.

Questions and answers

Before opening a Dodl investment ISA

What is an ISA and what’s an investment ISA?

ISA stands for individual savings account. They’re a way of saving and investing tax-free.

There are four different types of ISAs:

Cash ISAs
Investment ISAs (or ‘stocks and shares ISA’)
Innovative Finance ISAs
Lifetime ISAs (can be either cash or stocks and shares)

An investment ISA allows you to invest your savings in funds and shares, giving you the opportunity to grow them. And because your investments are held in an ISA, they’ll grow tax-free.

Dodl offers both an investment ISA and a lifetime ISA, and you can open and manage both easily in the app.

Could an investment ISA be right for me?

Ask yourself the following questions:

Am I looking to build an investment portfolio, which is protected from UK capital gains and income tax, to potentially grow my savings?
Do I understand that investment growth isn’t guaranteed?
Do I want to choose my investments from a straightforward range of funds, themes and shares, and manage these easily through an app?
Do I want unrestricted access to my money (when compared to a pension or lifetime ISA)?

If you answered ‘yes’ to every question, then the Dodl investment ISA could be right for you. These key features should give you all the details you need to decide, but if you still feel unsure, you should speak to a financial adviser about this.

Can I have an investment ISA?

You can have an investment ISA if you’re aged 18 or over. You’ll also need to be a UK resident, or a Crown employee working oversees (or the spouse or civil partner of someone who is).

You won't be able to open a Dodl ISA if you are a US or Canadian citizen or resident for tax purposes.

What are the charges?

You'll pay the Dodl account charge for your investment ISA

How much is it?	How is it calculated and collected?
0.15% a year (min £1 a month)	The charge is calculated based on the total value of the investments in your account. It’s collected in monthly instalments from the available cash in your Dodl investment ISA.

Quick example of how the Dodl account charge works

For a Dodl investment ISA with an investment value of £10,000, you’d pay:

0.15% of £10,000 over the course of the year – that’s £15 overall, taken in instalments of £1.25 a month. Just remember the minimum account charge is £1 a month (or £12 per year).

You can calculate what you Dodl account charge may look like using our handy charges calculator on the website.

Any other charges?

Though there are no dealing charges when you buy/sell your investments (including when your monthly investments are bought), there will be investment charges paid separately to your Dodl account charge. These include fund ongoing charges, stamp duty for UK shares and foreign exchange charges for US shares. Find out more about these charges.

What about interest?

Cash held in your Dodl investment ISA currently earns tax-free interest of 5% (5.09% AER variable). It’s important to remember that the interest rate will change from time to time. When it does, we’ll send you an email to let you know.

Find out more about the interest paid on cash held in your investment ISA.

A little more info about interest: Banks do pay AJ Bell for the total money held with them for all AJ Bell customers, including Dodl customers. The amount a bank pays varies, depending on the total cash held with them and the market interest rates. For now, AJ Bell expects these payments to be between 0.10% below and 0.15% above the current Bank of England base rate for cash held in an ISA – but it could be higher or lower than this during periods of continuous base rate changes. We put some of these payments towards the interest rate we pay you, as mentioned above, and the rest towards keeping your Dodl charge as low as possible.

What other terms and conditions apply?

The Dodl investment ISA terms and conditions and those of the Dodl app are included in the full terms and conditions.

Can Dodl offer me advice?

Dodl can’t offer you advice and isn’t authorised to give advice on tax, investments, or any other money matter. If you think you might need advice, you should contact a suitably qualified financial adviser - who should also let you know about the cost of advice.

If you decide to look for an adviser, again, moneyhelper.org.uk is a good place to start.

Paying into your Dodl investment ISA

Who can pay into my investment ISA?

Only you can make payments into your investment ISA, and they’ll need to come from a UK bank account held in your name (or joint names).

What is the minimum amount I can pay into my investment ISA?

To get started with a one-off payment to your investment ISA, you'll need to add a minimum of £100. If you're setting up a direct debit to automate adding cash to your account every month, that's a minimum of just £25.

What is the maximum amount I can pay into my investment ISA?

The maximum you can pay your Dodl investment ISA is £20,000 per tax year. This is your ISA allowance, set by the government, and applies to all your ISAs collectively. So if you’d already paid £1,000 into a cash ISA this year, you could only pay £19,000 into your Dodl investment ISA. It’s an annual allowance, which resets at the start of each tax year (on 6 April).

Your allowance can be spread across different types of ISAs you hold (e.g. an investment ISA and a lifetime ISA).

How can I pay into my investment ISA?

You can make quick one-off payments to your investment ISA at any time in the Dodl app using Google/Apple Pay, debit card or an easy bank transfer. Or set up a direct debit to add cash, automatically, at the start of every month. You can edit or cancel your direct debit at any time in the app too.

Transferring into or out of your Dodl investment ISA

How do I transfer another ISA into my investment ISA?

You can transfer any cash or investment ISAs you have elsewhere into your Dodl investment ISA.

You’ll need to have opened your Dodl investment ISA first, then head to ‘transfer an account’ in the app, where you’ll give the details of the ISA you want to transfer and how you’d like to transfer it.

You can choose to transfer your ISA as cash or, if it has investments which are in the Dodl investment range, these may be transferred as they are - so you can keep hold of them.

Once you've entered all the transfer details and submitted them, Team Dodl will handle the rest. No need to contact your existing provider to let them know you’re transferring either – they'll do this for you too.

Can I transfer my investment ISA to another provider?

You can transfer your Dodl investment ISA to another provider at any time. You can transfer your investment ISA as cash and/or investments. You’ll only be able to transfer investments to another investment ISA and you’ll need to check with your new provider that they can accept them.

Investing within your Dodl investment ISA

What can I invest in?

Choosing investments can be scary. That’s why Dodl doesn’t overcomplicate things. You can pick from a straightforward range of funds, themes and shares, designed to make investing easier. That includes:

AJ Bell funds – built and balanced by the experts at AJ Bell to make investing as simple as possible. Just choose the risk level which suits you, then you’re away.
Themed investments – build an investment portfolio with funds which reflect your values. Invest in the trends you believe in, including specific sectors and regions, or responsible investments.
Shares – own a portion of a big-name brand by investing directly in a UK or US company.

You can browse the investment range on the website to view your options in more detail.

How do I invest?

First you need to choose:

What you want to invest in? Dodl offers a streamlined range of funds, themes and shares to keep things straightforward.
How much you want to invest? If you invest in shares, it'll need to be enough to buy at least one (Dodl doesn't offer fractional shares).
How often you want to invest? You can invest on a one-off basis or automate your investing journey with monthly investments.

Choices made, you're ready to place your order in the app. As you're doing this, read and make sure you're completely happy with your investment details, including all charges. And if you're investing in US shares for the first time, you'll also need to complete a W-8BEN form. Then you're all set to go ahead and submit your order.

Once you’ve submitted your order, Dodl will handle the rest. Orders are processed once a working day and the daily cut-off time for submitting them is usually 3pm. If your order's submitted after this, it'll be processed the next working day.

After your investment has gone through, a contract note (like an order receipt) is sent to your account. Shares will usually arrive in your account shortly after this, but funds can take a little longer – usually around 2-3 working days later.

How are the investments in my investment ISA protected from tax?

They’re protected from UK capital gains and income tax. This means that any growth in the value of your investments won’t be taxed and any income they make (also called ‘dividends’) won’t be taxed either. Keep an eye on tax and ISA rules as these could change in future.

How do I get a valuation of my investment ISA?

Just log in and view your investment ISA. You’ll be able to see how each investment in your portfolio is doing and the overall value of it. You’ll also get quarterly statements for your investment ISA in the app.

Withdrawing cash from your Dodl investment ISA

When can I withdraw cash from my investment ISA?

You can withdraw cash from your investment ISA anytime. But be sure it’s the right move for you – remember, returns are more likely to be seen when you invest over the long term.

If all your cash is invested, you’ll need to sell your investment(s), or some units/shares in your investments, to free up cash to withdraw. You can withdraw the full balance of available cash held in your investment ISA, or just part of it, without paying any charge. Just bear in mind, it may take up to five working days for withdrawn cash to reach your bank account.

Once you’ve withdrawn cash from your investment ISA, you can only pay it back in if you’ve enough ISA allowance left. Also, the cash you withdraw will no longer be protected from tax.

Is my investment ISA a flexible ISA?

The Dodl investment ISA is not a flexible ISA. A flexible ISA lets you take money out of it and put it back in during the same tax year without it affecting the ISA allowance you have left.

You can withdraw money from your investment ISA, but it’ll count towards your ISA allowance if you pay it back in.

A quick example: Emma’s paid £20,000 into her Dodl investment ISA this tax year (making the most of her tax-free savings!), but she decides to withdraw some cash for a few home improvements. She withdraws £2,000 but doesn’t end up using all of this. Because she’s used up her ISA allowance, she can’t pay any of the left-over cash back into her investment ISA until the new tax year - when her ISA allowance resets.

What happens to my investment ISA if I die?

No more payments can be made into your investment ISA, but it’ll keep its tax benefits - any interest, dividends or investment growth after the date of death will continue to be tax free - until the first of the following events happens:

the investment ISA is closed
the administration of your estate is completed
three years after your death

Your investment ISA will then be paid out according to instructions from the people dealing with your estate.

If you have a spouse or civil partner, they will receive an additional ISA allowance on top of their normal £20,000. The value of the additional allowance will be equal to the value of your investment ISA at the date of your death or at the point you ISA is closed – whichever is higher. If they are due to inherit any of the cash or investments from your ISA they may be able to pay them into their own ISA using that extra allowance.

Important notes

The information in this key features document is provided based on our understanding of current law, practice and taxation which may be subject to change.

Full details of the legally binding contract between you and Dodl are included in the Dodl terms and conditions, which can be viewed from the Dodl app or website anytime.

The law of England and Wales will apply in all legal disputes.

If you’d like a copy of this or any other document in large print, Braille or in audio format, the team will be happy to arrange this for you. Just contact them in the app or via email at hello@dodl.co.uk.

All Dodl documents and any future communication to you will be in English.