In this guide

  • Our verdict
  • How we rated CIRCA5000's investment features
  • CIRCA5000 fees
  • CIRCA5000 investment choice and stocks
  • Is CIRCA5000 safe?
  • CIRCA5000 account types and products
  • CIRCA5000 ease of use
  • CIRCA5000 customer reviews
  • CIRCA5000 tools, resources and features
  • Frequently asked questions
  • Your reviews
CIRCA5000
3.9
★★★★★
Finder score
Capital at risk

Our verdict

CIRCA5000 is a unique investing platform that’s on a mission to help make the world a better place by investing ethically, but is it worth using it to invest?

The name may sound like a model from the Terminator franchise, but CIRCA5000 is all about making the world a better place (and not trying to take it over with robots, we promise).

CIRCA5000’s unique offering attempts to stand out from the crowd with an investment platform that’s all about impact investing. This involves investing sustainably, but also to make a profit.

The platform offers a range of tax-efficient account types and costs £1 a month (plus 0.45% of your portfolio). There are also fund fees that will apply (0.42% average) and you should bear them in mind because CIRCA5000 only offers funds.

Pros

  • Low platform fees
  • Focus on ethical investments
  • Ready-made funds
  • Lots of account types

Cons

  • Only funds available
  • Limited range of investments
  • Mobile app investing only

In this guide

  • Our verdict
  • How we rated CIRCA5000's investment features
  • CIRCA5000 fees
  • CIRCA5000 investment choice and stocks
  • Is CIRCA5000 safe?
  • CIRCA5000 account types and products
  • CIRCA5000 ease of use
  • CIRCA5000 customer reviews
  • CIRCA5000 tools, resources and features
  • Frequently asked questions
  • Your reviews

How we rated CIRCA5000's investment features

FeatureRatingDetails
Fees4.7 ★★★★★CIRCA5000 offers excellent value and is quite a cheap platform.
Investment choice2.8 ★★★★★It offers a limited range of investments compared to most other platforms.
Safety and security4.6 ★★★★★CIRCA5000 offers a secure and safe place for people to invest.
Account types and products4.6 ★★★★★The platform has a solid range of account types with most products covered.
Ease of use4.0 ★★★★★CIRCA5000 offers a well-rounded investing experience that most customers seem happy with.
Tools, resources and features1.0 ★★★★★With simplicity at its core, CIRCA5000 lacks additional investing tools and resources.

If you’re keen to help make a difference in the world while trying to make money at the same time, then ethical investing might be for you. CIRCA5000 is an investment app that lets you put your money to work by investing in a range of ready-made portfolios. We’ve compiled some of CIRCA5000’s features, what you can invest in and some pros and cons of this mobile trading app.

What is CIRCA5000?

CIRCA5000 is a digital investing platform with over 160,000 users that concentrates on ethical investing. It’s got a pretty cool tagline, “People made money ruining the world, let’s make money fixing it.”

CIRCA5000 fees

Fees score4.7 ★★★★★
Platform fee£1/month (plus 0.45% of portfolio)
UK sharesN/A
US stocksN/A
International sharesN/A
Funds/ETFs£0
Foreign exchange (FX) fee£0
Regular investingNo
Withdrawal/deposit fee£0
Inactivity fee£0

Overall, CIRCA5000 provides a pretty cheap place to invest in ethical funds. The platform fee works out as a flat £1 per month (which is labelled as a “monthly subscription fee”) plus 0.45% of your portfolio (ingeniously called “CIRCA5000 fees”).

It would be helpful if there was just a single platform fee but it’s still comparable to similar investing apps.

There’s no commission for buying or selling funds but there are ongoing costs that apply to the funds. These are around 0.49% but they can fluctuate.

All the fees and charges for CIRCA5000 will be charged on a monthly basis.

CIRCA5000 investment choice and stocks

Investment choice score2.8 ★★★★★
Asset options1+
Markets1+
Number of investments5+
Number of ETFs/funds5+
Fractional shares (from £5)
Minimum deposit£100
Minimum investment£5

CIRCA5000 has limitations when it comes to investment choice, but that’s by design. The app’s aim is to make ethical investing straightforward and accessible. So, there’s only a handful of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) – exactly a handful unless you’re missing any fingers or thumbs.

Investing in ETFs with CIRCA5000 means choosing one of the following 5 options:

  • Green Energy & Technology
  • Clean Water & Waste
  • Health & Wellbeing
  • Sustainable Food & Biodiversity
  • Social & Economic Empowerment

Is CIRCA5000 safe?

Safety and security score4.6 ★★★★★
Biometric login/2FA
FCA regulated
FSCS protection
SSL certificate
Public company

CIRCA5000 is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme protection. So your deposits of up to £85,000 are covered in the event that CIRCA5000 goes bust.

With CIRCA5000, your money is held in a custody account managed by its custodian, Seccl Custody Limited. Seccl is owned by Octopus Group, a group of companies with over £9.1 billion in Assets Under Management (AUM) and over 1.4 million customers.

Like any other type of investment, your capital is at risk when you invest using CIRCA5000 and you may end up with less than what you originally invested. The performance of investments will vary, and there is no guarantee of return.

CIRCA5000 account types and products

Account types and products score4.6 ★★★★★
General investment account (GIA)
Stock and shares ISA
Self-invested personal pension (SIPP)
Lifetime ISA (LISA)
Junior ISA (JISA)/Junior SIPP (JSIPP)
Business Account
Interest on cash balances

CIRCA5000 offers a decent range of account options (especially consider it has such a small choice of investments), you can use a:

Keep on reading to find out more about these products and the main differences between them. All come with the same fees and investment options, it’s mostly the tax-efficiency that varies.

CIRCA5000 general investment account

Most people opt for a general investment account (GIA) once they have used up their yearly ISA allowance.

You may have to pay capital gains tax (CGT) if you make profits of more than £6,000 in each tax year or if you receive more than £1,000 in dividends (reducing to a £500 threshold in 2024).

Other than this, the GIA is pretty straightforward.

CIRCA5000 stocks and shares ISA

A stocks and shares ISA lets you invest up to your full annual allowance without paying tax on UK dividends or capital gains.

The annual ISA allowance for the 2023/2024 tax year is £20,000.

CIRCA5000 junior ISA

A JISA lets you invest in your child’s future, up to an annual allowance. The child has access to the funds when they turn 18, at which point they can withdraw it, keep it invested or a combination of the two.

The JISA allowance for the 2023/2024 tax year is £9,000. This means that you can invest up to £9,000 in each tax year and won’t pay tax on most profits.

CIRCA5000 SIPP

The CIRCA5000 SIPP means you can invest for retirement, ethically. With the CIRCA5000 SIPP, you can invest up to 100% of your annual income (up to £60,000 maximum) and you’ll receive tax relief (the amount depends on your tax bracket).

You can access your SIPP portfolio when you reach 55 (rising to 57 in 2028).

CIRCA5000 ease of use

Ease of use score4.0 ★★★★★
Apple iOS rating4.5/5
Google Play rating3.5/5
Ways to contact customer serviceEmail and phone
UI/UXGood
Desktop or mobile appMobile

CIRCA5000 scored okay in our ease of use assessment. We like that there are a few ways to get hold of its customer support team.

On the App Store, CIRCA5000 scores an impressive 4.5 out of 5, and on Google Play it has a much lower 3.5 out of 5 (as of January 2024). There’s no desktop platform and you can invest only with the CIRCA5000 app.

CIRCA5000 customer reviews

ScoreRating
Trustpilot3.4/5

Trustpilot reviewers gave CIRCA5000 a 3.4 out of 5 “Average” rating (as of September 2024), but bear in mind this is less than 200 reviews.

CIRCA5000 tools, resources and features

Tools, resources and features1.0 ★★★★★
Analysis features
Tools for investing/trading
Social features
Learning resources
Additional Features

With the goal of keeping things simple, CIRCA5000 has a limited range of tools and resources, along with some learning materials like articles, guides and a podcast.

Frequently asked questions

Share dealing platform scores

★★★★★ — Excellent
★★★★★ — Good
★★★★★ — Average
★★★★★ — Subpar
★★★★★ — Poor

Finder Scores, in blue, are based on our expert analysis. We also show reviews from users, where we've received more than 10, with a score in yellow. We gather more reviews from customers every year in Finder's customer satisfaction survey. Our full methodology explains more, including we pick the best platforms for different uses.

All investing should be regarded as longer term. The value of your investments can go up and down, and you may get back less than you invest. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. If you’re not sure which investments are right for you, please seek out a financial adviser. Capital at risk.

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