Verve Super launches new ethical investing app: How it works

Verve Super, Australia’s first super fund for women, has launched a goals-focused ethical investment app designed around the needs and desires of women investors.

The latest ASX Investor Survey found women are lagging behind when it comes to investing to build long-term wealth.

In the current investment environment, men make up the majority (58%) of Aussies investing outside of superannuation and a primary place of residence.

Male investors also continue to have larger portfolios on average - $667,000 compared to $413,000 for women.

Verve Money Co-Founder and CEO Christina Hobbs (pictured below) said the app aims to level the investment playing field.

“Historically, women haven’t been invited into conversations about investing, it hasn’t felt like a space for us, and when you look at the products in the market, they don’t meet the needs of many women looking to invest for the first time,” Ms Hobbs said.

“We were passionate about building a thoughtful investing platform that solved the problems of underserved women investors and allowed us to truly partner with women along their wealth building journey.”

The app is free to download in the Google Play and Apple stores.

Verve Money adds to the list of investing apps, and is the second targeting fixed income investments for women, alongside Blossom.

It also sits alongside Kwala and Bloom in the ethical investing app space.

Read More: Are men really better investors than women?

How Verve Money works

Verve Money starts with as little as a $1 investment.

The app encourages investors to set meaningful financial goals and then select from one of three ethically curated portfolios that are designed with different goal time frames in mind, ranging in risk level and anticipated returns. 

The three diversified ethical investment options are:

1. Fixed income - A conservative option that has been structured for low to medium risk. May be suitable for investors with short-term goals (2+ years).
2. Balanced income - Aims to achieve stronger returns than the fixed option, and will likely incur more fluctuations in performance. May be suitable for investors seeking to build long-term wealth (5+ years).
3. High growth - Aims to achieve stronger returns than the balanced option, and will likely incur more fluctuations in performance. Provides the most access to impact investments not listed on the ASX e.g. renewable energy. May be suitable for investors seeking to build long-term wealth (8+ years).

The app also includes impact focused alternative investments that everyday investors wouldn’t normally be able to access. This includes a minimum 20% investment of each portfolio in climate solutions. 

“We’ve created an app that has 100% ethical investments, that supports people to invest in line with their goals, and that is super simple to use,” Ms Hobbs said.

The app also offers an automated investing option, in which investors can choose an amount they want to invest at a regular interval.

Verve Money fees and charges

For balances under $1,000 there are no account fees to prevent small balances from being eroded.

For balances over $1,000, there is a monthly account fee of $4.50 and a percentage based investment-management fee dependent on the option you choose. These are:

• Fixed income - 0.35% p.a. 
• Balanced - 0.50% p.a.
• High growth - 0.80% p.a.

There are no:

• Contribution fees
• Performance fees
• Transaction costs
• Withdrawal fees
• Exit fees
• Switching fees

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Images provided by Verve Money