Raiz (previously Acorns Australia) have introduced a new investment portfolio called “The Emerald Portfolio”. I thought I’d share this one with you because it is exciting to see a platform like Raiz recognising the demand for socially responsible investments. Not only that though, but it also enables you, as an investor, to encourage the growth and development of socially responsible endeavours.
How does it work?
Exactly the same way as any other investment portfolio. All you have to do is select it as your choice in your portfolio. The PDS and portfolio profile within the Raiz app both estimate that it will provide a similar return for similar risk as the Moderately Aggressive investment portfolio. So it’s not quite as great a return as the Aggressive portfolio, but still pretty impressive. It’s important to note though that it has a moderate to high risk profile, so it can go up and down a lot and is definitely still a long-term investment, not a short-term one. The PDS puts a suggested minimum investment timeframe for this portfolio at three to five years, so keep that in mind.
The breakdown of investments is currently weighted as below:
- Australian large cap responsible investment stocks through Russell Australian Responsible Investing ETF – 38.60%
- Global large cap sustainability leaders stocks through Betashares Global Sustainable Leaders ETF – 34.10%
- Global large cap sustainability leaders stocks through Betashares Global Sustainable Leaders ETF – 34.10%
- Global large cap sustainability leaders stocks through Betashares Global Sustainable Leaders ETF – 34.10%
- Australian government bonds through Shares Core Composite Bond ETF – 21.30%
- Australian money market through Betashares Australian High Interest Cash ETF – 6.00%
This gives you the same basic breakdown as the moderately aggressive portfolio with 27.30% in bonds and money markets and 72.70% in the share market.
For comparison, the aggressive portfolio has 10% in bonds and money markets and 90% in the share market.
How do you switch?
Read the PDS first and make sure you are making the right decision for you. Then jump into the Raiz app, go to Settings > Portfolio and on the far right of the options is a new one called “The Emerald Portfolio”. Select it and then click “Change Portfolio”.
Raiz will automatically rebalance your portfolio for you, selling off your ETF’s that no longer match your new portfolio and investing your funds in the new ETF’s from the Emerald Portfolio. Easy.
Not using Raiz yet?
If you don’t use Raiz yet and are interested, you can get a bonus investment of $2.50 by signing up using my referral link here. Wifey and I have been using Raiz since they opened up shop as Acorns Australia in Australia in February 2016 and can’t recommend it enough for getting started on your own investment portfolio. We have an aggressive portfolio and have returns that go up and down between 7% and 9.5% depending on the fluctuations of the day. That’s one of the best returns around at the moment, especially given the flexibility of an investment you can invest in with just a few cents at a time. It’s three times higher than the best bank interest rates at the date of writing this and four times greater than the average bank interest rates.
