The Spotify of investing? Interactive Investor boosts its offering for those on 'family' subscription plan. Updated: 02:00 EDT, 27 May 2026 Products featured in this article are independently selected by This is Money's specialist journalists. If you open an account using links which have an asterisk, This is Money will earn an affiliate commission. We do not allow this to affect our editorial independence. Interactive Investor has boosted its offering for those on its family subscription plan, which allows customers to 'gift' subscriptions to relatives. Family members with a gifted subscription were previously limited to opening just a general investment account and stocks and shares Isa. Now, Interactive Investor has given them the ability to open the full range of investing accounts. The flat subscription fee makes the investment platform the Spotify of investing, with its family accounts working in a similar way to Spotify's Premium Family subscription. If you're on the investment platform's £14.99 a month Plus plan, you can gift five free accounts to family members. Then they can open a general investment account, stocks and shares Isa, and self-invested personal pension (Sipp) for themselves, and junior Isas for their children. The addition of junior Isas to family accounts makes this a more valuable deal, because they don't count towards one of your five free subscriptions. Camilla Esmund, senior manager at Interactive Investor, said: 'Family members across generations will have different financial pressures and goals. A family-led investment strategy can be a great way to manage these. 'Plus, it helps encourage open conversations about money and engage the whole family on investing.' How does the family subscription compare with other options? If you want to encourage your family to start investing while keeping fees low, you could do worse than Interactive Investor. Holly Mackay, chief executive of personal finance website Boring Money, said: 'Too many people don't start because they don't know how to begin or where to go. Do other members have to be close family? Interactive Investor says that the plan is 'intended' for your family, but the definition of this is down to you. The platform won't check last names or address details and won't ask you to prove your relationship with other members on the plan. 'Having a family member remove this procrastination point for you is a wonderful boost to get.' Bear in mind that Interactive Investor is a full-fat investing platform, so we're comparing it against the likes of AJ Bell*, Hargreaves Lansdown* and Fidelity*, which all charge account fees. Newer providers like InvestEngine* and Trading 212* don't charge account fees. However they often can't match more established players on features like customer service and investment research. Read more in our guide to the best investment platforms. If you made full use of the deal and gifted accounts to five family members, each one would effectively cost £2.50 a month, as a proportion of the £14.99 monthly cost. This reduces further if those family members then open junior Isas for their children. This is Money says: In our view this is a good way to get family members - who might be starting to invest with smaller amounts - into the investing habit. Holly Mackay of Boring Money references research the website conducted that suggests family influence is an 'important trigger' which gets people to start investing. 'This is more pronounced for women. Twelve per cent of women say they started to invest because of help and encouragement from a family member compared to 6 per cent of men. 'The impact of family increases once someone has taken the first step. 62 per cent of all investors say they would trust information on investing from family members.' As with Spotify, each member has their own account and log in details even though the plans are linked to a primary one. As a simple example here's a parent who gifts accounts to their partner and two children in their twenties, both with modest sized portfolios: How does the family plan compare? | Account | Main account | Partner | Child 1 | Child 2 | Total | Difference | | Isa | £30k | £100k | £10k | £20k | / | / | | Gia | - | £5k | - | - | / | / | | Sipp | £70k | - | - | £25k | / | / | | Cost | / | / | / | / | / | / | | Interactive Investor | £180 | £180 | N/a | N/a | £360 | - | | Hargreaves Lansdown | £350 | £342.50 | £35 | £157.50 | £885 | +£525 | | AJ Bell | £250 | £179.50 | £25 | £112.50 | £567 | +£207 | | Fidelity | £265 | £273.75 | £35 (with regular savings plan) | £157.50 | £731.25 | +£371.25 | | Assumptions: holdings - 50/50 shares/funds. Trades - excluded. Sources: This is Money, based on initial data from Interactive Investor and The Lang Cat | If the two children above have their own kids, they can open junior Isas for them with no further account fees to pay. Keep in mind however that some platforms don't charge account fees for junior Isas anyway, including Fidelity*, Hargreaves Lansdown*, IG* and Freetrade*. These platforms also allow you to open a standalone junior Isa, whereas you can only open a junior Isa with Interactive Investor if you're on the Plus plan. What should you watch out for? If a family member's portfolio grows beyond £100,000 they face a steep fee cliff edge, because they move onto the Plus plan at £14.99 a month. You can see this illustrated in the 'partner' column in the table above. At this point it's likely they'll be more experienced, so they may want to check whether they can save money on fees by choosing a different provider. Calculating charges based on their exact mix of assets is important, because platforms usually cap account fees when holding shares. AJ Bell* caps account fees on shares in an Isa and general investment account at £3.50 a month. The partner's portfolio size in the example above would actually work out cheaper with AJ Bell. But if their fund holdings grow, then Interactive Investor would start to work out better again, so it may not be worth switching. A flat £14.99 a month charge is cost effective especially for growing portfolios when compared with rivals such as Hargreaves Lansdown*. But if they don't need all the bells and whistles that these platforms offer, it's worth considering the likes of Freetrade*, Trading 212* and Prosper*, none of which charge account or dealing fees. Another cost your family members should look out for on the family plan is the £3.99 standard trade cost. It's worth considering setting up a free regular investing plan to avoid this fee. How do we rate Interactive Investor as an investment platform? Interactive Investor* is a good all-round investment platform, but its fee structure is what makes it stand out among major rivals such as AJ Bell and Hargreaves Lansdown. £200 cashback when you open a Sipp. Interactive Investor is currently paying £200 cashback when you open a new pension with at least £20,000. Rather than charging account fees as a percentage of your investments, Interactive Investor charges a set monthly fee. The Core plan is £5.99 a month for portfolios of up to £100,000. Above that investors step up to the Plus plan at £14.99 a month. Flat fees are cost effective for investors with growing portfolios because they don't scale with the value of your investments - you just need to be aware of the £100,000 cliff edge.

Home " News " Latest news " UK National Parks partner with AJ Bell Futures Foundation to launch the AJ Bell Travel Fund. New travel fund helps young people access outdoors. The AJ Bell Travel Fund commits £240,000 over two years to support young people's access to UK National Parks The fund will remove travel cost barriers for 3700 young people. * AJ Bell Futures Foundation commits £240,000 over two years to support young people's access to UK National Parks * New AJ Bell Travel Fund will enable up to 3,700 young people annually to visit National Parks, removing cost barriers * Partnership supports ambition to engage 150,000 young people each year with nature, skills development and greener futures National Parks Partnerships (NPP) today announces that the AJ Bell Futures Foundation has joined as a new partner of UK National Parks, committing to support programmes that connect young people with nature and expand access to the UK's 15 National Parks, including Northumberland National Park Authority. As part of the partnership, the AJ Bell Futures Foundation will provide an annual donation of £120,000 in 2026 and 2027 to the UK National Parks Foundation. This funding will support UK National Parks' ambition to engage around 150,000 young people each year, helping to widen access for those from less advantaged backgrounds. The partnership will see the launch of the AJ Bell Travel Fund, designed to remove one of the biggest barriers to access: the cost of travel. The fund will enable thousands of young people to visit National Parks and benefit from nature-based experiences and skills development opportunities. The UK's National Parks were created 75 years ago to serve both people and place. Today, they remain vital spaces for learning, discovery and inspiration. Through dedicated learning and engagement teams, they provide school visits, community sessions and educational trips that help young people develop a deeper understanding of the natural world while building practical skills for a greener future. Funding from the AJ Bell Futures Foundation will directly support these learning and development activities, including travel grants across all 15 National Parks. The AJ Bell Travel Fund is expected to support access for up to 3,700 young people each year, particularly those who might otherwise be unable to experience these landscapes. This new partnership builds on the AJ Bell Futures Foundation's wider charitable work. Since its launch in 2023, the Foundation has donated £1.5 million to charitable initiatives and supported more than 175,000 people through its principal partner charities. It has also extended partnerships with Smart Works and IntoUniversity, while continuing to work with local organisations such as Stop.Breathe.Think, Empower Youth Zone and Little Green Sock. AJ Bell employees have also contributed over 2,000 hours of volunteering in support of community initiatives, and this partnership will further strengthen that commitment. Ryan Hughes, AJ Bell Futures Foundation trustee, said: "Northumberland National Park is delighted to be working with UK National Parks in a partnership which will broaden the Foundation's efforts to open up new opportunities for young people, allowing them to develop useful skills and build the confidence to take on new challenges. "UK National Parks engages in an educational programme to support future generations, some of which come from under-represented communities, by giving them access to National Parks, and the Foundation's donation will enable them to reach more young people through the launch of the AJ Bell Travel Fund. "The AJ Bell Futures Foundation and UK National Parks share a commitment to promoting better futures. Our new partnership will complement ongoing work with the Foundation's other primary partners IntoUniversity and Smart Works in supporting people from less advantaged backgrounds to overcome barriers to success." Gordon Watson, Chair of UK National Parks Foundation and CEO of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, added: "Too many young people don't have access to the life-changing experiences its National Parks offer because of the cost of getting there. The AJ Bell Travel Fund is a significant contribution to help expand the work all its National Parks are doing in breaking down that barrier. It will enable thousands more young people, particularly those from less advantaged backgrounds, to access these inspiring spaces and have a real connection with nature. "By opening the door to nature, we're not only helping young people build confidence, skills and wellbeing, but also inspiring the next generation to value and care for these protected landscapes. This partnership is an investment in both people and nature, ensuring our National Parks remain relevant, inclusive and accessible to all." Rosie Thomas, Director Business Development Northumberland National Park Authority added: "Young people across Northumberland and the wider North East face real challenges in accessing its National Parks, particularly when the cost of travel puts visits out of reach. The AJ Bell Travel Fund will help remove that barrier, enabling more young people from its region to travel to and experience these landscapes on their doorstep. "By improving access, we can engage more young people from the North East with National Parks and support their support wellbeing and raise their aspirations. Reaching this younger generation is essential to the long-term future of our National Parks and the role they play in our communities."