Nutmeg

Nutmeg is an online investment service that manages your money for you in ready-made portfolios, built primarily from exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and looked after by an in-house investment team. You can hold those portfolios inside a range of accounts: a Stocks and Shares ISA, a Personal Pension, a Lifetime ISA and a General Investment Account, and everything is run through the Chase app, where you create, edit and manage your investment pots alongside everyday banking¹. If you already bank with Chase, you set an investment account up through the 'Save & Invest' section of the app.

The name has changed, and that is worth knowing if you are looking for Nutmeg today. Since 17 June 2025 the service has been called J.P. Morgan Personal Investing², and Nutmeg is now listed as a previous trading name of the business behind it³. Existing customers were moved to the new name rather than being asked to open new accounts, and the underlying company, incorporated in 2011, remains active⁴. This page explains what the change means, what each account type offers, how the charging structure works, who can open an account, how to get help and make a complaint, and how your money is protected if things go wrong.

Nutmeg is now J.P. Morgan Personal Investing: what changes for customers

The renaming took effect on 17 June 2025, and the provider's own schedule of fees and charges is dated from that day². The provider's terms state that "Nutmeg" and "Nutmeg Saving and Investment Limited" should be read as "J.P. Morgan Personal Investing"³. So if you see references to any of those older names, in old statements, letters or online discussions, they all point to the same business.

For customers, the practical change is how the service is presented and accessed. Investment products are provided by J.P. Morgan Personal Investing through the Chase app, and the provider is clear that they are not guaranteed by Chase or by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.¹. That matters for understanding what you own: your relationship is with the investment business, not with the bank that holds your everyday current account. The company behind the brand was incorporated on 24 January 2011 and its status at Companies House is active⁴.

What has not changed is the basic proposition. You invest in portfolios managed by the provider, held inside a tax wrapper such as an ISA or a pension if you choose one, and you manage everything from an app. The provider states that you can create, edit and manage your investment pots through the Chase app, so you can take care of your investments alongside your everyday banking¹. If you already bank with Chase, you head to 'Save & Invest' in the Chase app to set up your account¹.

Nutmeg accounts: ISAs, Lifetime ISA, Junior ISA, pension and General Investment Account

J.P. Morgan Personal Investing offers a range of ISAs designed around investment goals, a Personal Pension, and a General Investment Account¹. This is a common lineup for investment platforms: many platforms let you hold investments inside an ISA, a SIPP (self-invested personal pension) or a Junior ISA, and all platforms also offer an ordinary trading account with no special tax benefits, sometimes called a general investment account⁷.

Stocks and shares ISA. An ISA can be set up as a stocks and shares account, a cash account, an innovative finance account or a Lifetime ISA account⁸. There are four types of ISA available to adults: cash ISAs, stocks and shares ISAs, innovative finance ISAs and Lifetime ISAs⁹. A stocks and shares ISA is the wrapper most people use for invested money, because growth and income inside it are free of UK income tax and capital gains tax. Our ISAs guide explains how the wrapper works and how the allowance is split between types.

Lifetime ISA. A Lifetime ISA is a specific type aimed at people saving for a first home or for later life. The rules state that individuals can open and pay into one Lifetime ISA per tax year¹¹. The Financial Ombudsman Service handles complaints about Lifetime ISAs, including the withdrawal charge that applies when money is taken out for anything other than a first home or retirement, which is a common area of dispute⁹.

Junior ISA. Junior ISAs are held in a child's name and managed by a parent or guardian until the child reaches adulthood. As an example of how these accounts work across the market, NS&I's Junior ISA can be opened with at least £1 paid by debit card from a UK bank, and for children under 16 only a parent or legal guardian can open one, while children aged 16 or 17 can open their own account¹². The same broad age rules apply to Junior ISAs generally, whoever provides them.

Personal Pension. The provider's Personal Pension is designed to help you make the most of your retirement saving¹. Pensions work differently from ISAs: contributions attract tax relief, and the money is generally locked away until later life. Our pensions guide explains the rules, and the pension providers directory lists the firms in this market.

General Investment Account. This is an account with no tax wrapper. It suits people who have used up their ISA and pension allowances, or who want unrestricted access. Returns are potentially taxable, and the provider notes that tax rules vary by individual status and may change¹. Our investing guide explains how these accounts compare.

Investment styles: how Nutmeg portfolios are managed

The provider's fee schedule distinguishes between two ways your money can be invested: Managed Investment Styles and a Fixed Allocation Investment Style². The distinction matters because it affects both how your money is looked after and what you pay.

A managed style means the provider's investment team makes ongoing decisions about your portfolio: choosing the underlying investments, adjusting the mix over time, and rebalancing when markets move. A fixed allocation style holds a set mix that does not adapt in the same way. Both approaches invest through funds, typically exchange traded funds (ETFs), and the provider of each ETF takes its own charge for managing it, with those charges varying from time to time².

This is a common structure in the investment platform market. Investment funds pool money from many investors and are run by professional managers, and the costs of investing in funds come in several forms: an ongoing charge figure (an annual percentage paid to the fund manager), possible performance fees, trading fees and stamp duty reserve tax, exit fees, and platform fees¹³. When you compare investment services, the useful question is not just the headline management fee but the total of all these layers, because together they determine what you actually pay each year.

How the charges work: management fee, fund costs and market spread

Investing with J.P. Morgan Personal Investing involves several layers of cost, and the provider sets them out in a published schedule of fees and charges². The site does not repeat today's figures here, because charges can change; the current schedule on the provider's own website is the authoritative source. What follows is how the structure works, so you know what to look for.

The management fee. This is the provider's own charge for running your portfolio, and it is tiered: the schedule sets one percentage rate for the first portion of your investment and a lower rate above a threshold, with different rates for Managed Investment Styles and for the Fixed Allocation Investment Style². The fee is calculated and accrued daily and deducted from your portfolio each month². The provider also reserves the right to apply a reduced fee in certain circumstances where its own eligibility criteria are met, for example promotional campaigns².

Fund costs. On top of the management fee, the provider of each ETF your money is invested in takes a charge for managing that ETF, and these charges may vary over time². These are the ongoing charges described above, and they apply whichever platform you use.

Transfers. If you move investments to the service "in specie", meaning the actual holdings are transferred rather than being sold and rebought, the schedule lists a charge per line of stock². Selling up and transferring as cash instead avoids that particular charge, but may trigger tax consequences outside a wrapper, so the two routes are worth comparing before you choose.

Market spread. When ETFs are bought and sold there is a difference between the buying and selling price, the spread, which is a real cost of investing even though it never appears on a fee statement. It is one reason investment costs are higher than they first appear.

Cash in a Nutmeg pot: interest and cash-only pots

Investment accounts sometimes hold cash, either while waiting to be invested, after you sell investments, or in a pot you have chosen to keep in cash. The tax treatment of that cash matters.

Since 6 April 2024, a flat rate charge of 22% applies to any interest paid on cash held in non-cash ISAs¹⁴. So if you hold cash inside a stocks and shares ISA, the interest it earns does not enjoy the ISA's usual tax-free treatment. This is a change worth knowing about if you park money in an investment ISA for long periods: the investments themselves keep their tax treatment, but the cash interest does not.

Outside an ISA, interest on cash counts towards your personal savings allowance like any other interest. Some savers prefer to hold cash in a dedicated cash ISA instead, where interest remains tax free. NS&I, for example, offers a cash ISA with a variable interest rate called a Direct ISA¹⁵, and our savings guide explains the cash options across the market. If your goal for a particular pot is certainty rather than growth, a savings account may be worth comparing against a cash pot inside an investment account.

Who can open an account and minimum amounts

The provider's product pages set the eligibility rules and minimum investment amounts for each account, and its published minimum deposit figures differ between its own pages, so the current figure is best confirmed on its website before you apply. A minimum deposit is quoted both as £500 and as £250 on product pages dated the same day, and this conflict is unresolved; treat the provider's own site as the source of truth.

Some general rules apply to the account types regardless of provider. Junior ISAs can only be opened by a parent or legal guardian for children under 16, while children aged 16 or 17 can open their own¹². For adults opening ordinary accounts in their own name, providers each set their own residency and identity requirements. The provider also states that tax rules vary by individual status and may change, which is relevant if your circumstances are unusual¹.

Opening an account or transferring an ISA to Nutmeg

If you already bank with Chase, opening an investment account is done in the app: head to 'Save & Invest' and set up your J.P. Morgan Personal Investing account there¹. You can pay into your investment pots straight from your Chase saver account or current account¹. The process is short because the bank already holds your identity details.

If you do not bank with Chase, you will need to check the provider's website for the current route, which may involve opening a Chase account first. Transferring an existing ISA works differently from paying in new money: an ISA transfer moves your allowance and its history with it, whereas withdrawing and re-depositing uses up current-year allowance. Before transferring, check whether your existing provider applies exit charges and whether any interest or bonuses will be lost.

One rule worth knowing when you plan your payments: ISA allowances do not roll over between tax years, so if you deposit £10,000 one year, you cannot deposit £30,000 the next year to make up the difference¹⁶. Use it or lose it applies each tax year.

Guidance and paid financial advice

There is an important distinction in UK financial services between guidance, which is free and tells you about your options, and financial advice, which recommends a specific course of action and comes with protections if the advice is wrong.

Free, impartial guidance is available whatever your income. The Money and Pensions Service provides free and impartial debt advice, money guidance and pension guidance to members of the public¹⁷. In Northern Ireland, Advice NI offers free, confidential and impartial advice and information to help you manage your money¹⁸. Rules also require firms, in defined situations such as customers facing payment difficulties, to inform customers that free and impartial money guidance and debt advice is available, including from not-for-profit bodies¹⁹.

Paid financial advice is a separate service, and it costs real money: the cost of financial advice can vary from £500 to £5,000 or more depending on the adviser and the type of advice⁷. J.P. Morgan Personal Investing offers its own paid financial planning and advice services, with different levels of service set out in its fee schedule, alongside its investment accounts². If you are considering paid advice, our consumer protection guide explains what financial advice means and what protections come with it.

Customer support and complaints

The provider states that it is free to speak to the wealth experts at J.P. Morgan Personal Investing, who are there to discuss your investment strategy¹. Its website is personalinvesting.jpmorgan.com³. For account-specific questions, the app and the provider's own site are the starting points.

If something goes wrong, there is a set process, and it is the same across UK financial firms:

1. Complain to the firm first, in writing or through its stated complaints channel, and give it a chance to respond. Firms must handle complaints under the rules that apply to them.
2. If the firm does not satisfy your complaint, you can refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Consumers may choose to complain to the firm and to seek redress from it, and refer the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service if the firm does not satisfy the complaint and it is appropriate to do so⁵.
3. The ombudsman looks at complaints individually and can order compensation if it finds against the firm. It handles investment complaints, including those about Lifetime ISAs⁹.

The ombudsman service is free to consumers. Its decisions bind the firm if you accept them, but not you: you can reject a decision and pursue the matter elsewhere, for example through the courts. Complaints data published by the ombudsman shows the volume and outcomes of complaints across the industry each quarter, which can be a useful sense-check on how a firm treats its customers.

Pensions and tax relief on contributions

Money paid into a pension is treated favourably by the tax system. When people and their employers pay into a pension, the contributions are exempt from taxation, and both savers and employers receive tax relief²⁰. You usually get tax relief on money you pay into a pension²¹, and you can get relief on private pension contributions worth up to 100% of your annual earnings²².

How the relief actually reaches your pension depends on the scheme. Some schemes claim basic-rate relief at source and add it to your pot, with higher-rate taxpayers reclaiming the extra from HMRC themselves; others use a different method. Check with the provider how its Personal Pension handles relief before assuming the gross amount that will land in your pot.

Two groups should take particular care. People earning £6,240 or less, those earning between £6,240 and £10,000, and people at State Pension age who are not automatically enrolled might get some tax relief from the government, but should check with whoever runs their pension scheme²³. And tax rates and allowances differ across the UK: Scottish income tax has its own allowances and reliefs⁶, and Northern Ireland pension and tax rules are explained by nidirect²⁴. Where you live affects how much relief is worth to you.

FSCS protection and what it does not cover

Money invested with an investment firm is protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in defined circumstances. The FSCS publishes a guide to investment protection explaining when it pays out²⁵, and its "what we cover" pages set out the categories of protected business²⁶. You can also use the FSCS's own tool to check whether your money is protected²⁷.

For an investment firm, the protection is about the firm failing, not the investments falling in value. If the provider were to fail, FSCS cover is designed to return your investments or compensate you up to its limit. What FSCS does not do is protect you from investment losses: if your portfolio falls in value because markets fall, that is your loss, and no compensation scheme reverses it. The provider's own materials are clear that investment products are not guaranteed by Chase or JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.¹, and no investment return is ever guaranteed.

The limits of FSCS cover are worth knowing. FSCS cannot protect e-money or payment services firms²⁷, and some activities fall outside protection altogether: the FSCS states that other mutuals and friendly societies only carry out unregulated activities that will not be protected, such as housing associations, sports and social clubs, NHS foundations and co-operative schools²⁶. The scheme's protection question for financial advice is answered on its investment protection pages²⁵. If you are unsure whether something is protected, the FSCS check tool is the place to confirm it²⁷.

Living outside the UK

The provider states that tax rules vary by individual status and may change¹, and this matters most for people who live outside the UK or who are tax resident in more than one country. Whether you can open or hold an account from abroad depends on the provider's own eligibility rules, which are set out on its website.

UK tax treatment changes when you become non-resident. Non-residents do not usually pay UK tax on the State Pension or on interest from UK government securities, known as gilts²⁸, but other UK income, including income from UK investments, can be treated differently. Double taxation arrangements between the UK and your country of residence determine which country taxes what, and these rules are complex enough that specialist tax advice is often worthwhile. Our money abroad guide covers the wider picture of managing money across borders.

For US tax residents specifically, the provider's eligibility criteria are the deciding factor, and its website states the current position. American citizens and green card holders face additional reporting requirements regardless of where they live, and not all UK providers accept them, so check before applying rather than after.