Are you looking for a modern investment platform that has low brokerage and all the bells and whistles? If so, you may want to consider Pearler. Pearler is a new(ish) investing platform that has been generating a lot of buzz lately. So, what is it all about? And more importantly, is Pearler right for you? In this blog post, we will take a closer look at Pearler and see how it compares to other investment platforms available today.
What is Pearler?
Pearler is an online investment platform that allows you to invest in a variety of different asset classes, including stocks and ETFs just like any other broker. It has a low brokerage fee of just $9.50 per trade for Aussie stocks, which is on par with the O.G fixed price Australian Broker SelfWealth and much lower than the fees charged by other popular investing platforms like Commsec or NabTrade.
Where Pearler differentiates itself to other low cost brokers is in the added features and ease of use. One amazing feature that we will look at in depth later is the Automatic Investing option – this truly makes investing and portfolio management so simple you could do it with your eyes closed! (ps. we recommend keeping your eyes open while making financial decisions!)
Who are Pearler?
Just like every good Australian story this one starts with Three Mates at the Front Bar discussing ways to make investing easier and more accessable over a couple of frothies…. Ok we made up the part about the pub, but I’m sure there would have been a bar involved at some point!
Nick, Kurt and Hayden founded Pearler with a mission to ‘Power a Wealthier World’ by creating a platform that will eventually become a one stop shop for everything finance related. With over 25,000 investors choosing to make Pearler their investment platform we think the lads must be going in the right direction.
Investing on Pearler
Pearler’s investment motto really resonates with us, they take an ‘Invest for the Longterm’ approach just like we do! The Platform lets you invest in Individual Australian shares as well as ETFs and LICs.
There are a few different ways of using Pearler, if you know what you want then you can use it just like any other investment platform and buy the individual shares or ETFs and LICs that you like. Otherwise, if you are a new investor looking to dip your toes in the waters or just want to follow a predefined portfolio you can choose from one of 4 templates.
The last option, which I think is really cool is investing by checking what some other investing heavy hitters are doing at the moment. Say we want to check out how Tash Invests, CaptainFI or Dave from Strong Money allocate their portfolios – we can do that on Pearler! Just remember their investment goals might be different to yours so be sure to not take it as gospel, in saying that I think this is a great insight that by seeing what others are doing it might get your investing juices flowing or you might see a fund that you’ve never heard of before that could suit your needs.
Fees
Because there are no account keeping fees or management fees, brokerage fees are the only thing you need to look at. And as mentioned before they are very reasonable. If you are buying shares on the Australian Stock Exchange then you will be looking at a flat rate of $9.50 per trade (excluding some ETFs). If you are looking to expand your Horizons to gain access to the US stock market that will set you back only $6.50AUD per trade plus a FX conversion fee.
You know how we said excluding some ETFs? well that’s because some ETFs on Pearler attract no brokerage fees.. that’s right no brokerage whatsoever. If you are buying a VanEck, ETF Securities or eInvest ETF through Pearler and you hold it for more than 12 months you will not pay any brokerage on your trade. This is bloody brilliant as it really rewards long term investors!
Can I trust Pearler?
You sure can! Pearler is entrusted by over 25,000 investors with their hard earned money. Security was in the forefront of their mind when designing the platform and many key security measures have been implemented. From modern security protocols used on the infrastructure to more user initiated security measures such as two factor authentication on all financial transactions Pearler has you covered in the security department.
Of course in the very unlikely circumstance that something bad does happen just remember that Pearler does have insurance to cover you. Just like most insurances in life you probably won’t need to ever claim on them but it does give you peace of mind.
Who owns Pearler?
That is a great question and one that I haven’t found a whole lot about, I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the three lads own a fair chunk of the platform. But from reading some blog posts by CaptainFI I have found out that there are some outside ‘Angel Investors’ that are involved in the business as well that own a small amount of equity in the company.
If you have any more info about how the company structure over at Pearler works be sure to shoot us a message! To be honest it doesn’t really change anything for the average investor but we are just curious soles.
Can you buy US stocks on Pearler?
You certainly can! If you are after exposure to the US market you are able to buy US stocks through Pearler. At $6.50AUD per trade the Brokerage Fee for doing so is actually cheaper than the Australian shares. There is a foreign exchange conversion fee of around 0.5% which isn’t too steep when you look at the ease of access it gives you to a foreign market.
If you don’t want to buy shares on the US stock exchanges you can always look at ETFs that are based in Australia and traded on the ASX such as the BetaShares Nasdaq ETF.
How does Pearler Auto invest work?
One feature we absolutely love on Pearler is the Auto Invest function. This takes all the hard work out of investing and does it for you! Once you have set up your portfolio goals you can then setup how you would like to automatically invest. Pearler has four options for this.
The first option is that Pearler will take your nominated amount of funds from your linked cash account at the interval you have set and it will invest it straight away inline with your portfolio.
The Second option is that pearler will take the money from your cash account at the set interval and then wait for it to hit a preset threshold before investing. This is useful for investors that want to put aside smaller amounts of money every week or fortnight but only want to have pearler invest it when the account reaches a certain amount, be it $1000,$2000,etc.
The third option is a little more hands on, it allows you to manually add the funds into Pearler, and then just like option 2 it will invest it once it reaches a certain threshold.
There really is an option for everyone when it comes to automating the investments on Pearler!
Is Pearler CHESS sponsored?
Yes! Just like many other major Investing platforms, Pearler is CHESS sponsored. Whilst confusing, this is the best way to have your shares. Your shares are registered directly with the ASX instead of being held by a third party in a trust. Put simply you retain complete ownership of your shares and are not reliant on a third party.
How do you transfer shares to Pearler?
If you currently own shares on the ASX that you would like to bring over to Pearler you can do that in the initial setup. Pearler does not charge any fees to do this as long as you are moving it from the same entity type (ie. individual to individual)
Is Pearler good for beginners?
I think that Pearler could be one of the best platforms for begginers looking to get started in the share market. Firstly the platform is so user friendly and intuative that you don’t get bogged down in all the clutter that some other platforms seem to have.
For beginners having low brokerage fees means that you can get started investing with smaller amounts and not have a huge chunk of money being lost to brokerage – this means that there is more money left to compound your wealth.
I also think that the Auto Invest feature is an absolute ripper for novices, it means they can do the research once and just have Pearler do the heavy lifting. No more remembering to invest every month. As long as the money is in your trading account Pearler will do the rest!
Which ETFs are free on Pearler?
As Mentioned there are three ETF providers that are on Pearler which have no brokerage fees if you keep them for longer than 12 months:
- VanEck
- ETF Securities
- eInvest
Between these three providers, there are 40+ ETFs that you can choose from. This means there will be something for every investor.
Conclusion
I think Pearler has really solved some big issues and is providing real value to investors both experienced and novice alike. So should you look at investing with Pearler? I personally think it’s a great platform that provides a user friendly experience. The fees are some of the cheapest out there even when looking to gain exposure to the US Market.
Apart from low fees Pearler provides some great features like Auto Investing and Portfolio Templates all wrapped up in one neat little package. You can’t really ask for any more than that! Be sure to check out the Pearler Website for more information and sign up today.