Features and Benefits
Taking control of your investments just got easier with RaboDirect
Get fast, easy online access to leading managed funds with lower fees from RaboDirect.
More than 60 managed funds
Choose from over 60 managed funds offered by well-known fund managers selected by RaboDirect, with investments spanning Australian and international equities, property and fixed income.
Buy and sell online 24/7
You can buy and sell funds online in minutes, with no messy paperwork to contend with.
All transactions can be settled directly from any of your RaboDirect savings accounts, so you can also earn a competitive interest rate on your cash when you’re not investing.
Fees & charges
We do not charge entry, exit or ongoing administration fees to invest via RaboDirect, just a brokerage paid upon investment, normally 0.50% - 0.75% of the investment amount.
Distributions
All distributions or proceeds paid by the funds will be credited to your RaboDirect High Interest Savings Account.
Stay on top with a regular investor plan
You can set up a regular investor plan, to automatically invest a nominated amount into your choice of funds weekly, fortnightly, monthly, quarterly or every six months.
This way, your investments continue to build over time, even when you’re busy doing something else.
Tax & reporting
We handle everything for you behind the scenes - things like reporting on fund performance, quarterly reports on your portfolio and annual tax statements.
Why should I invest in managed funds?
Advantages
Investing in a managed fund can deliver a number of advantages compared to direct, individual investment, including:
Potential returns – the opportunity to earn returns in excess of what you would expect from savings accounts.
Diversification – minimise risk of any single asset underperforming by spreading your portfolio across a range of investments.
Professional management – let the investment specialists take the stress out of managing your investments.
Choice – RaboDirect offers more than 60 funds that invest in different asset classes, with different investment strategies and with fund managers that offer different investment styles.
Buying power – combining the investments of many individual investors provides you with a larger investment pool, hence, the ability to invest in opportunities that require large investment outlays and are typically beyond your own personal reach.
Economies of scale - a larger investment pool means that you can also lower the costs of investment administration by spreading them across multiple investors.
How it works
A managed fund is a professionally managed portfolio of investments that pools the assets of multiple investors together and invests them towards a common objective.
When you invest in a managed fund you are issued with ‘units’ which represent your stake in the fund. If the value of the fund’s investments increases, so does the value of your units. Similarly, if the value of the investments falls – as they can also do – so does your unit price.
Unit prices are generally issued daily and will include both a ‘buy’ price and a ‘sell’ price. The buy price is the cost of each unit if you want to invest it a fund; while the sell price indicates how much you will receive for each unit if you fully or partially withdraw from the fund.
Types of managed funds
From Index funds to Property. The choice is yours
Managed funds are generally classified according to the underlying assets they invest in and the investment strategy and style of the fund manager.
Index funds – invests in a range of securities selected to replicate the return of a specified market index or benchmark. These types of funds offer investors passive (rather than active) investment opportunities.
Equity funds – invests in shares across a range of different markets, industry sectors and companies with varying capital market values (i.e. large, medium and small cap stocks). They provide an opportunity to invest in a portfolio of shares without having to select them individually.
Property funds – invests in a range of Australian and international properties such as industrial, commercial, retail and residential. Property can also be listed on the stock exchange, or invested in directly. Property trusts listed on the stock exchange are also known as listed property trusts, or real estate investment trusts (REITs).
Fixed-income funds – invests in a combination of Australian and international fixed income securities such as bonds. i.e. government and corporate bonds and other hybrid securities.
Multi-sector funds – invests in a range of asset classes and generally include a blend of equity, property, fixed income and cash. These funds are also known as ‘balanced’ or ‘diversified’ funds.
Multi-manager funds – select the best fund managers and then blend them together to optimise allocations for the given investment objectives of the fund. This provides diversification across three levels: fund manager, asset class and investment style.
Investment strategies
What strategy are you following?
Risk vs. Return
The potential returns of a fund are directly correlated to its risk – the higher the risk, the higher the potential returns. Equally, the higher the chance of potential losses. For the best results, you should try to match your risk/return preference to the investment objective of the fund.
Asset allocation
Describes how you invest your money across equity, property, fixed income and cash and in which region – Australia or international. Your asset allocation will depend on your desired returns, investment timeframes and attitude towards risk.
Dollar cost averaging
Many investors worry about investing at the “right time”, however, no one can consistently and successfully time the market all the time. Dollar cost averaging is a simple investment strategy that can help you to create wealth, benefit from long term upward trending markets and also mitigate the pitfalls of interim market volatility. It works by making regular investments as the market both rises and falls, so when the unit price is down you buy more units and conversely when the unit price is up you buy less. Over time, you have bought more units at a lower average unit price which helps ‘smooth out’ the peaks and troughs in your investment performance.
Investor tools
Tools for the trade
Use our selection of investor tools and resources to learn more about investing and help find investments and strategies that suit your financial goals.
Which investments suit your risk profile?
Your risk profile will depend on the type of investor you are, your investment timeframe and the level of risk you are prepared to take.
By completing this survey, you can get a basic understanding of the kind of investment strategy that might suit
you best.
Calculate Now
Calculate the benefits of dollar cost averaging.
A great way to reduce the impact of market volatility is to invest set dollar amounts regularly over time.
This strategy - known as dollar cost averaging - is a good approach if you have a long term investment goal and can make regular investments.
Calculate Now
