FAQs

Itrust Invest is a registered managed investment scheme regulated by the Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC). Our online investment platform is designed to help families give their children a financial springboard in life, by making high-quality investments easy to access at a low cost.

It takes a village to raise a child, and our unique Investment Gifting feature lets family and friends boost your little one’s portfolio by sending an investment as a gift from as little as $10.

Can’t find what you’re looking for? Speak to our team via live chat!

Itrust Invest recognises that having a sound financial base is a key component for children to maximise life’s opportunities, whether it’s a headstart on school or University fees, a deposit on a home, gap year travel or their first car.

We build upon this by offering an investment alternative to cash-based savings, and broaden the investment options available to parents, relatives and guardians, to assist young people in building wealth from an early age.

Learn more about us here.

The Guardian (i.e., the parent, relative or other adult over 18 years) who establishes the account is the Investor in Itrust Invest and is the legal owner of the investments across all the nominated Beneficiary accounts. All Investor communication is therefore channelled through the Guardian.

Nominated Beneficiaries (i.e., children and other parties) and Contributors/Gifters are not the Investors in Itrust Invest.

To put it simply, the Guardian is the ‘manager’ of the account, and the Beneficiaries are those that sit underneath the Guardian, and to whom the contributions flow.

Further information on the legal structure is contained in the PDS.

Establishing an Itrust Invest account is easy and can be done in a few minutes through our onboarding process. As a Guardian, you may create up to 10 Beneficiary accounts and can even nominate yourself as a Beneficiary.

As an additional security method we’ll send an email to your registered email address which you must first verify, then you’re all set to go.

Once logged in, you may select the investment allocation you wish to have across the various asset classes, or stick with the Balanced ETF option as default.

The minimum initial investment amount and any additional investments is only $10, and Guardian’s can setup a regular investment plan or make a one-off contribution.

You also have access to our team of investment professionals to ask questions any time.

Of course!

While Itrust Invest has been structured for families with young children in mind, anyone with a medium to long term investment horizon can benefit from the platform.

If you are an existing Guardian, simply login to your dashboard and click Add Another Beneficiary from the side menu. Enter in your details and under Relationship to you select ‘Other’.

If you are yet to sign up, then during the onboarding process just enter your details as both the Guardian and the nominated Beneficiary.

Having trouble? Reach out to our team via live chat!

Absolutely.

If you are a soon-to-be-parent then simply create a new Guardian account and nominate yourself as the Beneficiary. These details can easily be updated once your baby is born by emailing support@itrustinvest.com.

Making contributions before your child is born is a great way to unlock the power of compound growth.  

We appreciate this is sensitive information, and want to assure you that we wouldn’t ask for it unnecessarily.

Verifying your identity, which includes confirming your current place of address and date of birth, is part of our Know-Your-Customer (KYC) process to keep our platform secure and your hard-earned money safe.

Having trouble verifying your identity? Please contact us via live chat or the support email!

Itrust Invest (ARSN 625 636 231) is a registered managed investment scheme which is regulated by the Australian Securities & Managed Investments Commission (ASIC), an independent Australian Government body.

Itrust Invest also operates with oversight from an independent Compliance Committee and Auditor.

Yes. Stapleton Asset Management Ltd (SAML) is the Responsible Entity for Itrust Invest, and operates under an Australian Financial Services License (AFSL 341990), issued and regulated by ASIC.

We care about security, which is why we’ve developed a fully encrypted system with bank-grade (256-bit) protection. We also have our own BSB number (in conjunction with Westpac) and issue unique bank accounts to each investor.

Learn more about our security features at the About Us page.

All assets of the fund are held and protected by Perpetual Corporate Trust Limited ACN 000 341 533 (AFSL 392673), an ASIC approved Custodian. 

This means no-one else, including us, has direct access to your investments, and particularly that your investments are held separately from the operations of Itrust Invest. If anything were ever to happen to us, the Custodian would be able to return your investments safely to you.

For more information about Perpetual’s role, please see the Additional Information Document.

When investing with Itrust Invest you should understand:

• Having long term investment goals is a solid approach to investing;
• The value of your investments may rise and fall;
• Investment returns will vary and historical returns may not be the same as future returns;
• Returns are not guaranteed, and there is a chance you may lose money on any investment you make; and
• Laws affecting your investment in a managed investment scheme may change over time.

For further information about our investment methodology and the risks associated with investing with Itrust Invest, please refer to the PDS.

To become an Investor in Itrust Invest you need to be a resident of Australia and satisfy our Guardian registration and verification process.

To Send A Gift via Itrust Invest you need to have an Australian registered bank account.

It is not compulsory for investors to provide their Tax File Number. However, withholding tax may be deducted at the maximum rate from any distributions made to Guardians if they choose not to provide this.

An an Investor you will need to consider Capital Gains Tax (CGT) in periods where you sell or transfer your investments, and income tax consequences in periods where a distribution is made to you.

We are not able to provide a CGT calculation or report, however we can provide all transaction and distribution information to allow you, or an accountant, to calculate this.

An outline of the tax implications of investing in Itrust Invest is contained in the PDS.

Itrust Invest are not tax advisors and are not licensed to give tax advice. You should seek advice from your own professional tax advisor, accountant or financial planner about the applicable Australian tax consequences and how it can affect you.

From a legal perspective, the Guardian (i.e., the parent, relative or other adult over 18 years) who establishes the account is the Investor in Itrust Invest, and is the legal owner of the investments across all the nominated Beneficiary accounts.

This means that you, as the Guardian, are responsible for dealing with any tax consequences.

In some circumstances it may be possible for a Guardian to transfer ownership in the Itrust Invest units to their Beneficiary when the Beneficiary turns 18, and for Capital Gains Tax not to apply to this transfer. However, with all things tax, we recommend you seek your own advice about this from a qualified tax advisor.

Itrust Invest will generally make an annual distribution to Investors on 30th June each year. Distributions will be automatically reinvested into your Itrust account.

Where a distribution is made, you will receive a statement which sets out the amount of the distribution and the tax nature of the distribution, to assist in preparation of your tax return. 

Please note, if there is no net income or net capital gains earned in a particular year by Itrust Fund, then we may not pay a distribution to you in respect of that year. 

Additional information can be found in the PDS under the heading ‘Distributions’.

You can find your tax statement for the current financial year by logging in and clicking on Statements from the side menu.

Please note that if no distribution was made during the relevant financial year, then no tax distribution statement is issued or will need to be made available.

We don’t charge any fee for the initial setup of your account, nor do we charge brokerage fees on contributions or withdrawals. This makes it easy for you to establish a ‘Set & Forget’ regular investment plan.

We do charge an Account Maintenance Fee of $3.50 per month or $35 if paid annually, in order to keep your Guardian and Beneficiary accounts running smoothly.

The responsible entity for Itrust Invest (Stapleton Asset Management Limited) does also charge an annual management fee of 0.3075% of funds under management to cover the costs of managing the Itrust Invest fund. There are also additional management expenses required to ensure the legal, regulatory, accounting, auditing, and banking compliance of the fund, which we estimate to be 0.415% of funds under management.

For a full breakdown on fees including an example, please visit the PDS.

No. We don’t charge any initial set up or establishment fees, exit fees, or brokerage costs. 

There is a small difference (~0.20%) in the entry and exit unit prices to cover the cost of brokerage that we pay, known as buy/sell spread. 

More information on the buy/sell spread can be found in the Additional Information Document.

You can log in online to the Itrust Invest platform and update your personal details and recurring gifts.

Itrust Invest uses Westpac’s payment facilities which provide bank-level security (256-bit) to keep your information safe.

This allows you to setup one-off or regular contributions from your bank account directly into your Beneficiary accounts. 

Contributions can be made two ways:

• Via direct transfer, which requires you to make the payment from your own banking portal using a reference number supplied
• Via direct debit, where you authorize us to automatically pull the contribution from your bank account by entering your BSB and Account number when making the contribution

Get started today.

Contributions can be made on a 24/7 basis and transfers usually take three business days to clear.

No, you are free to increase your investments and withdraw funds at any time without charge.

Further information on fees can be found here.

Yes. The minimum initial investment amount and any additional investment is just $10. By setting such a small minimum investment amount, we aim to level out the financial playing field, giving you access to high-quality investments normally reserved for the top end of town.

You can withdraw all or part of your investment at any time, and can even choose exactly which investment fund you’d like to withdraw funds from.

Simply log in to your account, view your dashboard, and click on the withdrawal option.

It then normally takes up to five business days to deposit monies in your nominated bank account. For any assistance with withdrawals contact support@itrustinvest.com or reach out to us via live chat.

Yes. The minimum amount you are able to withdraw is $10.

No, unfortunately credit cards cannot be used as a source of funds to invest.

Itrust Invest reminds all Investors to always make sure that their account has the proper funds before committing to an investment, and that the correct BSB and Account Number has been entered if authorising a direct debit. 

If, for any reason, investments made by you are charged back due to non-sufficient funds or cause a fee on your account, Itrust Invest will not be responsible for any of these fees charged to you by your bank.

Not at all. You can send a gift to a loved one without signing in by clicking Send a Gift and following the prompts. You can choose to send a gift of units into any of our funds (from as little as $10), or leave it to the recipient to decide which fund the gift will be invested into – i.e., Gold, Global Equities, or our Balanced ETF.

There is no cost to redeem gifts, although recipients are required to have a valid Itrust Invest account in order to redeem a gift.

If you are already set up with an Itrust Invest account, simply send a financial investment as a gift by clicking ‘Send a Gift to others’ from the homepage of your dashboard.

Login and Send A Gift 

No, you just need the email address of the person who is or will be the Guardian and who will manage the account.

Send a Gift

A Gift can only be redeemed by an individual over the age of 18 who has a valid Itrust Invest account. This is because minors under the age of 18 cannot legally own shares in their own name.

If the investment is intended as a gift for a child, you will need to know the name and email address of the parent or guardian who will create the account and redeem the gift on the child’s behalf.

If the investment is intended for someone aged 18 years or older, just enter their name and email address as the Guardian to be in charge of the account. They will also be required to create a valid Itrust Invest account.

Unsure how Gifting works? Reach out via live chat! 

If you are sending a Gift without signing in, you will be emailed instructions on how to complete the payment stage.

All payments are made via direct electronic funds transfer and are handled securely by our partners at Westpac. Simply copy the BSB and account number from the email into your banking portal and complete the transfer, making sure to include the unique gift code in the description (this helps us identify who the Gift is intended for).

Once payment has cleared, please allow up to three business days for our team to process the gift. The recipient will be notified via email once their gift is ready to be redeemed.

Having an Itrust Invest account allows family and friends to contribute a financial investment directly to your child’s account.

From your dashboard simply select the Beneficiary that will be receiving a Gift and then select Share with friends and family. You can then share this message, including the unique one-way link, with loved ones, and by following the prompts they can give a gift that keeps on giving.

If your child has received a Gift from family or friends simply login to your Itrust Invest account and enter the unique gift code into the Redeem a gift card header on the home screen. You can then allocate the gifted funds to the appropriate Beneficiary account.

If you are having trouble locating the unique gift code that has been emailed to you, call us for assistance on 1300 811 119 or email us at support@itrustinvest.com.

If you do not yet have an Itrust Invest account, you can create one here.

While there’s no best investment option for a child, kid’s naturally have a long-term horizon and can therefore direct their investments towards higher growth, riskier assets such as shares. A Vanguard Diversified Balanced fund can provide children with low-cost access to growth and income producing asset classes.

A child can invest in many different financial products with the help of parents or relatives. Opening an investment account in the parent’s name, with the child named as beneficiary, is one way children can purchase shares in companies or participate in professionally managed funds.

The youngest age a child can start investing is 18 years old. This is because Australian law prevents minors from making investments in their own name. However, parents and relatives can open investment accounts in their own name and nominate children as beneficiaries to that account.

Setting aside cash and investing this early on is one way to set a child up financially. Committing to regular investments, no matter how small, can help parents leverage the benefits of compound growth as their child grows up. Earning interest on interest can help amplify savings over time.

Parents have many options to invest for a child’s future. Youth bank accounts, direct shares, managed funds and ETFs are popular ways to grow wealth. Investing in global stocks will generally provide kids with superior returns over a long period of time, compared to cash in a savings account. 

The main difference between actively managed and passively managed funds (also called index funds) is an actively managed fund attempts to exceed the performance of a particular benchmark (usually a stock index, such as the S&P/ASX 200 Index), whereas a passively managed fund is designed to match it.

To exceed the benchmark, active managers generally make more decisions about which stocks they allocate their funds to, compared to an index fund manager. In doing so, they may trade stocks more frequently. A passive manager, by contrast, usually doesn’t need to make as many decisions; they simply invest their funds in line with the relative weighting of the stocks in the benchmark index.

Management fees charged by an actively managed fund may be higher because the active manager regards itself as doing more work generally. Also, an active manager may earn a performance bonus if their fund’s financial return exceeds its benchmark by a particular amount.

Due to less work generally required of an index fund manager, their management fees are usually much lower. They usually don’t charge a performance fee as their philosophy is to simply invest their funds to match, not outperform, the index.

Itrust Invest believes, by partnering with high performing active fund managers, higher financial returns are more likely over the medium to long term, compared to investing in index funds.

For more information head to our blog.