# Compare Lightyear

How does Lightyear stack up against other investments and savings platforms in Estonia?

Wondering if it's time to leave your current investing platform for Lightyear? Compare fees, FX rates and more - so you can decide which is right for your needs.

- LHV: Investing shouldn’t cost you an arm and a leg.

- Swedbank: For longer-term investing, Lightyear brings down the cost.

## Start investing on Lightyear

Save on broker fees and earn interest on uninvested cash. When you invest, your capital is at risk.

## Questions a curious investor might ask

### How do you keep my money safe?

Trusting us with your money is not something we take for granted. Lightyear Europe AS is a licensed investment firm and as such is bound by strict regulatory obligations in how we handle and protect your assets.

Customer assets always sit separately to our own and are held by authorised custodians. There’s no way for creditors - in the unlikely event of anything happening to Lightyear - to get hold of the investments or cash that you hold with us. 

Lightyear customers have their assets covered up to the amount of 20,000 EUR by the Estonian Investor Protection Sectoral Fund. [Read more about this fund here](https://www.tf.ee/eng/protection-of-investors/#level_of_comp). Your US securities are held with our partner Alpaca, who is [FINRA](https://www.finra.org/about/firms-we-regulate/firms-we-regulate-a) regulated and a [registered](https://www.sipc.org/list-of-members/?query=alpaca) member of the SIPC. This means your US securities are protected up to the value of $500,000 should Alpaca fail. You can read more about this directly on the [SIPC website](https://www.sipc.org/for-investors/investor-faqs#questions-about-brokerage-firms).

Read more about [how your assets are protected](/help/deposits-conversions-and-withdrawals/how-are-my-assets-protected).

### Is Lightyear a bank?

Lightyear is not a bank. We’re an investment platform, so there are a couple of key differences. While we’re regulated by the same authorities as banks, the protection schemes are slightly different for investment platforms [(see here)](/help/deposits-conversions-and-withdrawals/how-are-my-assets-protected). With regards to customer funds, we cannot use customer money in the same way a bank does by lending it out. You have instant access to your Lightyear assets because of this.

### Why are your fees so reasonable? How do you make enough money?

We couldn’t agree more - our fees are very reasonable. We’re one of the most competitively priced investment platforms on the market and that's how we like it. Low cost, transparent pricing is in our DNA. We charge small, but fair, execution fees and take a fee for both foreign exchange and interest payments. Building a sustainable business that’s here to serve customers in 10, 20 and 100 years is something that’s paramount.

### Do you offer interest? 

Yes! There's two ways you can earn interest with Lightyear.

Savings – a separate balance on your Lightyear account – invests into BlackRock's money market funds and offers interest in three currencies, with same or next day liquidity. The current rates for Savings are 2,46% on EUR, 3,87% on GBP, and 3,92% on USD (APY).

Your uninvested cash will also earn interest — 0,00% on EUR, 0,00% on GBP and 0,00% on USD (APY). For more information, check out our [pricing page](/pricing).

### How easy is it to withdraw my money?

Easy. We ensure you always have access to your money and we’ve made the process pretty painless for when you need to withdraw. The transfer times depend on the payout method you’re using but never longer than a day or two. For GBP, EUR, and HUF, your funds typically arrive on the very same day. For USD, your funds typically arrive within two days.

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Canonical: https://lightyear.com/en-ee/comparison