Consistent rate hikes by central banks make lending more expensive, while earning profits for banks. And as unfair as it is, it seems that banks are not passing gains from these hikes back to customers.
Lightyear has built an investment platform that helps customers make sure their money is always working.
Stock market exposure
The key to making your money work for you is to invest it in a way that maximises your returns while minimising your risk. With Lightyear, you can build a diversified portfolio of international investments that help you achieve this goal. By investing in a wide range of assets, such as stocks, bonds and ETFs, you can spread your risk and increase your chances of earning a steady return on your investments.
Multi-currency opportunities
Lightyear allows you to deposit, invest and hold your money in multiple currencies. This can help you hedge against currency fluctuations and protect your investments from the risk of inflation. In addition, by keeping your funds in your preferred currency, you can avoid the need to convert them back and forth each time you want to purchase a foreign instrument, which saves you money.
% Interest on uninvested cash
Many investors seeking safety in volatile markets want to keep their money in cash and grow it through earning interest.
It’s not often known that every financial institution earns interest on customer money, and has the option to pass it on to their users. While banks may not offer significant interest rates on uninvested cash, Lightyear is changing the game by providing an agile and transparent way of passing on central bank interest directly to customers.
You can choose whether you’d like to earn interest on your dollar, pound sterling or on your euro balances. The current interest rates we pass on (as of May 29, 2023) are 4.25% on the dollar, 3.55% on pound sterling and 2.5% on euro. We calculate your accrued interest rate daily, and pay it out on the first of every month.
Lightyear tracks what central banks are doing closely — and the moment they raise or lower the interest rate, we pass that on to our customers. Customer interest calculation is simple = central bank rate - Lightyear fee of 0.75%.
This is a win-win situation. Customers have easy and low-cost access to local and international markets. And while they choose where to invest, their money earns daily interest on their account.
Disclaimer
When investing, please remember that your capital is at risk. Past performance is not an indicator of future success. Terms apply, seek guidance if necessary.
By Martin Sokk
Martin is a lifelong product builder in the finance world having joined Wise as the first product person. Martin began working with Mihkel on the idea for Lightyear in the summer of 2020. After meeting for a coffee to catch up, they both quickly realised that they shared a strong opinion: investing in Europe is still broken.
