A dividend is a reward paid to shareholders for their investment in the company, and it usually originates from the company's net profits. When a company chooses to pay a dividend, they are choosing to distribute a company’s earnings to its shareholders. The company will determine a certain amount of money to be distributed per share, so the amount that you ultimately get will depend on how many shares you have (or fractions of a share).

We do have many shares that historically pay out dividends. You can browse them on our stocks & shares page.

Please note that while a company has paid dividends in the past, this may not be the case in future. Numerous factors can influence a company's decision to distribute dividends. This is something beyond Wombat’s control.
‍
If you are invested in a company that chooses to pay dividends, the dividends will be added to your account in one of two ways: either paid out to your Wombat cash account, or if it’s an accumulation dividend, profits from the stock’s gains will be reinvested into the stock (increasing their value, as opposed to being paid out in cash).

As of 6th April 2024, the tax-free allowance for dividends is £500.

When investing in themed funds (or Exchange-Traded Funds/ETFs), you are investing in a fund (which contains a collection of companies, grouped by theme) that aims to mirror the performance of a specific stock index without buying stocks in each company individually. With a stock ETF (which is what Wombat offers), you don’t own shares in the individual companies, instead, you own shares of the ETF. As Wombat is a micro-investing platform, you don’t need to buy a whole share of an ETF, instead, you can own fractions of the ETF for just £10 with a Standard GIA. ETFs are considered one of the best ways to diversify your portfolio and are a simple and powerful way to help you realise your investing goals. 

With Wombat’s fractional shares, you can invest, and own a fraction of a whole share from just £10, in individual companies. So no matter your budget, you can own a piece of brands like Tesla, Apple, Amazon or AMC. Fractional shares are only available in General Investment Accounts, though whole shares are also available in ISAs and Junior ISAs.

ETFs can be a more cost-efficient and convenient way to diversify your portfolio (most are exempt from PTM Levy and UK Stamp Duty) because with one single trade you get exposure to multiple assets. However, individual shares, like growth stocks, have the potential to yield greater returns and give you more control to decide exactly which companies to invest in. It’s important to remember that diversification does not fully protect you from risk and does not guarantee returns or eliminate the potential for loss.

Themed Funds (or Exchange-Traded Funds)
‍
With Wombat, you can invest in themed funds (ETFs) in a range of sectors, such as gold, technology and ethical investing from just £10. We work with a number of ETF providers such as BlackRock, Vanguard, Amundi and Rize. Explore our ETFs to see the full range of options. Please note, ETFs are only available with a Wombat Standard account.

Fractional Shares
‍
‍You can also choose to purchase shares in global companies with fractional shares. Sometimes the value of a whole share can be high, which is why we provide fractional shares; fractional shares allow you to purchase part of a whole share for as little as £10. No matter your budget, you can own a piece of brands like Tesla, Apple, Amazon or AMC. Please note, some stocks are only available with certain accounts; the selection of individual fractional shares we offer differs on Standard and Instant accounts. Fractional shares are only available in General Investment Accounts, though whole shares are also available in ISAs and Junior ISAs.

Instant GIA
‍
The shares available for our Instant GIA are traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) which is open Monday-Friday (excluding US bank holidays) 9:30 am to 4:00 pm New York (NY)/Eastern Time (ET). This is usually 14:30 - 21:00 UK time but is subject to change according to daylight savings time.

View holidays and trading hours for the NYSE here.

If you place your trade outside of market hours, you can expect your pending trades to complete when the NYSE next opens.

Standard Accounts

The majority of shares available for our Standard accounts are traded on the UK market, however, a selection of US stocks are available too. 

We trade once a day (this enables us to keep your account fees low) shortly after 15:00 each business day. Trades on this account will complete shortly after 15:00 (if placed before the market opens, any trades placed after this will complete on the next working day).

As Wombat is a micro-investing platform offering shares and ETFs, you can start investing with as little as £10. No matter your budget, you can invest in the companies that matter to you with Wombat.

For our savings accounts, the minimum opening deposit is £500, and you can make unlimited deposits from £50 thereafter.