The Financial Interest Awards 2025

Most awards are a joke.

This isn't how an awards ceremony would usually start, but we like to do things differently around here.

So, let's address the elephant in the room: awards are regularly a sham, a complete joke, and can even verge on being fraudulent.

While the general public is mostly unaware of this, awards are often pay-to-play and sold to the highest bidder – whichever company spends the most in advertising, whoever buys the most seats at an awards dinner, or whoever will promote it to the largest following on social media.

We wanted to change that with awards you can actually trust.

Financial Interest Awards are decided strictly on merit. Some winners have been decided by the public, with over 17,000 votes cast in total, and the majority have been selected by our in-house experts – public votes are great but can result in a popularity contest, so we placed a large emphasis on our own analysis, using a mix of objective data and subjective opinions.

Winners selected by the public

Public Choice Award: Trading 212

Selected by over 13,500 public votes across three rounds on Damien Talks Money, the Public Choice Award for 2025 goes to Trading 212 in a landslide victory – 67% of votes in the final went to the platform, with other finalists Vanguard receiving 15%, InvestEngine 11%, and Hargreaves Lansdown 7%.

Fund Provider of the Year: Vanguard

In another victory with an overwhelming winner, Vanguard received 77% of the vote for Fund Provider of the Year, with over 3,700 voters on Damien Talks Money deciding the outcome in total. Invesco picked up 12% of votes, BlackRock (iShares) 10%, and Amundi 1%.

Winners selected by us

Best Investing Platform: AJ Bell

Awarded to the broker that has the best all-round offering, AJ Bell is the winner of our inaugural Best Investing Platform prize. They have a large number of account types available including a Stocks & Shares ISA, a SIPP, Lifetime ISA, Junior ISA, General Investment Account and more, and their fees and features within these accounts always seem to be competitive at a minimum and the best on the market in some areas. AJ Bell is the best 'Jack-of-all-trades' investment platform in 2025.

Best Stocks & Shares ISA: Trading 212

The Best Stocks & Shares ISA 2025 goes to Trading 212 for offering fractional stocks and ETFs with no trading commissions, no account management fees, and a best-on-the-market FX rate of just 0.15% – a figure that's literally 10% of what some competitors charge. This flexible Stocks & Shares ISA allows you to withdraw and re-deposit in the same tax year without affecting your annual ISA limits, withdrawals are lightning-quick whenever we've tested, and you can deposit and withdraw for free.

Best Junior ISA: Hargreaves Lansdown

Hargreaves Lansdown offer a Junior Stocks & Shares ISA where they won't charge you a penny*. No trading commissions on stocks, ETFs, or mutual funds, and no account management fees either. How can anyone compete with that? In our opinion, they can't, and therefore they win the Best Junior Stocks & Shares ISA 2025 award.

*Fund fees still apply.

Best Cash ISA: Trading 212

Picking up their third award in quick succession, Trading 212 takes the crown for the Best Cash ISA 2025. Their Cash ISA is instant access meaning you can withdraw at any time and receive funds quickly, and it's a flexible ISA meaning you can withdraw and redeposit in the same tax year without affecting your annual ISA limits. You can withdraw as many times as you like without having your interest rate penalised, and the minimum deposit is just £1. Their interest rate is always at, or near to, the top of the market.

Best SIPP: AJ Bell

When considering the Best SIPP 2025 award, AJ Bell's SIPP was the standout choice because it offers everything the average person might want and it does so cost-effectively. Their fees for shares and ETFs are capped at just £10 per month*, mutual fund fees are lower than most of their competitors, and dealing fees are on the low side too. They allow your employer to contribute, you can deposit company funds yourself as a shareholder, and they support drawdown if you are in retirement. Phone support, email support, and live chat are nice touches that will appeal to many.

*Fund fees still apply.

Best Junior SIPP: Fidelity

There was only one contender when it comes to the Best Junior SIPP: Fidelity. Fidelity charge no account fees with their JSIPP, and there are no dealing fees when trading mutual funds either. And when investing as part of a regular savings plan, investments into shares and ETFs cost just £1.50 per month (or £7.50 per trade otherwise). When it comes to fees, no competitor comes close to Fidelity in the Junior SIPP market.

Fund fees also apply.

Best Lifetime Stocks & Shares ISA: AJ Bell Dodl

In the Best Lifetime Stocks & Shares ISA category there are a few leading options, and it was AJ Bell Dodl that came out victorious. The Dodl Lifetime ISA offers a high interest rate on uninvested cash, allowing you to use it in a similar way to a Lifetime Cash ISA should you wish – while retaining the option to invest your funds whenever you wish. Dodl's fees are low for those with small portfolios, and transfers from other LISAs are supported.

Best Lifetime Cash ISA: Tembo

Tembo have found a way to put a cat amongst the pigeons in the savings space. The relatively small fintech and their Lifetime Cash ISA (plus their regular Cash ISA too) competes with bigger players by offering no limited time promotional rates, no withdrawal penalties, and no frills – just an extremely good interest rate that will last. They're doing the simple stuff well, like treating both new and existing customers in exactly the same way – loyalty isn't punished.

Best Low-Cost Broker: Trading 212

Picking up their fourth and final award for 2025, Trading 212 were selected as the Best Low-cost Broker. They already won Best Stocks & Shares ISA and the Public Choice Award (plus the Best Cash ISA to boot) precisely because of their ability to offer accounts with low fees, so when it comes to an award specifically dedicated to low fees, it could only be Trading 212. Their selection of instruments and account features just massively exceed the other platforms competing in the low-cost space at this time.

Best Fund Platform: iWeb

Providing one of the most cost-effective ways to invest in mutual funds is iWeb, the winner of the Best Fund Platform 2025. With just a £5 dealing fee per investment and no other costs charged by iWeb, the potential cost saving compared to paying an annual fee of 0.25% (or greater) is extremely significant. Our compound interest calculator suggests that paying a £5 dealing fee every month compared to paying 0.25% in annual fees could save you around £3,650 when investing £5,000 per year for 20 years.

Best ETF Platform: InvestEngine

InvestEngine is hard to beat when it comes to ETFs in the UK – after all, it's all they do. There are no individual stocks on offer which can remove the temptation to trade, there are no investments priced in foreign currencies meaning you can potentially save money on FX fees, deposits and withdrawals are free, and you can avoid account management fees and trading commissions in their DIY account too*. They are worthy winners of our Best ETF Platform 2025 award.

*Fund fees still apply.

Best Managed Service: InvestEngine

Not only do they offer a low-cost DIY investing account, InvestEngine also scoop the prize for the Best Managed Service thanks to their low-cost managed investment accounts. They provide done-for-you investment services at a fraction of the price of their competitors. They combine the scale and ease of modern robo-advisers with the feel of more traditional institutions to offer a managed service that provides the best of both worlds.

Best Investing Experience: Lightyear

A relatively new kid on the block in the UK market and needing to do something different to make themselves known, Lightyear are the winners of the Best Investing Experience award for 2025. This is given to the broker offering the best investment app and desktop site, making use for both beginners and experienced investors easy and enjoyable. Using Lightyear is simple, intuitive, and even fun in places – if you're investing nerds like us, that is.

Best for Large Portfolios: Interactive Investor

If you hold a large amount of money with an investment platform, annual fees can really start to take a toll. However, Interactive Investor and their fixed-fee model can provide exceptional cost-effectiveness on larger portfolios. They also offer a range of different investment accounts for adults and even a Junior ISA, meaning you can hold substantial portfolio balances across a variety of accounts and pay very low fees when doing so. Interactive Investor wins our 2025 award for Best for Large Portfolios.

Best for Active Investors: Interactive Brokers

We often like to focus on simplicity and beginner-friendliness, but that isn't the case with this award. The Best for Active Investors 2025 is Interactive Brokers (IBKR), who stand tall above their rivals when it comes to advanced investing tools and analytics. Their fees are competitive, and they're an excellent choice if you're serious about active investing.

Financial Influencer of the Year: Gary Stevenson

One content creator in the UK finance space has made more noise than any other (by a significant margin) over the last twelve months.

Love him or hate him, agree or disagree with his opinions, this guy could probably rack up half a million views on a video where he's sitting in silence. Even the UK government are starting to take note.

Politics aside – we try to remain impartial and cover a range of differing opinions from both sides of the political spectrum – what we like is this creator's insightful and simplified explanations of money and the economy.

For these reasons, there can only be one winner. Our first ever Financial Influencer of the Year award goes to Gary Stevenson, of Gary's Economics.

Transparency statement

We are an affiliate of a number of platforms on this list. We have not included affiliate links in these awards. We are 100% honest at all times and never have our opinions swayed by money – our morals are worth far more to us than money in the bank – but we understand how it might look if we included affiliate links here. Plenty of brokers won awards that we are not affiliates of; AJ Bell, Fidelity, Interactive Brokers, Tembo, Vanguard, iWeb, and AJ Bell Dodl. Award selections were backed up with reasons that you can verify for yourself. We try our best to ask every platform for an affiliate arrangement, though some do not offer such a scheme.

Investment platforms did not know we were compiling these awards in advance of selections. They did not have to pay to enter or to claim their prize. They did not get the chance to ask their audience to vote. They do not have to pay to use our awards in their marketing.

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