No additional fees when you invest directly in Castlefield funds

Experiencing market movements up and down is a normal part of investing. Leaving your money invested for five years or more gives you the best chance for your money to grow. Remember, no investment is guaranteed to deliver returns.

Your annual allowance for ISAs from all providers this tax year is £20,000, and that’s the combined total across any types of ISA you have.

The current maximum amount you can put into a Junior ISA each tax year is £9,000.

You can only open and put money into one of each type of ISA every tax year. As an example, this means you can only open one stocks and shares ISA this tax year, but you can also open a cash ISA.

The Junior ISA is currently only available through completion of a paper application form. Please use the link below to access the application form.

Access JISA application form

We offer a range of sustainable equity funds and a multi-asset Real Return fund. Managed by our dedicated team, each fund aims to deliver a specific investment objective. 

Castlefield Sustainable UK Smaller Companies Fund

Aims to achieve capital growth over a period in excess of five years, from a portfolio of typically 30 to 50 listed or AIM-quoted UK smaller company shares, using the B.E.S.T proprietary responsible investment approach. To embed proper consideration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors as part of the investment selection process, to ensure that each investment is sustainable.

Risk Profile 6*

Castlefield Sustainable UK Opportunities Fund

Aims to achieve capital growth over a period in excess of five years from a portfolio of companies listed within the UK, using the B.E.S.T proprietary responsible investment approach. To embed proper consideration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors as part of the investment selection process, to ensure that each investment is sustainable.

Risk Profile 5*

Castlefield Sustainable European Fund

Aims to achieve capital growth over a period in excess of five years from a concentrated portfolio of equities listed within European countries, using the B.E.S.T proprietary responsible investment approach. To embed proper consideration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors as part of the investment selection process, to ensure that each investment is sustainable.

Risk Profile 6*

Castlefield Real Return Fund

The Fund aims to generate a positive annualised real return over a rolling 3 year basis. However, there is no guarantee that this objective will be achieved over that specific, or any, time period and there is always a risk of loss to your original capital. Real return is measured as being greater than UK Consumer Pricing Index measure of inflation, over a rolling 3 year time horizon.

Risk Profile 4*

Learn more about the Castlefield range of funds here.

*See below 'Understanding Risk' section for further information on these Risk Profile numbers 

Our portfolio funds offer easy access to the best of what we offer, whether you’re looking for capital growth, income or any combination of the two.

They have been selected by the Castlefield investment team following our B.E.S.T. sustainable investment framework, and will typically include a wide range of investments across a number of different asset classes. 

Castlefield Sustainable Portfolio Growth Fund

Aims to provide capital growth over a period in excess of five years through a portfolio where more than 50% of the Fund is invested in collective investment schemes with exposure to both UK and non-UK equities and fixed income securities using the B.E.S.T proprietary responsible investment approach. To embed proper consideration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors as part of the investment selection process, to ensure that each investment is sustainable.

Risk Profile 5*

Castlefield Sustainable Portfolio Income Fund

To provide income, with a minimum income return of 3% per annum, and also to provide capital growth over a period in excess of five years through a portfolio where more than 50% of the Fund is invested in collective investment schemes with exposure to both UK and non-UK equities and fixed income securities using the B.E.S.T proprietary responsible investment approach. To embed proper consideration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors as part of the investment selection process, to ensure that each investment is sustainable.

Risk Profile 4*

Learn more about the CFP Castlefield Sustainable Portfolio Funds here

*See below 'Understanding Risk' section for further information on these Risk Profile numbers

By using the Castlefield Direct website you can invest in any of the Castlefield funds or our portfolio funds (which include a broader range of investments chosen by our investment team), or any combination of these.

When investing in a combination, please be aware that you would need to open an account for each of the different funds you want to invest in:

Castlefield Funds ISA
Castlefield Funds JISA
Castlefield Funds GIA

Castlefield Portfolio Funds ISA
Castlefield Portfolio Funds JISA
Castlefield Portfolio Funds GIA

Risk can be defined in a variety of ways but one simple way to think about it is as the chance that the actual outcome an investment produces for you could turn out to be different from the one you expected at the time when you invested your money.

This includes the possibility of losing some or all the money you invest.

At the heart of every investment decision is a basic ‘trade off’ between risk and possible reward or return. Broadly speaking, the greater the risk attached to an investment, the greater the potential reward but the greater the possibility also of not achieving your objective. Economic, political, and business cycles can cause significant changes in the value of investments – both up and down.

A quantitative measure of risk is through the volatility of fund’s value.

The Synthetic Risk and Reward Indicator (SRRI) provides a relative measure of a fund’s ‘risk’ by calculating its volatility of its past performance. The SRRI is presented as a numerical value where the values will range from 1 to 7, where 1 will mean lower risk (i.e. cash or Gilts) and 7 indicates that the level of risk is relatively high (i.e. stocks and shares).

Below is a table of the categorisation of risk calculated by the SRRI.

The way how we select investments at Castlefield means that we actively exclude those you wouldn't expect to find in ethical investing funds (such as holdings in tobacco, mining, high interest lending, oil & gas companies), along with companies with poor human rights or worker's rights records.

Our ten key positive sustainability themes also provide a framework for assessing potential investments.

Further details on how we select investments for our ethical investing funds can be seen in this short video.

Castlefield Investment Screening - a closer look

Making a choice to invest ethically is not only good for wider society and the environment, but it can also be good for your portfolio as well.

We believe that responsible business practices and sustainable products and services will allow companies to produce better investment returns over the long-term.

This piece outlines ten reasons to consider when looking at ethical investing funds, and why it's important to invest ethically. 

Why ethical investing is important

Anyone attempting to invest ethically and responsibly will soon discover that it isn’t easy. To do so properly takes a lot of time and effort, skilled assessment and detailed research. Even once you form your selection methodology, you will soon find that there are plenty of grey areas needing careful consideration and skilled decision-making, of the type that goes deeper than mere technical comparison.

We created a list of ten common challenges faced when looking to invest ethically. 

The challenge of investing ethically

If you want to read more about ethical investing and responsible investment approaches, this piece covers a number of responsible investing approaches.

Responsible Investing Approaches

• Castlefield offers a range of professionally managed investment Funds using our own values-based approach
• Castlefield’s products are flexible enough for you to be able to switch funds – meaning you can stay on track with your financial goals and needs as they change
• You can add money or withdraw* money at a one off or regular intervals, or change the payment amount and/or frequency of your investments – we do not charge you for doing this
• You can change payments you make to your account.  
• You can stop payments at any time. 

*Due to ISA regulations, this facility is not available for the Castlefield Junior ISA until the child reaches 18.

An Individual Savings Account is most commonly known as an ISA. A stocks and shares ISA, sometimes referred to as an investment ISA, is an account that lets you invest tax-efficiently. That means you do not need to pay income tax or capital gains tax on any money you earn.

This type of ISA has the potential to grow your investment by more than a cash ISA or savings accounts. Investing works best over the long term, and it's generally accepted that you should stay invested for at least five years, as this can increase your chance of positive returns.

Because the stocks and shares ISA invests your money, please bear in mind that the value of an ISA can fall as well as rise, and you could get back less than you put in.

Your exact tax benefits will depend on your circumstances and may change in the future.

An open-ended investment company (OEIC) is a type of investment fund in the United Kingdom that invests in different equities, bonds, and other securities. If you are invested within an Open-Ended Investment Company, known as an OEIC, you are pooling your money along with other investors in the fund. OEICs are called "open-ended" because they can create new shares to meet investor demand, so there is no limit to the number of people who can invest in the fund, and there is no limit on how much can be invested in total, either by individual investors or by those investing on behalf of a business or organisation.   

A professional investor, known as the fund manager, uses their knowledge and expertise to make the decisions of when to buy, sell or hold investments within the Fund, in accordance with the Fund’s stated investment objective.

A fund manager will typically invest in a selection of suitable assets, such as cash, equities (stocks and shares) and/or bonds, as stated within a Fund’s investment objective whilst seeking a reasonable degree of ‘diversification’ of investments. This is a means of spreading the risk to investors across many holdings, and/or differing asset classes, to help minimise the overall risk to investors.

The Fund manager to the Castlefield range of investment funds is Castlefield Investment Partners LLP who assist individuals, business and charities to achieve their financial goals.

When investing in a fund you are provided access to a portfolio of investments and exposed to the skill of a professional manager to select the appropriate investments and manage the associate risks on your behalf.

This is done through selection of investments across several sectors through their employment of their own proprietary research process.

There are many advantages when investing in a fund.

Alongside having access to a professional investment manager to research and identify the most suitable assets to invest in, you have the benefit of diversification. Diversification is a way to mitigate some of the risks of investing by investing across a wide range of different asset classes i.e. you don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.

Funds also benefit from simplicity, as they will typically invest in a number of different assets and manage them on an ongoing basis, which would be difficult to replicate as an individual – either through the time, skill and expertise involved in researching and maintaining investments, or by investing in assets that are unavailable for private ‘retail’ investors.  

Investing in a Castlefield fund also means that you would benefit from a highly skilled team of professionals who take the stewardship of investments within the funds very seriously, to make sure that money invested is being managed in a responsible way.

Understand that investing is for the longer term
Experiencing market movements up and down is a normal part of investing. Leaving your money invested for five years or more gives you the best chance for your money to grow. Remember, no investment is guaranteed to deliver returns.

Consider your investing goals and tolerance to risk 
Read through the fund's supporting documents, such as the factsheet and the brochure to get an understanding of the fund, its risk rating and its suitability for you.

Understand the differences between fund types
Different funds will have varying strategies and objectives, so get an understanding of how well these align with what you want. If you are unsure of the suitability of a product or fund, seek the advice of an authorised financial adviser.

There is no additional charge for directly investing within the Castlefield Fund range. The service does not attract any additional fee that you may have on a platform.

The only charges are in-built within each fund’s price, these are disclosed as the ongoing charges (“OCF”) within the KIID and Factsheets.

An authorised corporate director (ACD) is a corporate body that is given powers and duties, under FCA regulations, to responsibly operate the running of an investment fund. They have a duty to act in the best interests of the fund's investors, and ensure that the fund is well managed in line with regulations and with the investment objectives and policies set out in its prospectus.

The Authorised Corporate Director (ACD) to the Castlefield range of investment funds is ConBrio Fund Partners, part of the same ‘Castlefield’ group of companies as the fund manager and is legally responsible for the day-to-day management of a fund and must ensure that it’s managed within the detailed regulations applying to it.

Further information about ConBrio can be found at the link below

What is an ACD

Investing within a fund through either an ISA, or a Junior ISA, means you will benefit from the tax advantages that these types of products provide.

There are additional tax advantages even when investing outside an ISA product, maybe if you have already used your annual ISA allowance for the tax year. Unlike other types of investments (such as investment bonds), gains achieved through selling down an investment within a fund are usually taxed at ‘capital gains’ rather than ‘income’. Depending on your personal circumstances, this can be advantageous, especially if you are a higher rate income taxpayer.            

This means you could make use of your Capital Gains Tax (CGT) allowance (currently at £12,300 per year) and the CGT tax rate which is lower than income tax.

Please see the below table as a guide to current CGT rates and income tax rates you will pay either as a basic, higher, or additional rate taxpayer:

The current annual allowances for investment within ISA products in each tax year are below:

If you are investing on behalf of your business, or other organisation (i.e. Charity), the tax position will depend on the type of organisation it is. Tax treatment is subject to change in the future.

You should seek regulated financial advice before deciding on the best investment product for you and your business.