How Wahed Fees Work

At Wahed, our goal is to help you build a healthier investment journey - one where fees are kept proportionate to your balance and your money remains fully engaged in the markets. This guide will walk you through how our fee structure works, why your portfolio size matters, and the practical steps and tools you can use today to reduce costs and set yourself up for stronger returns.

Our fee model is simple: you either pay 1% per annum of your total portfolio value, billed monthly, or a flat fee of £2.99 each month - whichever amount is higher. Understanding how this works and how fees impact your account can help you keep more of your returns invested for the long haul.

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Understanding Wahed’s Fee Model

Our fee model is simple, you either pay:

• 1% per annum of your total portfolio value, billed monthly,
• Or a flat fee of £2.99 each month

Which fee you pay is based on whichever amount is higher.

In practice, we calculate what 1% of your portfolio would cost on a monthly basis, compare it to £2.99, and charge you whichever is the higher amount. For example, a portfolio with £6,000 would have a 1% annual fee of £60, which we would bill monthly at £5 (because £5 is higher than £2.99).

If you’re on our £2.99 tier, our fees can represent significantly more than 1% of your total portfolio. For example, a £100 portfolio faces an effective annual fee of almost 36%. To unlock our lowest fee of just 1% per annum, you’ll need at least £3,588 in your account.

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Why £3,588 Matters

Because of our hybrid fee structure, there’s a clear threshold: when your portfolio reaches £3,588, 1% of its value for a year equals £35.88 -  exactly £2.99 per month. Below that level, the flat fee becomes the higher of the two options, meaning every portfolio under £3,588 effectively carries a higher effective annual fee percentage.

Have a look at these examples:

• On a £1,000 portfolio, a flat £2.99 monthly fee represents an effective rate of about 3.6% per year.
• On a £500 portfolio, that £2.99 flat fee swells to nearly 7.2% per year.
• On a £100 portfolio, you’re facing an effective fee of almost 36% per year. 
• Only once you hit £3,588 does the flat fee and the percentage fee align, letting you benefit from our lowest-possible 1% p.a rate.

It’s important to understand that at smaller portfolio sizes, fixed fees can have a proportionally greater impact on your returns and it’s unlikely that market movements and the growth of your investments recoup the losses you make due to fees. This could result in net losses even when your underlying investments are growing.

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The Impact of Small Balances

It can be easy to overlook how much a seemingly modest monthly fee can erode returns when your balance is small. Imagine you start with £200: paying £2.99 every month is effectively a fee of around 18% of your investments each year. Over time, fees will eat away at your account and you’ll end up having less capital invested in the markets and slowing your progress toward goals like a home deposit, hajj or retirement.

By understanding how our fees work, you can see why building your balance - whether through a one-off top-up or regular contributions - may help reduce the impact of flat fees, keeping more of your money invested, and potentially compounding.

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Ways to Unlock the 1% Rate

Top up your portfolio to at least £3,588
A one-off deposit that brings you to at least £3,588 immediately switches your fee model to 1% p.a., ensuring you maximise the efficiency of your account’s growth.

Set up regular contributions
Even £25 per week or £100 per month can add up over time and reduce the impact our flat fees have on your portfolio without needing to invest a large sum upfront. Each automated deposit nudges you closer to that magic £3,588 mark where fees stay at 1% p.a.

Review and adjust your risk profile
While fees matter, so do growth potential and volatility. Wahed offers six risk levels to suit different horizons and comfort zones. The value of your investment can go down as well as up on any of the risk levels. If you’re in it for the long term and can handle short-term swings, a higher risk profile may help your balance grow faster - getting you to the 1% tier sooner.

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Tools to Plan Your Path

To help you decide and track your progress, Wahed’s dashboard provides three specialized calculators:

Returns Calculator
Project your investment growth net of fees over any time horizon, using your chosen risk profile.
Link: https://www.wahed.com/uk/wahed-returns-calculator 

Pricing Calculator
See exactly how much you’ll pay under each fee model for any balance—compare the flat £2.99/month against 1% p.a. side by side.
Link: https://www.wahed.com/uk/pricing

Goal Planner
Define your target amount and timeline; it shows how much to invest now and each month, for different risk levels, to reach your objective.
Link: https://www.wahed.com/uk/ 

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