The digital investment service, part of wealth management group Tilney Smith & Williamson, said clients can continue to select investments from thousands of funds, investment trusts, ETFs and shares via ISAs, Junior ISAs, Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPPs) and General Investment Accounts.

But as part of its new offering, people can book a free investment coaching appointment for help when it comes to investing, ways to maximise allowances and to help with key cash-flow planning decisions.

The investment coaches are qualified financial planners and can be booked via the platform even before customers part with their cash.

If personalised advice is needed, Bestinvest offers two ‘bite-sized’ packages for a one-off fixed fee:

• Investing for your goals priced at £295. This will cover help with investing cash in choosing the right ready-made portfolio or asset allocation, or
• Portfolio health check at £495. This will help customers with advice on what to sell, hold and buy with the proceeds.

It’s also unveiled digital tools to help savers monitor their progress against their investment goals and comes as its research suggests 80% of investors said investing for a life goal secures better outcomes.

And it has also launched five new risk-rated multi-asset funds of funds (Smart portfolios) aimed at novice investors or for those seeking a core and satellite approach to investing. They invest predominantly in low-cost ETFs and index trackers.

Bestinvest claimed the total annual costs for the Smart portfolios are approximately a third lower than many robo-advisers, with ongoing costs “as low as 0.34%”. It also has a reduced account fee of no more than 0.2% based on the investment value.

Chris Woodhouse, chief executive of Tilney Smith & Williamson, said: “We are very excited that the new Bestinvest service has now gone live. This is an important strategic initiative for us that offers great value for existing DIY investors while also enabling us to support less confident savers, consistent with our corporate purpose of ‘placing the power of good advice into more hands’.”

“It is estimated there are 9.2 million people in the UK who already have some form of long-term savings but who are not getting professional advice and have low confidence in their investment knowledge. A further four million people are estimated to have excess cash savings that they would be willing to invest, but many just don’t know who to turn to. Until now these 13.2 million people have been underserved by the wealth management industry, but we believe we have created a compelling offering to help them.”