Manage your portfolio the smart way when using a phone

The main attraction of using your mobile to view and manage your portfolio is the convenience of being able to access it on the go.

"If you're an avid day trader, 24/7 access to your portfolio is vital," says Justin Modray, director at independent financial adviser Candid Financial Advice. "But even if you're just a keen investor, it's nice to have that information at your fingertips as it allows you to see how your investments are doing and perhaps do a bit of research on a fund or share, or some background analysis of your portfolio away from home."

Monitoring your portfolio regularly can be helpful as you can see if there is a sudden, large fall in one of your holdings and look further into it. "If you see one of your funds going down a lot and you don't know why, it's important to research it - especially if its peers haven't fallen in the same way," says Mr Modray.

If you only check your portfolio once or twice a year, you may miss the opportunity to address the issue, which could be due to a number of reasons, for example a manager leaving or a particular concentration the fund has.

Mobile investing can also be helpful for investors - particularly young ones - who may not own a laptop or desktop, but are used to running their lives via their smartphone or tablet.

Mobiles are making investment more accessible to this new generation of investors, believes Chris Worle, digital strategy director at Hargreaves Lansdown. His company found that three in every five accounts opened with Hargreaves via mobile are by people aged 19 to 35. And nearly half (48 per cent) of all mobile trades were completed by people aged 44 or under.

"Macro events such as the Brexit vote and Trump's US election victory saw large increases in the numbers of people logging into their accounts and much bigger increases from mobile devices," Mr Worle adds. "People now don't just rush to their mobiles for information. Investors want to be able to view their portfolios and make trades on the go to take advantage of fast-moving markets."

Mobile limitations

Although your mobile can be useful for monitoring your investments Mr Modray says the most you should check your portfolio is once a week or once a month. Equity markets can be volatile, so you don't want to overreact to short-term market movements by trading too often.

"You can end up getting too obsessed and making a rash decision," he says. "I've got a few clients who look at their portfolio every day, and can get quite panicky if they see their portfolio going down. But most of the time it's better to invest for the long term and ride things out."

If you decide to sell out of your investments in a panic you risk selling at the bottom and locking in losses. You should also think about the tax implications of selling an asset and crystallising a capital gain.

Many DIY platforms, meanwhile, don't have mobile apps, which restricts the choice of who you hold your investments with. This means you might not be able to use the broker which is most cost effective for your needs.

"In some ways it's surprising that many platforms don't have apps," says Mark Polsen, founder of platform research company the lang cat. "But to be fair to them, when you're dealing with technology that's going to carry tens of billions of investor money, you've got to do it right and often they've got other things they are focusing on, for example making sure their pension freedom capability is working properly."

Another reason why many platforms don't have mobile apps is because they rely on third parties for their technology services and therefore are heavily dependent on these companies' technology capability, according to Mr Polsen.

Holly MacKay, founder of Boring Money, adds: "In many cases trying to manage an investment process on a smartphone is still not as good as accessing this via desktop. Trading is generally OK but actually setting up an account, for example, is not that easy."

As a result she tends to use her mobile for tracking and monitoring her portfolio, but prefers to sit down at a desktop or laptop for trading and research.

How to invest via your mobile

When you're choosing an app, make sure you fully research the company behind it.

"I wouldn't just invest on the basis of a company having a good app and then put money into its individual savings account (Isa) or share account," says Mr Modray. "You want to make sure its robust and secure, doesn't have sky high dealing charges, and that you're not going to be locked in because of high exit fees."

For this reason it makes sense to choose a platform before you consider using its app. You could, for instance, make a shortlist of two or three platforms you like the look of based on the range of investments they offer, charges and services. You could then download their apps to test them for ease of use and speed before choosing your favourite. Mobile apps are generally free to download, but you will be charged to make trades, usually at the platform's standard dealing price.

Security is another major consideration, so check what kind of security the app and platform offers. Most mobile investing apps should use secure encryption and two factor authentication - where you input two pieces of information - to keep your details safe. Some also offer fingerprint log-in recognition.

You should also bear in the mind the risk of losing your phone or having it stolen, and make sure that you have a secure pin or password that stops someone being able to access your portfolio.

"I've looked at all the platforms' apps and none of them have struck me as insecure," says Mr Polsen. "Most security issues comes from user-created problems such as using passwords that are easily cracked or using the same passwords across a number of accounts, which makes the hackers' work easy for them."

To get around this he suggests using a password manager, which is able to generate, store and retrieve complex passwords for you. Free examples include LastPass, KeePass and RoboForm.

Which DIY platforms offer a mobile app?

Source: Product providers