Six Park’s vision is to give all Australians a pathway to financial well-being.
Six Park was founded in 2014 and launched to the public in 2016. Stockspot was founded in 2013 and shares many similarities with Six Park, including a strong belief in the benefits of passive investing through exchange-traded funds.
However, there are important distinctions between our offerings.
Our client research indicates that, when evaluating investment options, key considerations include investment approach, who is managing their money, pricing and performance.
In this Stockspot vs Six Park review, we’ll examine these key differences, including levels of diversification and asset allocation, and how they may impact portfolio risk, performance and price.
We believe these differences are fundamentally important in choosing an investment management solution.
We also understand performance may be an important part of your decision. When you consider performance, you should look at the most current performance data to make an informed choice. Our latest performance data is here.
Stockspot vs Six Park Review
| Six Park | Stockspot | |
| Investment management team and approach | Asset allocation decisions are informed by data/analytics with human oversight if adjustments are deemed appropriate.
Six Park combines data with the guidance of our world-class Investment Advisory Committee, which have decades of experience in managing wealth nationally and internationally. Its members are: ● Former founding Guardian of the Future Fund* and JP Morgan Australia chairman Brian Watson AO, and ● Former Australian Government Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner. *Australia’s sovereign wealth fund (https://www.futurefund.gov.au/) |
Does not have an investment committee making asset allocation decisions.
Stockspot defines its approach as algorithmic. Stockspot does not provide any information about an investment committee on its website. |
| Diversification | 8 asset classes
Six Park’s standard portfolios are diversified in up to 8 asset classes: international shares (hedged and unhedged), Australian shares, emerging markets, global infrastructure, global property, bonds and cash. |
5 asset classes
Stockspot’s standard portfolios are diversified across 5 asset classes: international shares (unhedged only), Australian shares, emerging markets, bonds and gold. |
| ETF selection | Product agnostic, extensive research, and selected by our IAC. You can see our ETF choices here. | Product agnostic, extensive research.
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| Minimum investment | $2,000 | $2,000 |
| Management Fees | Six Park is a little more expensive for lower-value accounts due to added diversification, and cheaper for higher-value ones.
$6.25 per month for amounts between $2,000 and $4,999 $9.95 per month for amounts between $5,000 and $19,999 0.6% per year for amounts between $20,000 and $199,999 0.45% per year for amounts between $200,000 and $499,999 0.35% per year for amounts between $500,000-$1,999,999 0.30% per year for amounts greater than $2 million Six Park has an Invest on Demand feature that enables clients, at their discretion, to trade more frequently than provided by the managed service. The total cost per trade group is $15-45 (one-off, up to 8 ETF trades) *does not include ETF management fees |
Stockspot is a little cheaper for lower-value accounts, and more expensive for higher-value ones.
$5.50 per month for amounts of $10,000 or less 0.66% per year for amounts between $10,000 and $200,000 0.528% per year for amounts between $200,000 and $2,000,000 0.396% per year for amounts $2,000,000 + *does not include ETF management fees |
Why are these differences important?
The differences between Six Park and Stockspot are important because they have an impact on portfolio behaviour and performance over different time frames.
For example, Six Park doesn’t use gold as part of its portfolios for several reasons including its level of volatility. Read more about why Six Park does not use gold as an asset class as explained by Six Park co-founder Pat Garrett.
Stockspot uses gold across all of its portfolios. Gold experienced significant swings (both positive and negative) in 2020, which produced periods of outperformance and underperformance relative to other asset classes, but with no income during this period, which is noted in the article above as an undesirable attribute of this asset class over time.
Six Park’s standard portfolios contain more ETFs than Stockspot’s, which means our fees are slightly higher than Stockspot for smaller portfolios, due to a higher number of individual trades required when you add to your investment.
We recognise that keeping fees low is very important, but we also trust the expertise and recommendations of our Investment Advisory Committee (IAC) and believe the added diversification they recommend benefits our clients beyond the small difference in price.
There are of course other differences between our services, so you should make sure you do your own research to ensure you pick the right service for you.
How it works
Take the free assessment
Take our short online assessment so we can understand your investment goals and how long you plan to invest. We will then recommend an appropriate portfolio for you. You can then choose to take on less/more risk and between our standard or sustainable portfolios.
Fund your account
We set up your accounts, including a cash management and brokerage account. Add money to your cash management account, and when your balance is $2,000 or more, we’ll invest your money in carefully selected exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Grow & track
Grow your investment by regularly adding money to your account, and we’ll provide regular rebalancing, reporting and reviews, which keeps your investments on track and gives you insight into how your investments are performing.