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Frequently Asked Questions 

We get it, this sort of thing is confusing. So here are some of the most common questions we get. Note: if you're a current client, please scroll down the page to the current clients section

 

General

How does this digital advice work?

Our digital advice offering is designed to help determine the appropriate investment portfolio for you, given your risk, income and ethical preferences. 

It does this by asking you 12 questions about your experience, attitude and objectives of investing. As well as which, if any, of the ethical categories you'd like to apply. 

We have a video available on the digital advice home page which explains the on-boarding process, and we highly recommend getting into the system and having a look. There is absolutely no obligation to submit.

Who is Nucleus Wealth?

Nucleus Wealth is the investment manager of investments made through this digital advice offering. This means they determine what investments are made on your behalf. They do this according to which portfolio options you choose to invest in (or are advised to invest in) and the rules of those portfolios. See the FAQs tab on "Portfolios" to find our more about the rules of each of portfolio.

Nucleus Wealth's investment team have over 100 years of combined experience in investing. 

What is Praemium?

Praemium is a platform that administers investments and performs trading of stocks on behalf of Nucleus Wealth clients.

Nucleus Wealth chose Praemium as its investment platform because Praemium is fully backed by global and local banks, such as JPMorgan, HSBC and ANZ, offering the gold standard for client asset protection.

What are Separately Managed Accounts and how do they work?

A Separately Managed Account is a portfolio of individual securities managed on the client’s behalf by a professional asset management firm, in this case Nucleus Wealth. Separately Managed Accounts offer the investor the benefits of direct share ownership. Dividends, distributions and franking credits are confined to the client’s account, whilst the client still has the hands off nature of a professionally managed investment solution. Separately Managed Accounts have been around for some time, and have grown in popularity in the last 5 years.

What is a Self Managed Super Fund?

A self managed super fund (SMSF) is a superannuation trust structure that provides benefits to its members upon retirement. The main difference between Self Managed Super Funds and other super funds is that Self Managed Super Fund members are also the trustees of the fund. More information on Self Managed Super Funds here and here.

 

What type of investment accounts does you offer?

Individual - For clients looking to invest personal money in their own name (not in superannuation)

Personal Superannuation - For clients looking to rollover funds from their existing personal superannuation account, or looking to open a new account

Joint - For clients looking to invest personal money in the name of 2 people (e.g. the client and their partner)

Company - For clients looking to invest money in the name of a company they have control of

Trust with Individual Trustees - For clients looking to invest money in the name of a trust they control that has individual trustees 

Trust with a Corporate Trustee - For clients looking to invest money in the name of a trust they control that has a corporate trustee

SMSF with Individual Trustees - For clients looking to invest money in the name of a Self Managed Super Fund they control that has individual trustees

SMSF with a Corporate Trustee - For clients looking to invest money in the name of a Self Managed Super Fund they control that has a corporate trustee

Can I be sent the Product Disclosure Statement prior to opening an investment account?

You can access the Product Disclosure Statement for our digital advice products through the on-boarding portal, keeping in mind that creating an application is without charge and completely obligation free.

Another advantage of doing the on-boarding process is that you will also get more accurate fee estimates once you get to the review stage.

If you do decide to submit an application you will also be emailed several documents, including the Product Disclosure Statement.

What are the minimum investment amounts for our digital advice portfolios?

Tactical Foundation - $10,000

Tactical Growth - $200,000

Tactical Accumulation - $200,000

Tactical Income - $200,000 (for lower investment balances, please contact us)

Core International - $70,000

Core Australia - $25,000

Nucleus Super -  $35,000

These minimums are a guide to the investment required to get adequate diversification.

 

How is my personal information verified when it is uploaded onto the onboarding portal?

We use a third-party platform called GreenID, which cross-checks your data against several databases including the electoral roll. This is in compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Laws.

 

Is cash in the accounts covered by the Australian Government Guarantee Scheme?

Yes.

Omnibus cash deposits’ of the Scheme is protected up to $250,000 as it is held in a trust account with a covered Authorised Deposit-taking Institution.

The Financial Claims Scheme provides protection for depositors of banks, credit unions and building societies that are incorporated in Australia (also known as authorised deposit-taking institutions or ADIs), for deposits up to $250,000 per account holder per Authorised Deposit-taking Institution. The scheme aims to return deposits to account holders within seven days of activation of the Financial Claims Scheme. 

The Financial Claims Scheme applies to a wide range of deposit accounts held with Authorised Deposit-taking Institutions that are incorporated in Australia, but only applies to deposit accounts with funds in Australian dollars. Under the Financial Claims Scheme an account holder can be the trustee(s) of a trust (e.g. the account holder is Praemium as trustee of the trust/Scheme).

The Scheme’s custodian, HSBC Bank Australia Limited, is an Authorised Deposit-taking Institution covered under the Financial Claims Scheme. 

Other protection and assurance is that it is a registered managed investment scheme that is regulated by ASIC and assets are held by an external regulated custodian. Responsible Entity & custodian must comply with certain capital and investor protection requirements e.g. assets held on trust. 

Regulatory Guide 133 can be found here, and Regulatory Guide 166 can be found here.

 

What sort of portfolios does Nucleus Wealth have?

Nucleus Wealth is the investment manager of investments made through this digital advice offering. This means they determine what investments are made on your behalf. Below is a list of the types of investment they offer. 

Tactical Portfolios 

These portfolios feature "Tactical Asset Allocation", meaning the amount of cash, bonds and shares in each portfolio is adjusted by Nucleus Wealth to take advantage of global macroeconomic themes and to help protect the portfolio during volatile market conditions.

Through our onboarding portal, you can select any of the portfolios or a blend of several, or receive a recommendation of an appropriate blend by using Nucleus Wealth’s free online advice tool.

4 Tactical Portfolios: Tactical Foundation, Tactical Growth, Tactical Accumulation, Tactical Income

 

Core Share Portfolios

These portfolios hold only Australian or International shares respectively, and do not feature Tactical Asset Allocation, meaning they are always fully invested and are not ‘de-risked’ at any time. This can mean higher levels of volatility compared with Tactical portfolios.

2 Core Portfolios: Core International, Core Australia

 

What type of investments does Nucleus Wealth use?

Nucleus Wealth has opted to only use what the company sees as the basic building blocks of a quality diversified portfolio. 

You will only find in Nucleus Wealth portfolios variants of cash, Australian Federal Government Bonds and companies that sit in the MSCI World index, which are roughly the largest 1600 companies in the world, including about 65 of the largest Australian stocks. 

Nucleus Wealth is long only, and considers its portfolios to be the ‘nucleus’ of a clients’ investments, making up the lower risk core of a portfolio.  Some investors choose to surround this core with higher risk investments that they (or other fund managers) manage themselves.

Nucleus Wealth looks after:

Tactical asset allocation: for example holding more cash and bonds in periods of market volatility

Stock selection: choosing which stocks to own

The Nucleus Wealth team reviews and makes decisions on all its portfolios on a daily basis.

Nucleus Wealth has a tactically managed portfolio that serves clients looking to invest between $35,000 and $200,000, called Tactical Foundation which uses cash, bonds, Australian shares and international exchange traded funds (ETFs) and around 35 holdings.

For those looking to invest above $200,000, Nucleus Wealth offers their flagship portfolios called Tactical Growth, Income and Accumulation. These use a diversified blend of direct international shares instead of exchange traded funds, and can be blended to provide greater risk tailoring and have between 80 and 100 holdings.

Nucleus Wealth also offers just our stock selection services in full direct share portfolio’s called Core Australia and Core International, for those seeking to do their own tactical asset allocation.

What are Tactical Portfolios?

These portfolios feature "Tactical Asset Allocation", meaning the amount of Cash, Bonds and Shares in each portfolio is adjusted by Nucleus Wealth to take advantage of global macroeconomic themes and to help protect the portfolio during volatile market conditions.

Through our onboarding portal you can select any of the portfolios or a blend of several, or receive a recommendation of an appropriate blend for you using our free online advice tool.

What are your Core Portfolios?

These portfolios hold only Australian or International shares respectively, and do not feature Tactical Asset Allocation, meaning they are always fully invested and are not ‘de-risked’ at any time. This can mean higher levels of volatility compared with Tactical portfolios

Through our onboarding portal you can select any of the portfolios or a blend of several.

Are the portfolios Shariah-compliant?

Nucleus Wealth has products that may suit your needs. We encourage you to have contact us and have a phone conversation to discuss your needs. 

What are Nucleus Wealth’s fees?

Fees are calculated daily and charged monthly in arrears on the balance a client invests with the company.

Nucleus Wealth does not charge a performance fee.

There are two types of explicit fees:

An investment management fee

A platform administration fee

 

There are also two types of indirect fees. These are fees that are embedded in the performance of portfolios you will not see explicitly.   When you sign up we show you how much we expect from these products. If you are comparing our fees to another investment fund, you may need to ask that fund for the indirect costs as many do not disclose them.

 

Two types of indirect fees:

Brokerage Cost

Exchange Traded Funds

 

Investment Management Fee

Nucleus Wealth charges a flat 0.64% (or 64 basis points) investment management fee across all asset classes per annum. By charging the same across all asset classes, there is no perceived incentive to move from one to the other unless it benefits your portfolio.

Platform Administration Fee

There is an additional fee charged by Praemium, Nucleus Wealth’s platform partner, for running their administration, custody and trustee services. The Praemium fee starts at $65 per annum plus 0.33%.

Praemium uses a sliding scale that reduces admin fees as the investor’s account balance grows. There is no administration fee charged after investing $1,000,000. There is also the ability to aggregate multiple accounts as a family group to help take advantage of this tier pricing structure.

Brokerage Cost

Brokerage costs are charged when your account trades. Praemium incorporates a daily book building process, which means that brokerage is minimised through group trading. Nucleus Wealth can typically transact for a tenth of the cost of traditional brokerage fees and the initial brokerage amount is estimated in the onboarding process. 

Exchange Traded Funds

Embedded in portfolios for smaller balance clients are Exchange Traded Funds (often called ETFs). These have fees embedded in them that you will not see as they are included in the price.

There may be an Indirect Cost component, which is the investment management fees of any exchange traded funds Nucleus Wealth may hold.

Superannuation

Superannuation accounts incur additional charges to pay for the Trustee. these include: $12 per month in fund accounting fees, and 0.03% per annum of fund balances up to $1,000,000, and 0 above this, for the Operational Risk Reserve levy.

Why is there a range of fees? Nucleus Wealth uses a Separately Managed Account structure. For most investors (that are not in a pension phase), a Separately Managed Account allows tax deductions that can lower the effective fee.

 

Is Nucleus Wealth’s fee structure for investments for short-term hold periods the same as long-term hold periods?

Like long-term investments, short-term investment fees are also charged monthly in arrears (at the end of month).

However, under 12 month investments are typically not ideal as there is too much market risk in comparison to sitting on it in cash.

Why may I get charged by an exchange traded fund (ETF) when investing with Nucleus Wealth? Why pay another fee to exchange traded funds when I am already paying Nucleus Wealth?

Nucleus Wealth manages a number of different investment portfolios, some of which may hold exchange traded funds. Exchange traded funds are sometimes an efficient way of lowering overall costs. We use these funds where buying the underlying assets directly would be cost-prohibitive or where you do not have enough funds to get an appropriate level of diversification.

In these scenarios, Nucleus Wealth makes an assessment of the returns available given the cost of investment before making any investment. Nucleus Wealth gains no monetary benefit from any exchange traded fund and any fees from these funds are deducted from the returns published.

Are larger account or grouped family accounts eligible for a discounted Administration Fee (Praemium Platform Fee)?

Yes.

Either aggregated family accounts or higher balances are eligible for administration fee discounts. The discounts apply as a bracket system, much the same as income tax. So, different portions of balances attract a different level of fees.

Can I invest using my personal superannuation account?

Yes.

Nucleus Wealth offers all investment portfolios through personal superannuation. These super accounts have all the functionalities of a regular superannuation fund, but with typically more transparency and personal tailoring.

If you would like to roll all of your super into our digital advice, please contact us beforehand to make sure your insurance situation is appropriate.

Once aboard, Nucleus Wealth will send you a prefilled form to give to your employer, so your super account can accept additional contributions, just like any other fund.

Onboarding to create your superannuation account is easy and paperless, and the Praemium platform takes care of the rollover from the your previous superannuation fund electronically.

What are the next steps after I complete the signup process to create a superannuation account through the digital advice portal?

If you are making a full rollover, make sure you contact us before you click submit to discuss your insurance situation.

Once submitted, your application gets sent to Praemium for approval. You do not need to do anything, this process usually takes 1 business day. Once approved, you will be sent a form letter that you can use to inform your employer for future contributions. You will need to send this to your current employer. Typically this is the only additional task for you to perform.

Once Praemium has approved your application, it will initiate a rollover request to your existing superannuation fund. You do not need to do anything, this process usually takes 2-14 business days depending on your previous superannuation fund.

If there is a delay in the approval process, the we will liaise with Praemium to resolve and contact you with any information. A delay usually occurs when your details don’t match the details of your previous superannuation fund - for example the wrong date of birth. 

Once the rollover has been successful, Praemium will email you with your new Praemium login details (separate to your portal login) along with further instructions.

You or your employer are not involved in the rollover process.

How long does it take for existing superannuation funds to rollover once an application has been submitted?

Typically, it takes 1 business day for Praemium to approve your application, then it takes another 2-14 business days for Praemium to request the rollover once the application has been approved.

Can I submit an application where my addresses on my electoral roll and superannuation account are different?

Praemium needs an address for identification and verification purposes. 

However, if you are in the process of moving address, you can provide a government issued ID or driver's license stating your old address, along with a utility bill with the same address, and this will be acceptable.

Whilst my superannuation account application is in the process of being approved by Praemium, and whilst I do not yet have a Separately Managed Account (SMA) number with Nucleus Super, how will I prevent my employer from making any more contributions into my existing superannuation account?

Whilst your Nucleus Super account application is being approved by Praemium, any contributions made by your employer during the transition period of rolling over will still be made into your existing superannuation account. 

If you are doing a full rollover, all the funds in your existing superannuation account, including the additional contributions made during the transition period, will eventually be rolled over. 

If you are doing a partial rollover, contributions made by your employer during the transition period will be made into your existing superannuation account. Once we provide you with your separately managed account number and super employer contribution form you can use this form to direct your employer to pay into your new account. Any payments made during the transition period can be partially rolled-over by requesting to us in email once the new account has been setup.

If my family has two or more separate superannuation accounts in Nucleus Super, can my fees be combined and reduced?

Yes, there is a tiered fee and administration fees from multiple accounts can be combined to reduce fees.

Do this digital advice offer pension accounts if I am looking to invest for retirement?

Yes, we offer pension accounts. 

At the ‘Applicant Stage’ towards the end of the application on the onboarding portal, you can opt to select a Personal Super Account Type of Pension instead of Accumulation. 

Once you have submitted your application, you will then need to make a phone booking with us to organise the details of this account. 

Can I create a joint superannuation account with my partner?

No.

A personal superannuation account can only be created for 1 person.

However, you can opt to open a Self Managed Super Fund account, which allows up to 4 people on the account.  More information on Self Managed Super Funds here and here.

 

What are the payment limits of BPAY?

They vary from bank to bank. Many banks will allow you to increase your limit temporarily (say for one day) in order to transfer a larger amount. Many banks allow this through phone banking.

What are the next steps after I complete the signup process?

Once you have completed your application our digital advice portal, Praemium cross checks your details with GreenID to verify your identity. 

Once your details are verified, Praemium approves your application and creates a separately managed account (SMA) number, which is sent to you, as well as the BPAY number which enables the transfer of funds to occur.

What happens next to my money once it has been deposited into my investment account?

Once you have transferred funds into your account via BPAY (which takes around 2-4 business days), and once your funds have been received, your account moves into the execution stage.

The execution stage is where your funds are allocated into the portfolios chosen by you. 

During the execution process, Praemium initiates the trades on the stock market. The Australian stock market opens at 10am and closes at 4:10pm Monday-Friday, the hours for international stock exchanges vary. Once trading is closed for the day, the portfolios update and the next day you can view your positionings in your portal.

The whole process usually takes around 3-5 business days.

How do I make a withdrawal?

You will just need to send through an instruction to us (please include your account number). Once received, we will instruct the payment back to your bank account. Any amount is fine and all investments are held in highly liquid markets.

Depending on how much market activity is required, the transfer usually takes between 4 and 6 business days to be returned to your account.

Are dividends reinvested?

All dividends are accepted in cash, then reinvested in the portfolio according to model weights, so this may result in the purchase of stocks other than the ones paying the dividend.

I have completed most of the onboarding portal application, however on the ‘Applicant’ page I am unable to click the “begin verification now” button. Why is this?

You are probably using a work laptop with high security, an old browser or using an adblocker. You should try logging into your portal account using a personal device and see if you can click the verification button.

Current clients

How do I add personal contributions into my super account?

Methods of contribution:

Concessional (tax deductible)

The easiest way to make an additional contribution is through your usual payroll process. This will be deposited in the normal way with your Superannuation Guarantee (employer provided contributions) and will automatically be marked as concessional on your account. 

If you would like to make a personal contribution which you plan to then deduct from your income as a tax deduction, you must follow the steps below:

  1. Fill in this form, which also has the payment methods on the second page: 
  2. Return the signed form to support@praemium.com.au
  3. Make the payment using the methods in the form above
  4. Before the end of the financial year, complete and return this form to allocate any contributions as concessional and claim the tax deduction in your annual tax return.

Non-concessional (from your bank account)

  1. Fill in this form, which also has the payment methods on the second page: 
  2. Return the signed form to support@praemium.com.au
  3. Make the payment using the methods in the form above

Finding out how much of your concessional cap you have left

You can determine how much has been contributed at any time through your Praemium client portal. Simply head to the 'Accounts' screen of the portal. 

 

If I have been affected by COVID-19, can I access my superannuation early?

To make a claim, you will need to access the myGov website, and be connected to the Australian Tax Office (ATO). For help with this please click here.

Once you have entered the ATO area in myGov, select the 'View' button for COVID-19. From there, click the 'Apply' button in the 'Early Release of superannuation' section. This will then run you through the application process.

Once complete, the Australian Tax Office will process and submit the request for payment from your superannuation account. This request needs to be responded to within 5 business days, and payment should take place shortly after to the bank account you have specified in the application.

How do I transfer a partial or full balance amount from my existing super fund into my SuperSMA account with Nucleus Wealth?

You will need to fill in this form, which needs to be sent to contact@nucleuswealth.com and support@praemium.com.au.

How do I make a Spouse Contribution?

When wanting to make a contribution into your spouse's superannuation account, fill in this form:

Step 1: Fill out the receiving spouse's details in Part 1.

Step 2: Fill in the amount you want to contribute into the "Spouse Contribution" field in Part 2.

Step 3: Get the receiving spouse to sign in Part 3.

Step 4: Email the completed form to support@praemium.com.au, and CC us.

 

I am self employed/run my own company, how do I make an Employer Contribution?

When wanting to make an employer contribution into your own receiving superannuation account, fill in this form:

Step 1: Fill out the receiving account’s details in Part 1.

Step 2: Fill in the amount you want to contribute into the "other (please specify)" field in Part 2, and specify that it is an ‘Employer Contribution’.

Step 3: Get the receiving account holder to sign in Part 3.

Step 4: Email the completed form to support@praemium.com.au, and CC us.

Step 5: Make the payment using the methods in the form above

How can I top up my investments?

You just need to deposit more money through BPAY and the amount invested will update in your portal after 3-5 business days.

How can I withdraw money from my investment account?

You will just need to send through an instruction to us (please include your account number). Once received, we will instruct the payment back to your bank account. Any amount is fine and all investments are held in highly liquid markets.

Depending on how much market activity is required, the transfer usually takes between 4 and 6 business days to be returned to your account.

Can I withdraw all of my account funding, and keep my account open?

Unfortunately withdrawing all your funds will trigger Praemium to close your account, meaning you will not be able to fund this same account in the future. However, we would of course welcome you back as a client and already have a lot of your details on file. So opening a new account in the future would be a relatively simple process.

If I want to open another type of account under my name (e.g. I already have an investment account then want to also open a super account) do I need to create a new portal login?

No, you can use the same portal login. Once you are logged into the portal, click the 'New Account Creation' button and go to the ‘Account Type’ page. Once here select the different account type you wish to open, and begin the application process.

If you have a joint account and also want to have two individual accounts, you will need to create a separate login for one of the accounts.

What reports do I receive at the end of the year for tax purposes?

Our platform partner, Praemium, has one of the best reporting systems in the business, so much so that it is used by major banks. At the end of the financial year, usually around September, you will be provided with a full, audited tax report that can be easily used to manage your own tax affairs. 

The typical figures your accountant needs, such as realised capital gains, income, distributions and franking credits are provided in much the same way as a share broker end of year report.

How do I close my account?

Any drawdowns or account closure requests should be sent to us. We can instruct the closure within a business day, trade the following market day and have money returned usually in about 6 business days.

Is my Nucleus Wealth portal login the same as my Praemium online account login?

No, your Nucleus Wealth portal login is different to Praemium’s online account login as they are two separate platforms. However, when creating the Praemium login, your username should be the same, which is your email address.

How often is my portfolio valued?

The portfolios all hold exchange traded securities and AUD cash, and hence valuation updates are on a daily basis.

How do I allocate new funds to one of the existing portfolios I have on my account?

Although we offer the ability for you to change your splits/weighting between portfolios, we do not offer the ability on the client portal for you to select one account to allocate new money. 

Contact us to request to allocate new funds to your chosen account. Once your request has been granted, we will direct your new funds to 1 portfolio from our back end and send you a confirmation email once completed. Upon your initial request, you should specify if you would like this done for all new funds going forward, or if it’s just a one off.

 

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