Spotlight: InvestSMART Ethical High Growth Portfolio

Find out who the InvestSMART Ethical High Growth Portfolio suits, the fees it charges, how it has performed and how it stacks up against its peers.

By InvestSMART · 22 May 2025

By InvestSMART ·
22 May 2025 · 5 min read

It's been a little more than a decade since InvestSMART launched our first investment portfolios, but we have recently added a new one to the mix - the Ethical High Growth Portfolio, which was launched in April 2025. Here's what you need to know.

About the InvestSMART Ethical High Growth Portfolio

The Ethical High Growth Portfolio invests in a portfolio of five to 15 exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with an emphasis on ethical 'growth' assets such as Australian and international shares.

It's best suited to Aussies investing for longer-term goals as the minimum suggested investment timeframe is seven years.

Here are a few quick facts about the Ethical High Growth Portfolio:

Inception date: 1 April 2025
Suggested timeframe: 7-plus years
Risk: High
Minimum initial investment: $10,000 (or $4,000 with Fundlater)
Management fee: 0.44% p.a. capped at $880 p.a.
Admin fee: 0.11% p.a. includes buy-side brokerage costs.
Benchmark Index: Morningstar® Australia Aggressive Target Allocation NR AUD

Where does the InvestSMART Ethical High Growth Portfolio invest?

The Ethical High Growth Portfolio has a high allocation of growth assets, with 53.5% invested in international equities and 38% in Australian equities as at 30 April 2025. The remaining 8.5% is in fixed interest (5%) and cash (3.5%).

The ETFs that InvestSMART currently includes in the Ethical High Growth Portfolio are:

Some of the underlying ETF holdings include Commonwealth Bank, Apple, Microsoft, CSL and NVIDIA.

What are the fees?

InvestSMART's annual management fee is 0.44%, which equates to $44 per year on a $10,000 investment (the minimum). The management fee is capped at $880 per year for balances of $200,000 or more.

There is a flat admin fee of 0.11% per year, which includes all buy-side brokerage costs. This means you won't pay extra when you invest or add funds. Brokerage fees apply to sell transactions (including rebalances). Brokerage costs are $4.40 per trade or 0.088% of the value of the trade (whichever is higher) and are paid entirely to a third-party broker.

There are also indirect costs charged by the underlying ETFs and for the Ethical High Growth Portfolio, these are estimated to be 0.18% a year.

How does the InvestSMART Ethical High Growth Portfolio compare to its peers?

As the Ethical High Growth Portfolio is still new, its performance history is limited. In its first month, it returned 1.22%, while the average returns of peer funds in this category was 0.38% over that same period.

With a flat admin fee of 0.11% a year and a management fee of 0.44% per year (capped at $880 per year), the Ethical High Growth Portfolio's total annual fee is lower than the average fee of its peer funds, which currently sits at 1.08% a year.

Key takeouts

The InvestSMART Ethical High Growth Portfolio is ideal if you are looking for exposure to growth assets to diversify your investment portfolio and would like to focus on sustainable, responsible, and/or ethical investments. It's important to have a long-term view and be comfortable with a degree of volatility as there's a very high allocation to growth assets.