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Frequently asked questions

How does investing with Peaks work?

At Peaks you invest your money, but we've already done most of the work for you. You don't have to decide which companies to invest or not to invest in. Instead, we have put together four portfolios for you to choose from. Each standard Peaks portfolio consists of six sustainable index funds and involves a (varying amount of) risk. Of course, you also have the option to customise your portfolio and choose the index funds yourself.

An index fund consists of hundreds of stocks and bonds. A stock is a mini piece of a company. A bond is a loan to a government or company. The index funds at Peaks consist of stocks distributed around the world, in different sectors and companies. This distribution puts you at less risk than investing in just one company or sector.

Investments with index funds follow the market. When stock and bond markets fall, so does the value of your investments. However, when prices rise, so does the value of your investments. You should also know that with Peaks you only invest in sustainable index funds.

In what do I invest with Peaks?

At Peaks you only invest in sustainable investment funds. Specifically, we mean the 25% most sustainable companies in each sector. Attention is paid to how companies deal with people, the environment and how they are managed. Companies that disregard human rights, are involved in child labor or corruption, or cause serious damage to the environment and ecosystem are not included in the index funds.

Furthermore, at Peaks you do not invest in controversial industries such as the arms and defense industry, tobacco and alcohol production, nuclear power, gambling, pornography or GMOs. You can check which companies you invest in by reading the Key Investor Information documents. You can find these documents for each fund on this page.

Since we have selected the index funds at Peaks, you cannot choose which companies to invest in or not to invest in. We chose this approach to make investing as easy and accessible as possible for you. You can decide in which index fund you want to invest or don’t want to invest if you customise your own portfolio.

How can I invest my spare change?

At Peaks you can invest your spare change in two different ways. One option is to give Peaks permission to round up all your card payments to the nearest whole euro and invest your accumulated change into your Peaks account once a week. For example, if you buy a coffee for €1.70, you invest €0.30 directly into your Peaks account.

If you don't want to invest your change, but still want to set aside small amounts regularly, you can choose to set aside a fixed amount of between €1 to €10 per day.

With the former option, the collected amount is debited from your bank account once a week and invested in your Peaks account. Every Sunday, you have the option to stop the process of investing your spare change in the app.

What packages does Peaks offer?

Peaks currently offers three different packages: Start, Complete, and Premium.

With all packages, you can:

Open multiple accounts for various purposes
Customise your own ETF portfolio according to your wishes
Add crypto to your Peaks portfolio

The Start package is the best choice for total investments between €0 and €12,000. The Complete package is the best choice for total investments between €12,000 and €16,000, and the Premium package is the best choice for total investments of €16,000 or more.

You decide for yourself which package suits your situation best.

How much return can I get for my money with Peaks?

The expected gross return at Peaks is between 3.8% and 5.5% depending on the portfolio you selected. Returns are based on the expected return Peaks uses for the next 10 to 15 years for the portfolios of stock and bond funds offered by Peaks. In reality, returns may be more or less than expected. With a high expected return, the risks are also higher.

The costs of the index funds have already been factored into the expected returns, which you can find in the app and the cost calculator on this website. These fund costs per portfolio average between 0.15% and 0.22% of your invested money per year. The returns you find in the cost calculator, therefore, include net returns (after deducting costs).

What are the costs for Peaks?

The app is free for everyone for the first month. Then you pay the package costs and variable costs associated with the package you have selected.

The Start package costs €1.99 in package costs per month + 0.5% in variable costs per year. You pay the variable costs of 0.5% per year on the average value of your investments. You pay this monthly – a little bit every month.

The Complete package costs €2.99 in package costs per month + 0.4% in variable costs per year.

The Premium package costs €4.99 in package costs per month + 0.25% in variable costs per year.

The package cost will always be deducted from your bank account. Variable costs are calculated per Peaks account in the app.

Good to know: If you change your plan during the month, you pay the package cost and variable costs associated with the larger plan for that month.

In addition to the costs for using the app, there are also annual fund costs for the index funds in which you invest. You do not pay this to Peaks, but to the providers of the index funds. The fund costs and the spread are automatically calculated by the fund providers in the price of the index funds. You never pay any transaction costs.

Why can I trust Peaks?

Peaks is an investment firm with two licences and is regulated by the Dutch Financial Supervisory Authority (the German equivalent is the BaFin) and the Dutch Central Bank. That means we have to comply with specific rules that apply to financial and payment institutions – and we are happy to do that! We think it is very important that your money and data are safe. We only use your data for purposes that you give us your consent to in advance. Your money is not protected by Peaks itself, but by Stichting Derdengelden Peaks. Should anything ever go wrong with Peaks, you will always have access to your money.

How risky is investing with Peaks?

Investing always involves risk. This means there is a chance that you could lose (part of) your investments. The level of risk depends on many things, such as developments in the financial markets, your starting point (the moment you start investing), and what you invest your money in.

Investing in just one company is more risky than investing your money in many companies at once. The same applies if you deposit money at a certain point in time. The more distributed you deposit, the more you spread the risk.

With Peaks you can deposit your money at different times and your money is automatically invested in different sectors worldwide. You choose one of the four different Peaks portfolios or compose your own. Each Peaks portfolio has a different level of risk due to the distribution of the index funds it contains. You can choose between the portfolios Cautious, Balanced, Ambitious, and Adventurous. Cautious has the least risk, Adventurous the most. The higher the risk, the higher your chance of a high profit. With your chosen portfolio, you decide for yourself how much risk you want to take.

How can I cancel my account?

If you want to cancel your Peaks account, you can do this yourself in the app – provided you do not have a negative balance on your Peaks account and have closed all your additional accounts. To cancel your account, open the menu and click on "Close your account". After that, the app will lead you through all the steps it takes to cancel your account. We will also ask you why you want to cancel your account. No further action is required on your part, and we will start cancelling your account.

Because you pay the monthly fees for your Peaks package in arrears, we will still charge you the fees you owe for that month when you terminate your account.

What happens to my money in case Peaks goes bankrupt?

Your invested money is not kept by Peaks, but by a foundation (Stichting Beheer Derdengelden Peaks). If something goes wrong at Peaks, you still have access to your money through this foundation and your money is not lost. In addition, the so-called Investor Compensation Act applies to the foundation. This law protects Peaks clients investments and reimburses up to €20,000 per person where justified

Interest Account

What are the costs associated with the Peaks Interest Account?

For simplicity, the displayed variable annual interest rate already includes the variable costs of Peaks and the fund costs: these consist of 0.10% fund costs and variable costs ranging from 0.25% to 0.5% depending on your package.

The package costs are not included in the variable annual interest rate shown and depend on your package. Peaks does not charge any transaction fees when you deposit or withdraw money.

You will incur spread costs set by the stock exchange, which range from 0.03% to 0.05%.

Do I always have access to my money?

With the Peaks Interest Account, you are not required to invest your money for a minimum period of time to earn interest. Interest is accrued daily, and you can deposit or withdraw your money on business days when the stock markets are open. If you withdraw your money on a business day before 1:00 PM, it will be transferred to your bank account on the same day. Withdrawals made after 1:00 PM will be transferred back to your bank account on the next day. In certain circumstances, this process may take longer.

How does the Peaks Interest Account differ from a regular savings account?

In a traditional savings account, your money is held by a bank. In the event of a bank's insolvency, your money is protected by the deposit insurance scheme up to an amount of €100,000. Amounts exceeding €100,000 are not protected.

With the Peaks Interest Account, you cannot rely on the deposit insurance scheme: Here, the construction with bond security provides additional protection. The security covers the total value of your investments, even if it exceeds €100,000.

Can the value of my money decrease?

The money you put into your Peaks Interest Account is invested in an ETF that holds its money with Deutsche Bank. The main risk is that the European deposit rate published by the ECB falls below 0%. In addition, Deutsche Bank could fail or default.

The probability of negative interest is low, but it can occur. For example, the €STR rate has been negative in recent years because the ECB has cut interest rates below 0%. If this happens again, you can easily withdraw the money from your Peaks Interest Account or invest it with Peaks in another way. Peaks does not charge any transaction costs for this.

If Deutsche Bank goes bankrupt, your money is protected by the bonds the ETF holds as collateral. Fund manager DWS checks on a daily basis whether the value of the collateral still corresponds to the value of the money (including interest) held by Deutsche Bank. If the value of the collateral is lower, Deutsche Bank must provide additional bonds as collateral. The collateral consists of government and corporate bonds.

There is a small risk that some of the secured bonds could lose value in the event of a default by Deutsche Bank. As a result, you can lose (part of) your invested money. Therefore, we cannot say that your investment is 100% guaranteed, but you are taking a small risk.

How safe is my money in the Peaks Interest Account?

Your money is invested in an ETF that keeps your money safe with Deutsche Bank. To protect your money in the event of Deutsche Bank's insolvency, the ETF is backed by government and corporate bonds. This collateral is worth exactly the money in the ETF, and fund manager DWS checks every day that this is still the case. If the daily check shows that the collateral is worth less, Deutsche Bank must make additional bonds available to the ETF. Just as many until the two values are the same again.

If Deutsche Bank goes bankrupt, the ETF can use the bonds to start a new deal with another bank, or sell the bonds and use the proceeds to repay investors. This security reduces the risk that you lose (part of) your investments. The fund's publisher, Xtrackers, therefore rates the risk of the ETF as very low: risk level 1 on a scale of 7, with 7 being the highest risk category and 1 being the lowest.

How does the Peaks Interest Account work?

With the Peaks Interest Account, you invest your money in a money market ETF from DWS GmbH, one of the largest asset managers in Europe. The ETF invests your money with Deutsche Bank. In return, Deutsche Bank pays the ETF the €STR rate + 0.085%.

€STR is the euro short-term interest rate: the interest rate that European banks charge each other when they lend each other money for a short period (one night) or when they hold money for each other. The €STR interest rate is published daily by the European Central Bank (ECB). When the ECB changes the deposit rate, the €STR rate also changes – and with it the interest rate on the Peaks Interest Account.

To protect your money, the ETF receives collateral from Deutsche Bank in the form of government and corporate bonds. This collateral is worth exactly the money in the ETF, and fund manager DWS checks every day that this is still the case. If the daily check shows that the collateral is worth less, Deutsche Bank must make additional bonds available to the ETF. Just as many until the two values are the same again.

So should Deutsche Bank default, the ETF has bonds as collateral, which can be used to sign a new contract with another bank. Or the bonds can be used to repay investors. There is a small risk that some of the secured bonds could lose value in the event of a default by Deutsche Bank. As a result, you can lose (part of) your investments. Therefore, we cannot say that your investment is 100% guaranteed, but the risk is small.

You can find more information in the following document(s):

What is the current variable annual interest rate in the different Peaks packages?

The current variable annual interest rates as of February 6, 2024, are as follows:

Start package: 3.39%
Complete package: 3.49%
Premium package: 3.64%

Please note that the package costs are not included in the variable annual interest rate shown above and are dependent on your package. You can find the package costs here.

Do I need to pay taxes on my gains?

Investors are always required to declare their capital gains from ETFs in their annual income tax return. This applies even if the gains are below the tax-free threshold or if the withholding tax has already been deducted.

This information does not constitute tax advice and cannot replace it.

How does the interest get paid out?

The interest rates you see on this page are annualised. This means that the interest on your balance grows a little each day until you reach the total rate after a year. Because the Peaks Interest Account is technically an investment account (and not a savings account), you don't get paid the interest at a specific time. To cash in your return, you have to make a withdrawal - effectively selling part of your investments. To do so, you don't have to sit out the whole year first; you can make a withdrawal at any time.