With InvestEngine's DIY Portfolio Lookthrough tool, you’re in control but that doesn’t mean you’re on your own. Our tools make it simple to create a cost-efficient, diversified portfolio tailored to your strategy, your goals, and your style.
This guide walks you through how it all works, and how to get the most out of your DIY investing experience.
The power of building your own portfolio
DIY investing with InvestEngine means:
- Choosing from 500+ commission-free ETFs
- Customising your portfolio using target weightings, rather than trying to calculate buy values or quantities
- Seeing real-time insights into your portfolio’s exposure — across asset types, sectors, and regions
A quick tip: having a DIY portfolio with a single ETF may not make full use of the tools we offer. One of the real strengths of our platform is helping you create a balanced, diversified portfolio using ETFs in combination.
Using our ETF Range
When creating or editing your portfolio, you’ll start with our ETF Range, designed to help you easily browse and filter our range of available ETFs.
You can:
- Search by name, ticker or keyword
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Filter by:
- Asset class (Equities, Bonds, Alternatives)
- Provider (e.g. Vanguard, Invesco, etc.)
- Income type (Accumulating or Distributing)
- Currency hedge (GBP Hedged)
- ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance)
- Sort results by Total Expense Ratio (TER) or Yield
Not sure what all of these terms mean? Check our Investment Glossary for simple definitions.
Popular ETFs, Collections & Sectors
To help you get started, we also highlight:
- Popular ETFs These are some of the most commonly added ETFs by InvestEngine clients
- Collections Themed groups of ETFs, such as “money market funds”, “ESG”, or “emerging markets”, hand-picked to help you build around a goal or theme
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Industries & Sectors Groupings of ETFs focused on specific parts of the economy, like technology, healthcare,financials, or energy
These extra views are designed to help you discover new opportunities and explore different parts of the market -whether you’re looking to diversify, stick to a theme, or simply get inspired.
Viewing ETF Details
Clicking into an ETF gives you:
- A performance graph of the ETF
- A summary of what the ETF tracks and how it works
- A breakdown of holdings (sectors, regions, top assets)
- Access to the Key Information Document (KID) as a downloadable PDF
When you’re happy with the ETF you have chosen, click “Add to portfolio” to include it in your selection.
Setting Your Portfolio Weights
Once you’ve added your ETFs, it’s time to assign your target weightings:
- Simply enter the percentage weight for each ETF (e.g. 40%, 30%, 30%)
- As you do, you’ll see how the percentage weight of each ETF changes the overall balance of Equities, Bonds, and Alternatives in your portfolio
- You can continue to add more ETFs or remove any at this stage
These weights control how all future investments are allocated (if you use AutoInvest or make additional payments).
Portfolio Lookthrough: see what you’re really investing in
Before finalising your portfolio, you’ll get access to a powerful look-through analysis- a breakdown of the underlying makeup of all the ETFs you’ve selected, combined according to your target weights.
This gives you a clear picture of:
- What you actually own- including the top companies, sectors, and asset classes
- How your investments are diversified - across regions, industries, and asset types
- Where your risks or overlaps might be -so you can adjust before committing
You’ll see summaries of:
- Asset Classes– Equities, Bonds, Alternatives
- Regions – like North America, Europe, Asia, and Emerging Markets
- Business Sectors – such as technology, healthcare, or financials
- Top Holdings – the individual companies you have the most exposure to
This is especially helpful for spotting unintended concentrations or making sure your portfolio aligns with your personal preferences or goals.
Once reviewed, click Save.
A quick tip: Unintended concentration happens when your portfolio ends up heavily invested in a particular company, sector, or region — often without realising it. This can reduce diversification and increase risk if that area underperforms.
Ready to invest
You’re now ready to add cash to your portfolio. Once funded, your money can be invested in line with your chosen weights -either manually or using AutoInvest.
You can learn more about making a payment here or setting up a Savings Plan here.