If you're a beginner, investing can feel like an uphill struggle. But thankfully, you don't have to do all the legwork yourself.
Family linking lets you appoint a relative as your 'Account Lead' – someone with privileged access to your account. If you choose, you can even give them ‘dealing access’.
It can be a great way to get the support you may need, from someone you know and trust.
How does it work?
To set up family linking, you need to nominate an Account Lead and choose to give them ‘view only’ or ‘dealing’ access to each account you want to link.
‘View only’ access means they can see your investments but not buy or sell them.
‘Dealing’ access means they can buy and sell for you as well.
Up to five family members can appoint the same Account Lead. Once family linking is set up, the Account Lead can see all the accounts they’re linked to by logging in as usual and clicking 'View account'. They’ll be able to view linked accounts separately, or click 'View all' to see them all together.
Legal representative
If you have appointed a power of attorney or a deputy with the lawful authority to act on your behalf, they can manage your AJ Bell account(s) for you. To do this, they'll need to open an AJ Bell account of their own if they don't already have one. Then they'll need to complete and return our Legal representative form.
How do I set it up?
To get started, fill in our family linking form. To appoint an Account Lead, you’ll need to fill in and sign the first section, confirming whether you want to give them ‘view only’ or ‘dealing’ access.
Your chosen Account Lead then needs to complete the second section of the form, and sign to confirm they’re happy to be linked to your account.
Before you get started, bear in mind Junior ISAs and Cash savings hub accounts can’t be linked. There are also accounts that can’t act as the Account Lead. You can learn which account can and can’t be linked in the below table.
Account table
*Lead account is the account held by the appointed Account Lead
*Linked account is the account of the customer wishing to appoint an Account Lead
| AJ Bell account type | Can it be a *Lead account? | Can it be a *Linked account? |
|---|---|---|
| SIPP | Yes | Yes |
| Stocks and shares ISA | Yes | Yes |
| Dealing account | Yes | Yes |
| Lifetime ISA | Yes | Yes |
| Junior SIPP | No | Yes - to one account lead other than the registered contact |
| Junior ISA | No | No – only the appointed registered contact can act on the account |
| Cash savings hub | No | No |
| Joint Dealing account | No | No – only the nominated contact can act on the account |
| Bare trust Dealing account | No | No – only the nominated contact can act on the account |
| Designated Dealing account | Yes | Yes |
| Pension scheme Dealing account | No | This account will already be linked to the registered contact’s own account on a dealing basis |
Important information: You should be aware that if you give a family member or representative dealing access to your account, you are giving them permission to make dealing decisions on your behalf, which may put your capital at risk.
