Virgin Shares Isa from a few years ago

jojo_hall

Hello,

I started paying into a Virgin Mini stocks and shares ISA a few years ago, and maintained payments into it for about 4 years regularly. I'm not sure what it's worth at the moment, probably not very much - in Feb it was worth about £5k. I didn't really know the whys and wherefores of ISAs and in retrospect, it would have probably been advisable to transfer the money at the end of the first year although I'm not even sure how much I've paid in in total!

With my payments, will I have been paying into the existing isa that was opened 5 years ago? Or will I have been paying into separate Isas for the separate tax years? I'm really confused. Before calling them I thought I'd post here first to get some feedback. And if I switched the value of the ISA now to a cash isa that accepts transfers, what are the implications? I'm finding it really hard to understand!
Help!

Jo

jem16

jojo_hall wrote: »

With my payments, will I have been paying into the existing isa that was opened 5 years ago? Or will I have been paying into separate Isas for the separate tax years?

Technically it's separate years but for all the previous years it doesn't really matter - it's all seen as one.

And if I switched the value of the ISA now to a cash isa that accepts transfers, what are the implications? I'm finding it really hard to understand!
Help!

Jo

You cannot switch a S&S ISA into a cash ISA. You can transfer a cash ISA into a S&S ISA but not the other way around.

jojo_hall

So if I cashed in my S&S Isa, what would happen? Could I then use £3600 of it (provided it was worth that) to open up a cash ISA? If I was taxed on that money, would it jsut be subject to tax for the time that it was in my bank account?

dunstonh

Virgin only offer medium/high risk funds. Is there any reason you choose such a high risk option? S&S ISAs have the option of low risk through to speculative risk. In the UK, it is believed the typical consumer is cautious. Will accept some risk but within reason. So, you were investing way above the typical consumer level.

To jump from medium/high to cash is a extreme (especially doing it after a crash - the horse has bolted, too late to shut that stable door). Why do you want to do this?

You also say you were paying regulary. For those making regular payments, periods like this are what you want in the early years. Yes, your value goes down on what you have already paid in but you are now buying units much much cheaper and in the long run, these units give you the most potential going forward. Regular contributions require you to really be looking at periods of least 10-15 years for investments. Mainly as you start at zero and it takes years before you get any real value built up. You are just 4 years in.

You can cash in the ISA at any time. You will lose the ISA status and if you pay it into a cash ISA you will use up this years allowance as if it was new money.