Advice on stocks & shares ISAs?

dchurch24

(#'s = pound signs; they're missing on my keyboard, and ALT-0163 doesn't do what it should on this editor...)

That'll be because you want ALT-156 for a £ sign. 163 would get you ú.

(or change your keyboard to UK )

Paul_Herring

dchurch24 wrote:

(#'s = pound signs; they're missing on my keyboard, and ALT-0163 doesn't do what it should on this editor...)

That'll be because you want ALT-156 for a £ sign. 163 would get you ú.

(or change your keyboard to UK )

Well that's strange - because 0163 does get me a pound sign in other applications - perhaps DC you'd like to put the leading zero on the beginning next time you try? (The numbers required can be found using CharMap.) Alt-0163 in Firefox triggers Previous Page so I end up losing what's been typed in the box.

And I don't think my current hosts in this country would take too kindly to me going around changing their keyboards to UK - they have enough trouble with needing US and Arabic keyboards installed - they don't want (or indeed need) a third on there. Typing # was a quick way of indicating what I meant.

Back to my original question which I'm not sure has been answered yet (this one's open to everyone by the way) - is there a limit on the amount of cash you can hold in an S&S ISA apart from the limit of 3K on the current year's contributions?


Did you have an opinion on this thread DC? Or did you just feel the need to give incorrect advice since you didn't seem to like my opinion else-thread?

cheerfulcat

Paul_Herring wrote:

Back to my original question which I'm not sure has been answered yet (this one's open to everyone by the way) - is there a limit on the amount of cash you can hold in an S&S ISA apart from the limit of 3K on the current year's contributions?

It has been answered, though I'll admit it's not easy to find. There is no limit to the amount of cash you can hold in an S&S ISA as long as you intend to purchase qualifying investments with it. Your broker may however hassle you to use the cash after a year or so. Also, any interest paid will have tax deducted as the cash in a S&S ISA is not sheltered - you cannot have cash or near-cash in the S&S ISA as an investment.

The £3000 annual contribution refers to a cash mini-ISA; nothing to do with a S&S ISA.

HTH

Cheerfulcat

dchurch24

Paul_Herring wrote:

Well that's strange - because 0163 does get me a pound sign in other applications - perhaps DC you'd like to put the leading zero on the beginning next time you try? (The numbers required can be found using CharMap.) Alt-0163 in Firefox triggers Previous Page so I end up losing what's been typed in the box.

And I don't think my current hosts in this country would take too kindly to me going around changing their keyboards to UK - they have enough trouble with needing US and Arabic keyboards installed - they don't want (or indeed need) a third on there. Typing # was a quick way of indicating what I meant.

Back to my original question which I'm not sure has been answered yet (this one's open to everyone by the way) - is there a limit on the amount of cash you can hold in an S&S ISA apart from the limit of 3K on the current year's contributions?


Did you have an opinion on this thread DC? Or did you just feel the need to give incorrect advice since you didn't seem to like my opinion else-thread?

Eh, Eh - calm down - I was only trying to help you.

Have you actually tried ALT-156? I agree Alt-0163 does work in Firefox, DOS or whatever, but as it wasn't working for you I thought I would offer an alternative. Maybe you could try & # 163; (take the spaces out otherwise the posting converts it to a £).

I'm sorry if this has offended you.

Paul_Herring

cheerfulcat wrote:

It has been answered, though I'll admit it's not easy to find. There is no limit to the amount of cash you can hold in an S&S ISA as long as you intend to purchase qualifying investments with it. Your broker may however hassle you to use the cash after a year or so. Also, any interest paid will have tax deducted as the cash in a S&S ISA is not sheltered - you cannot have cash or near-cash in the S&S ISA as an investment.

Ah - right, I can see it now, thanks.

cheerfulcat wrote:

The £3000 annual contribution refers to a cash mini-ISA; nothing to do with a S&S ISA.

Hmm - this is where I'm getting confused... could you explain the 3000 cash in a Maxi ISA which appears can be invested in this clippet:

HMRC wrote:

Maxi ISA
A Maxi ISA can include both cash and stocks and shares. However, whichever way your investment is split, it counts as one Maxi ISA. So you can only open one Maxi ISA in each tax year.
The total amount you can invest is £7,000 each tax year (6 April to 5 April). You can invest up to £3,000 of this in the cash element.

found in http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/leaflets/isa-factsheet.htm

Or does this have no relevance to the S&S discussion (i.e. does the Cash in an Maxi revert to the 'all previous ISA's cash pool' as a cash mini-ISA does after the end of the tax year in which it is invested?)

cheerfulcat

Do you know, as I walked to the paper shop this morning I wondered whether HMRC was behind this confusion and as usual, that turns out to be the case. TBH I have never seen one of these mythical creatures, the Maxi ISA with a cash component.AFAIK most providers offer either S&S ISAs or cash ISAs.

HTH

Cheerfulcat

EDIT: It seems that HSBC used to offer this product but no longer does.

flashf

I've spent a few days away from the forums trying to do my own investigations into stocks & shares ISAs, and I'm pretty much as confused as ever.
To put it simply, I have £8,000 to put into s & s ISAs for myself and my partner (we already have the cash bits, following excellent advice on the m-s-e website) before April 1. A previous contributor mentioned going direct to Fidelity Funds Network - well I've been there but was presented with a baffling aray of choices, and mind-boggling information overload. My bank, smile, offer lots of options, including ethical ones (via FFN) and their initial charges are discounted, but there are still decisions to make there that give me a headache.
If I don't want to go to an IFA (and I've nothing against you guys), is there anywhere to find good advice - another website, newspaper, magazine, book - on how to go about it?

ffolly (King of the Brackets)

ReportInvestor

There will be plenty of press comment over the next three weekends.

isasmurf

Okay, let's try and summarise and clear up some of this mess.

A Maxi ISA can be made up of a Stocks & Shares component and a Cash component. The total limit for the Maxi ISA is £7,000. Within that £7,000 limit, the cash component has an annual limit of £3,000 like it's Mini counterpart. The Stocks & Shares component is then made up of the remaining £7,000 balance. (e.g. you could invest £2,000 in the cash component and the remaining £5,000 in the stocks & shares component.)

The Stocks & Shares component can only include qualifying products that have a risk attached. You can invest in a Stocks & Shares component, but not actually buy anything (i.e. leave cash in there). This cash MUST be used to buy investment products in the future, but while it remains as cash, any interest earned will be charged at 20%. This is separate from the Cash component.

HMRC introduced a 5% test a couple of years back, which said that certain investment products that guarantee at least 95% of the original capital back within 5 years will be deemed 'Cash like' and will therefore use up your Cash component allowance.

cheerfulcat wrote:

Do you know, as I walked to the paper shop this morning I wondered whether HMRC was behind this confusion and as usual, that turns out to be the case. TBH I have never seen one of these mythical creatures, the Maxi ISA with a cash component.AFAIK most providers offer either S&S ISAs or cash ISAs.

They are out there. I know M&S offer both components in a Maxi. A Maxi ISA must offer the Stocks & Shares component, they cannot just offer cash (and what would be the point if they did?)

flashf

By the way, I did follow the link to Incademy as advised right at the start of this thread and that was very informative, but it still didn't answer the question of whether it's possible to find the advice to make the actual choices on my own.
ReportInvester, if that advice is for me thank you - that's amazingly quick, and somewhat cryptic. Over the next 3 weekends because the deadline for this year is looming? Do I have to wait until the last of those weekends to get absolutely the best advice? Could it be too late then? Do these things take time to go through, so that I might miss the boat?

ffolly (now King of the Question Marks)