Real ISA benefit?

bagsacash

Ha ha ha, obviously you are a bit bored..
Otherwise I cannot imagine why you are wasting a valuable space on your silly witty comments rather then on actual advice to people who come here for that reason..

Ditto

baby_boomer

The government is going to have to screw the taxpayer over the next decade and beyond.

It is a mistake, IMHO, to focus on the EXISTING tax benefits of ISAs as opposed to possible future tax benefits.

martinman3

Gosh, people do have short memories don't they ?
I always wondered how Labour got 3 terms in office.

Lets all ridicule the OP for confusing cash ISAs with TESSAs, which only disappeared in April 1999 !

Let me remind you. No withdrawals, except interest, before the 5 years was up. If you cancelled it then the interest was taxed at 20% I believe. And when it matured only the capital could be transferred to a TESSA/TOISA.

Primrose

I agree that saving short term in ISAs don't look very worthwhile, especially with some of the virtually nil interest rates being offered. However the benefit of them grows in the long term, especially if you are a taxpayer and can put savings away on a regular basis without needing to withdraw them. Over a number of years it will build up into a nice sum on which income tax or capital gains tax will not be payable. Everybody now knows that income tax will have to rise considerably in the future to pay off the country's huge debts so only a fool would not protect themselves from having to pay more tax than necessary. Also, interest rates will start to rise again sooner or later and then all that accumulated money will start to look much more of a wise investment.