Where is everyone putting their £5,100 on April 1st?

giger

tbh my attitude has always been to use up my tax free allowance first, then look towards other things. The compound interest from my previous x years of ISAs is actually quite good at this point (& all transferred in to a fixed NR ISA for 12 months), so I think that whilst rates are low now, I wouldn't want to lose out on the entitlelement this year because of how it might benefit me now but because of how it may benefit me in future years. By all means put the money elsewhere for say 11 months but I won't be foregoing next years allowance. Maybe that is old fashioned thinking in these new economic times?

tradetime

I will be adding to mys S&S ISA btw, doubt I will bother with Cash ISA this year.

david78

MsDee wrote: »

I've just done a quick google search on National Savings - am I right in presuming that you can only get them at the post office?

You can pick up application forms at

Post office, W H Smith (at least Premium Bonds, and Savings Certificates)

You can also apply by phone or online.

phoebe03cat

tradetime wrote: »

I will be adding to mys S&S ISA btw, doubt I will bother with Cash ISA this year.

Hi, Why is this tradetime? We are in the position where both of us could invest our whole s&S isa for last year(just) and 2010. We are being advised to do so by our advisor. Husband is wary of the market as its part of our future pensions. Our very limited understanding of the market leads us to think its high at the moment. Why is now such a good time to go for the S&S route rather than the cash isa & national savings mix?

david78

phoebe03cat wrote: »

We are in the position where both of us could invest our whole s&S isa for last year(just) and 2010. We are being advised to do so by our advisor. Husband is wary of the market as its part of our future pensions. Our very limited understanding of the market leads us to think its high at the moment.

You can always use your cash ISAs now and transfer these to a stocks and shares ISA later when the market is lower (no comission then for you advisor who might not be too pleased ). Obviously there's risk that the market may go up and you will miss out. You could always split the money part cash, part stocks and shares.

tradetime

phoebe03cat wrote: »

Hi, Why is this tradetime? We are in the position where both of us could invest our whole s&S isa for last year(just) and 2010. We are being advised to do so by our advisor. Husband is wary of the market as its part of our future pensions. Our very limited understanding of the market leads us to think its high at the moment. Why is now such a good time to go for the S&S route rather than the cash isa & national savings mix?

Hi phoebe03cat, basically I am tired transferring ISA's from one bank to another chasing rates, for the most part the banks imo steal most of the tax advantage anyway, by generally offering lower rates than non ISA products. I am satisfied that I can outperform the interest rates on offer with relative ease via a self select ISA. They offer less flexibility than a normal trading account, but I can work round that, though it does require some deviation from my normal market activities. I do not invest, in the main, so I have no real view on whether the market is high at the moment or not. I would not be a good model for you and your husband to base your pensions on I'm afraid, what I do would be considered high risk.

The post directly above mine makes a good point, do not commit money to the stockmarket currently if doing so would make you nervous, market will always be there, and doubtless there will be a time when you can feel more comfortable about it.

Primrose

My equity ISAs have performed better than my cash ISAs over the years, and as much of my next year's allowance as I can afford will go into some equity ISAs, probably with a global emphasis rather than the UK. However, I'll be waiting until after the General Election before investing. I want to wait and see what effect, if any, the outcome has.

masonic

I feel the same as the previous two posters. Last year I managed to lock away all my cash ISA contributions in the 5 year Newcastle 5% ISA. I don't think anything that good is going to come along again any time soon. I've tended to hold the view that the best ISAs and savings accounts compete well with the returns on low risk investments, and so split my money between cash and medium-high risk investments. At the moment I don't like the look of cash savings at all and I'll be taking the opportunity to use my full allowance in the coming tax year for S&S.

Jake'sGran

Geoffo_M wrote: »

You've got to make a lot of capital growth to get any advantage from S&S ISAs - especially with Capital Gains so high

Last summer an ISA I had matured. I transferred it to HL, split between three funds .
They have all gained so far, one of them astonishingly so (£832.00 has made £574.47). I understood that in an ISA there is no Capital Gains charge - just confirmed this on the Revenue's page re ISAs.

StevieJ

Kavor wrote: »

The only problem with index linking is that the timing of your investment makes a big difference. If you'd invested £10,000 in March 2009, you would have earnt £456 in interest. However, if you'd invested the same amount in February 2009, you would have earnt £333 in interest, or just £190 interest if you'd invested the £10,000 in January 2009.

Then again your cash wouldn't have devalued as much