18 year old - Looking to start saving!

liamcowan1

Hi leahciM.

Thank you so much for the useful information that you posted regarding ISA's. I'm definitely going to look into opening one of these.

Quick question, are you allowed to have more than one ISA? Sounds silly but I'm sure a bank advisor mentioned these and said about only being able to open one account? If it isn't true I may be interested.

Welcome to my thread redpin and it's great to hear that you're doing so well. Stories like yours motivate me to save even more. Well done on your savings so far and keep up the good work.

A quick question to you redpin; are you using a spreadsheet system to keep track of your savings/expenses/income?

Primrose

You can open a new ISA every tax year, up to the value of £10.200. This can be split with £5100 in a Cash ISA and £5,100 in an equity (stocks & shares) ISA. Each new year's Cash ISA can be opened with a different provider if you choose, or you can continue adding your £5,100 to the previous year's ISA if you're happy its providing a decent interest rate. You can also now transfer existing Cash ISAs into an equity ISA but you can't move equity ISAs back into Cash ISAs. You can also transfer existing Cash ISAs to other ISA providers if they're offering a better interest rate, but you need to check first which providers accept transfers in and out and whether they're charging a transfer penalty (some providers do). A word of warning though. NEVER close your Cash ISA if you want to transfer it. This will cause it to lose its tax-free status. You must complete a transfer form with either the old or new provider and let them complete the transfer process between them. It pays to review the interest rate on your Cash ISA every year to ensure you're still getting a reasonable interest rate, unless you've fixed for longer than a one year period.

LucyTheDwarf

Great explanation on ISAs: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-cash-isa
Info on savings, including explanation of features such as bonus rates, withdrawal penalties, and an interest calculator: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/savings-accounts-best-interest

Do your research, and watch out that you always read the small print, would be my advice. Good luck

leahciM

liamcowan1 wrote: »

Hi leahciM.

Thank you so much for the useful information that you posted regarding ISA's. I'm definitely going to look into opening one of these.

Quick question, are you allowed to have more than one ISA? Sounds silly but I'm sure a bank advisor mentioned these and said about only being able to open one account? If it isn't true I may be interested.

Howdi Liamcowan1,

I may be reiterating Primrose's great and informative post above but I feel it might be worth just highlighting a few points.

You cannot start two cash ISAs in one year.

You can start one cash ISA this year, keep it going, and start another cash ISA with a different provider next year, meaning that you have two cash ISAs.

You can start both a cash ISA and a stock and shares ISA with different providers in the same tax year, and just to add to Primrose's points, it is a total of £10,200, but you don't have to have a 50/50 split. You can have, for example, £2,200 in your cash ISA and £8000 in your stocks and shares ISA. However, you can only have a maximum of £5100 in your cash ISA.