Another Basic ISA question

slinga

65 next year and am looking to reduce some risk on my investments.
Don't need to generate loads of income.

I have around 100k in UT ISAs
I have around 30k in UTs but outside ISAs
I have around 20k in cash ISAs with various companies, M&S, Principality etc.

Can I transfer say 20k from a UT ISA instantly into a Cash ISA??
Or can I only transfer that amount from a cash ISA to a UT ISA???
Thanks.

grey_gym_sock

you can't transfer from S&S ISAs (e.g UT ISAs) to cash ISAs, only the other way round.

if you want to reduce your UTs, the obvious thing would be to sell some outside ISAs. you could then feed it into cash ISAs as new subscriptions, over the course of a few years.

slinga

Thanks, I thought that was the case.

But why??
Do the government want us to gamble rather than invest with lower risk.

And why can't you put the same amount into cash ISAs as UT ISAs.

I know asking these questions won't help but at my age I find it really annoying and I can't fathom out why.

grey_gym_sock

i'm not sure about the government's motives, but it would cost them more in lost tax revenue if they let ppl put more in cash ISAs. there is less revenue lost for S&S ISAs, because there's no income tax saving on them for basic rate payers, only for higher rate payers (on the difference between basic and higher rate); and the capital gains tax exemption costs little because few ppl make enough gains to pay CGT anyway.

jimjames

Read here and you see all the debate about pros and cons of the ISA limits.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4185041

Bear in mind that just because you are 65 that doesn't mean you are immune to the effects of inflation and may need an income to keep up for more than 30 years. It all depends what other investments or sources of income you have.