Stocks and Shares ISA

missjk1976

Hello

Ive already got a cash ISA which is now upto its limit. Ive been advised I could open a stock & shares ISA however i know nothing about these.

Is there a risk i could lose my money by paying into one of these? Can I open one online?

Many thanks in advance
Jo

dunstonh

Is there a risk i could lose my money by paying into one of these?

An S&S ISA cannot lose money. It is just a container for investments of your choice. It is the investment that carries the risk. There are around 30,000 investment options available. These can be low risk investments which carry little risk off total loss (not that you would care style event - Armageddon) with low volatility through to almost gung ho style investing where total loss is very possible. Effectively, everything sits in a risk scale in between.

Can I open one online?

yes

grey_gym_sock

an S&S ISA is not something to go for purely because it lets you put more money into ISAs.

stocks & shares are something to go for if you're after potentially higher returns than on cash, and can put with a bit of risk. the risk (of losing money) is lower if you're prepared to leave your money invested for a longer time.

if you're happy with the idea of stocks & shares, it's usually a good idea to buy them inside on ISA. but the ISA wrapper should just be the icing on the cake.