Stocks & shares ISAs: How do you save money when investing?

Former_MSE_Michael

"It's a new tax year and everyone has a new ISA allowance to use. Here's how to take advantage of stocks and shares ISAs..."

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Stocks & shares ISAs: How do you save money when investing?



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jimjames

Same comments apply as the link already provided on the ISA board to the same article

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4948628

There is no mention in the article of risk. The risks of a single share are very different to those of a balanced fund - one could drop to zero, the other is unlikely to ever drop more than 50%.

The one highlighted by innovate in the link is probably critical - choose the right platform for your chosen investments. To quote:

It's a two-stage process. Firstly, pick which provider to buy your ISA from. Then decide what investments to put in it. It's like buying bread in a supermarket. Initially you pick the shop (decide which platform to use), then which loaf to buy (your shares/funds/bonds).

Good analogy of the 2 stage process except you've assumed that you want to buy bread as your investment. What if you wanted to buy a TV as your investment? You wouldn't necessarily be able to buy that at the same supermarket with your bread.

Different platforms offer different investments, some just funds, some just shares, some ETFs and others do a wider mix. If you've not decided what you want to buy then you could end up with the wrong platform.

mr_jrt

Most significant thing about this news for me is that you can convert your assets back to cash - this is what stopped me using the shares portion in the past. All fine and well using shares when you can afford the risk, but when something's on the horizon and you need lower risks, the old arrangements meant losing the ISA balance to get it out of S&S and back into cash...