can somebody give me an idiots guide to non cash ISAs?

dorks

I want to save up about £20K in the shortest possible period.

I was thinking about cash ISAs. However, how do non cash ISAs work? Is it like a pension where money is invested and investment managers invest it for you in stocks and shares.......or is it some kind of wrapper whereby any stocks and shares that I have can be placed?

I assume I am likely to get a better return from the non cash ISA!?!? ...presumably this is a likely scenario, but cannot be guaranteed because share values can go down as well as up, etc etc.?!?!

Please can somebody help?

Many thanks.

isofa

You can only put 3K a year in a cash ISA (Mini ISA)

But in addition you can also put a further 4K into a Stocks/Shares ISA (Mini ISA), in addition to the 3K cash ISA, to make the total 7K max allowance for one tax yar.

Or you can put 7K completely into a Stocks/Shares ISA in one tax year. (A Maxi ISA)

You can invest in managed funds, or some companies allow you to choose the stocks and shares in your own ISA wrapper.

Obviously the higher the risk the higher the potential return or loss. Cash is safe obviously, there are lots of different risk profiles, and hundreds of thousands of permutations of what to do with your money with stocks and shares ISAs, the rules prevent people recommending or giving direct advice here on the choices.

Couple of links worth reading:

Full ISA guide:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/ISA-guide-savings-without-tax

Cash ISA info:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/best-cash-isa

and

how to buy funds and ISAs:

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/isa-discounts

Hope that helps!

david78

dorks wrote: »

Is it like a pension where money is invested and investment managers invest it for you in stocks and shares.......or is it some kind of wrapper whereby any stocks and shares that I have can be placed?

In practice "stocks and shares" ISA "wrappers" (not a term I like very much) is an account which is designed to hold shares and/or investment funds (and a little cash). You generally deposit cash into your stocks and shares ISA (up to £4000 for the mini version this year, up to £4200 next year) and use this to purchase your shares and/or funds.

If you purchase funds or investment trusts then you will be buying a portfolio of shares, which a manager to look after for you. Alternatively, you can just buy shares. What you are able to buy depends on the ISA you open: some can only hold specific funds, some can hold only shares, and some can hold both. You need to think about the flexibility you need when starting out. At one end of the scale you can open an ISA based on a "Fund Supermarket" with access to lots of funds (and shares too). At the other end you could open an "Investment Trust" ISA which can only hold shares from one investment trust.

Some providers will help you to transfer shares and/or funds you currently own outside of an ISA into your ISA with them, but they have to sell them and buy them back again (there's sometimes deals to limit the buying/selling costs). If you already have a stocks and shares ISA it can be transfered to a new ISA either by selling and transfering cash, or by re-registering the investments.