£40k in an isa

ArtySin

Hi,
I've got £40k in an isa and I know just about zero on investments, other than topping it up every year. Is it better to pay in a regular monthly amount to reach the maximum isa allowance or put the maximum isa allowance in at the start of the year?
Many thanks
ArtySin

colsten

what type of ISA do you have, cash or S&S?

JustAnotherSaver

Considering OP has admitted to knowing not a lot about investments i'd put my money on it being a cash ISA.

Though we should never assume

Eco_Miser

ArtySin wrote: »

Is it better to pay in a regular monthly amount to reach the maximum isa allowance or put the maximum isa allowance in at the start of the year?

That depends. If you've got the lump sum, putting it in at the beginning of the year gives it more time to grow, if you haven't then putting your spare income in as it arrives gives it more time to grow.
If you are charged a fixed fee every time you invest, than a lump sum may be cheaper, depending on size.

xylophone

If you have £15,240 to hand, want to keep in in cash, and are suffering the current derisory interest rates in your ISA, you could well be better off opening a Nationwide Flex direct account with £2500, a couple of Tesco current accounts ( and one each of the instant access saver and internet saver) and a couple of BOS current accounts.

You would use the savers above to created two DDs on each of the BOS accounts and set up the BOS accounts to fund each other by SO from A to B and from B to A on the same day of the month.

You would transfer £1000 from Tesco to Nationwide once a month, contribute £500 to the Flexregular monthly saver and send £500 back to Tesco - after a year the money from the Tesco accounts would be in the Flex saver.

At the end of the year you would transfer the money in the Flexsaver back to the Tesco accounts and downgrade the Flexdirect for one year so as to be able to qualify again after that time.

And you could explore transferring the ISA to one with a better rate if you can find one.

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-1583864/Best-savings-rates-Isas-Cash-Isa-accounts-fixed-rate-Isas.html

ArtySin

Sorry guys, yes it's a cask ISA

ColdIron

ArtySin wrote: »

Sorry guys, yes it's a cask ISA

So liquidity will not be an issue for you

xylophone

So liquidity will not be an issue for you

It's invested in whisky?

bigfreddiel

Why would you want to drop feed a cash ISA? Makes no sense to miss out on any meagre interest.

But what you should do is transfer the entire amount into a stocks and shares ISA. As you are totally clueless, just buy Vanguard Lifestrategy 60 fund. Sometimes referred to as VLS60 on this board.

Do a bit of research on this Vanguard find to learn a bit about it.

Good luck fj