Yes the overall ISA limit is £20k per tax year. The Vanguard ISA is a 'flexible' ISA which means you can withdraw money and put it back in again within the same tax year without using up your current year allowance when you return it. So it sounds like you have taken at least 2840 out of the ISA since 6 April (either current or previous year contributions) and you could put that much back in as well as making new current-year subscriptions up to your available allowance (though they won't know how much you've put into other ISAs in the year). If you haven't taken anything out, it's a glitch.noclaf said:My Vanguard S&S ISA says I have "£22840" of my annual allowance remaining for 2020/21, am confused as under the impression it's £20k max per tax year and we are not allowed to roll unused allowance?
Thanks
My other question is around how much risk I could take with investing. My Skipton LISA is fully utilised for this year which is great so will get the maximum £1k bonus but realistically I may not be in a position to buy untill mid next year. Currently I am 98% in cash and the rest invested in the S&S ISA.
In my shoes would anyone take increased risk either by transferring the cash Lisa to an S&S Lisa and investing the whole lot or leave the cash LISA as it is and simply use more of my Vanguard S&S allowance?
If you are wary of investment losses, don't invest. There aren't really any options in the S&S space which are guaranteed to return at least 0.5% after all fees without risk of loss.
If you are a gambler, you could take more risk, and if not a gambler you could take less. For example you might get a 20% upside if you buy a higher risk (100% equity) fund and can take on the potential risk of a 30-40% downside, but presumably you don't want that downside risk if you're realistically buying a year from now.
If you do want some risk and are willing to take a chance which is essentially random over a short time period like a year - a casino roulette wheel will give you a possible return that's as high as the potential downside, and you'll get the money (or the loss) overnight rather than waiting a year to find out. I suppose if 'saving up a bit longer' is an option for you, it doesn't matter if you lose a bit in the pursuit of a win.
If you go for a lower risk option, you won't get spectacular returns but you won't entirely eliminate the downside risk either, so that seems an unattractive option really when you want the money for a home purchase next year. UK Government bonds with <5 years to maturity have a negative yield at the moment, i.e. a guaranteed small loss. Higher risk bonds offer better yield but are not guaranteed so could lose. Equities could give an even higher return but again, could lose.
