ISA or Gold?

DRS1

Bostonerimus1 said:

Belfastboy51 said:

So would it be better to put a lump sum in my work pension? would it gain more and be tax free? 

What type of workplace pension do you have and what are you trying to achieve?

Some workplace pensions have a limited range of investments available.  So if you really wanted to buy a gold ETF you may find that it is not available  Ditto PNL.

Albermarle

XzavierWalnut said:

Albermarle said:

XzavierWalnut said:

Belfastboy51 said:

So i would assume you are saying wait until the turbulent times have passed and get a better rate for the gold. Presumably coins are the best option? tax free and zero capital gains? 

Problem these days, there are always turbulent events. Personally, I bought gold bullion because I always wanted to own some, not particularly to make a lot of money.
For large purchases coins seem to be the best option to avoid CGT.

Nothing special about 'these days' . Plenty of turbulent events in the past ( WW2 etc) and will be plenty in future. Normally financial markets shrug off most of  these events quite quickly.
Even with Covid it only took about 6 months for the markets to recover.

I probably notice and worry about events more now, as I am older.
  

The tendency to concentrate on very recent events, out of context of history, is a very common human trait amongst all ages.
There is even a name for it;
Recency bias, is the propensity to give more weight to recent information or occurrences when drawing conclusions or developing opinions.

eskbanker

DRS1 said:

Belfastboy51 said:

So would it be better to put a lump sum in my work pension? would it gain more and be tax free? 

It is never a bad thing to put money into your pension.

Those who put money into their pensions and later find they want/need access to it before they reach 55/57 might disagree!  I don't believe that OP has clarified when they require access to this money - they do refer to 'long term' but for some that means years rather than decades....

aroominyork

kempiejon said:

Belfastboy51 said:

My ultimate goal is to stop the HMRC getting their greedy fingers into my pots! god knows we pay enough tax on everything else and they seem to want to rob us blind on every corner! Thanks for your comment John.  

Sometime ago I decided that capital gains tax and income tax could be avoided by neither selling nor working too hard or often.

Have you thought of re-training as an IFA? "How can I reduce my tax bill, please?" "Don't go to work."

EthicsGradient

aroominyork said:

kempiejon said:

Belfastboy51 said:

My ultimate goal is to stop the HMRC getting their greedy fingers into my pots! god knows we pay enough tax on everything else and they seem to want to rob us blind on every corner! Thanks for your comment John.  

Sometime ago I decided that capital gains tax and income tax could be avoided by neither selling nor working too hard or often.

Have you thought of re-training as an IFA? "How can I reduce my tax bill, please?" "Don't go to work."

It's a fair answer to "how can I give less to the government?" Now, if the question was "how can I increase my income or wealth", it'd deserve a different answer.

kempiejon

aroominyork said:

kempiejon said:

Belfastboy51 said:

My ultimate goal is to stop the HMRC getting their greedy fingers into my pots! god knows we pay enough tax on everything else and they seem to want to rob us blind on every corner! Thanks for your comment John.  

Sometime ago I decided that capital gains tax and income tax could be avoided by neither selling nor working too hard or often.

Have you thought of re-training as an IFA? "How can I reduce my tax bill, please?" "Don't go to work."

Cheers but I never thought about retraining, I don't think I'd fancy all the rules and regs I guess are involved in IFAing and I'm not looking for a job.
Don't attract too much taxable income might be a better turn of phrase. Income tax and national insurance are only paid above certain thresholds.
The ultimate goal quoted was to stop the HMRC getting money.

Bostonerimus1

DRS1 said:

Bostonerimus1 said:

Belfastboy51 said:

So would it be better to put a lump sum in my work pension? would it gain more and be tax free? 

What type of workplace pension do you have and what are you trying to achieve?

Some workplace pensions have a limited range of investments available.  So if you really wanted to buy a gold ETF you may find that it is not available  Ditto PNL.

The OP clearly needs to better understand some basics of personal finances. The starting point for anyone should be contributing to pensions and ISAs and my question is an effort to prompt the OP to understand their pension structure and goals. Then a sensible decision can be made on the appropriate tax advantaged wrapper or combination of wrappers and only then should the type of investment be considered. 

Aretnap

Belfastboy51 said:

My main question is Gold Bullion have contacted me and said don't put the money in an ISA! you will earn more long term with Gold investment! 

Mandy Rice Davis applies. ("He would say that, wouldn't he?")

I mean, a company that sells gold bullion is hardly going to say "don't buy gold bullion, put your money in the bank instead", is it?

That's assuming they do actually sell gold bullion of course. If this company has contacted you out of the blue it's at least as likely that they'll just take your money and disappear without trace (which would at least avoid any risk that you might have to pay tax on the money, I suppose). All investment opportunities which are pushed by cold callers or Email spammers should be treated as scams unless proven otherwise.

aroominyork

kempiejon said:

aroominyork said:

kempiejon said:

Belfastboy51 said:

My ultimate goal is to stop the HMRC getting their greedy fingers into my pots! god knows we pay enough tax on everything else and they seem to want to rob us blind on every corner! Thanks for your comment John.  

Sometime ago I decided that capital gains tax and income tax could be avoided by neither selling nor working too hard or often.

Have you thought of re-training as an IFA? "How can I reduce my tax bill, please?" "Don't go to work."

Don't attract too much taxable income might be a better turn of phrase. Income tax and national insurance are only paid above certain thresholds.
The ultimate goal quoted was to stop the HMRC getting money.

The OP can correct me, but I think they were unaware a multi-year bond would have all the tax taken on maturity, rather than taking advantage of their personal savings allowance on an annual basis. I'm not sure they were suggesting that HMRC should receive no money. 

masonic

aroominyork said:

kempiejon said:

aroominyork said:

kempiejon said:

Belfastboy51 said:

My ultimate goal is to stop the HMRC getting their greedy fingers into my pots! god knows we pay enough tax on everything else and they seem to want to rob us blind on every corner! Thanks for your comment John.  

Sometime ago I decided that capital gains tax and income tax could be avoided by neither selling nor working too hard or often.

Have you thought of re-training as an IFA? "How can I reduce my tax bill, please?" "Don't go to work."

Don't attract too much taxable income might be a better turn of phrase. Income tax and national insurance are only paid above certain thresholds.
The ultimate goal quoted was to stop the HMRC getting money.

The OP can correct me, but I think they were unaware a multi-year bond would have all the tax taken on maturity, rather than taking advantage of their personal savings allowance on an annual basis. I'm not sure they were suggesting that HMRC should receive no money. 

It seems unlikely that HMRC actually taxed all of the interest in a single tax year. That would have required either Nationwide to pay all of the interest at maturity, which they do not generally do, or for the OP to declare that it was inaccessible during the term, which they are unlikely to have done. Also the account matures next month, so HMRC wouldn't be doing anything unless the provider was reporting interest annually.

Now if the interest was inaccessible during the term, the OP might be underpaying tax if HMRC's calculation makes use of more than on year's PSA. In that scenario all of the interest would be taxable in 2025/6 and no tax code adjustments should be made for this account until 2026/7 at the earliest.