Considering opening my first ISA

MidTwentySomthing

Hi Moneysavers,

I was wondering if I could be so rude as to seek some good advice from you kind wonderful people.

My boyfreind and I had a discussion two days ago and decided that since the end of the Tax year is approaching I should open an ISA - and quick.

We currently have £20,000 in savings - 6k of which is in his ISA, the rest of which is in his savings account (although we have both contributed), so I could transfer quite alot of cash and earn some mega intrest.

The problem is I am a new moneysaver and have nearly no clue how it all works. I find it a minefield, and really don't understand anything about it.

There are alot of products out there so I suppose what I am asking is:

How much can I put in?
Is it legal to transfer money from my boyfreinds savings account to what will be my ISA?
What is the best deal out there at the moment?
Anything else a newbie moneysaver should know - pitfalls etc -illegal stuff you can't do- legal stuff you can do - loopholes etc.
The new rules - all this stuff about cash ISAs stocks ISAs a mixture - and how much you can put in is really confuzzleing me.

And if you guys would be so glad as to put it in laymans terms I would be well grateful - cos I'm really confused about the mountain of deals and the whole "concept".

I've read all the FAQs but I think it's just bamboozled me really.

thanks all,

Gabi

MidTwentySomthing

Anyone?

BruceyBonus

You can put £3000 into a Cash ISA this tax year (before 5th April) and £3600 into a Cash ISA next tax year.

Your boyfriend can transfer the money to you - after all, its his money to do as he pleases!

Would it be better for both of you to have a join savings account instead of just having it in his name?

Browntrout_2

An Individual Savings Account (ISA) is just a wrapper.

It has some tax advantages and is subject to government rules which change regularly. At one stage ISAs may have been abolished, now it seems they are here to stay...

You have to think about cash and investment in light or your own personal financial circumstances, i.e. do I want ready access to cash, how long can I tie this cash up for, do I want to accept an element of risk, if so how much etc, then go shopping for an ISA.

Simple really!

bryanb

A couple more rules--You can only open 1 ISA in any tax year, you can only deposit the max once, if you withdraw you cannot re-deposit it. You should not close an ISA if you want to move it, transfer it or you lose the tax free status.