What are ISAs?
What you need to know about Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) and how you can use them to keep growing your money
The main draw: ISAs offer tax-free saving and investment
With an ISA, you can save or invest money without having to pay tax on the interest or investment growth you earn.
You can save up to £20,000 this year into your ISAs. There are different types of ISA to suit different needs: cash, stocks and shares, lifetime and innovative finance.
Cash ISAs
Cash ISAs are a lot like an ordinary savings account. When you save into a cash ISA you can earn interest on your savings.
Unfortunately, interest rates on easy-access cash ISAs tend to be fairly low at the moment, the highest on offer is 2.55% according to Money Saving Expert. You might find other types of savings accounts offer higher interest rates.
This is worth being aware of when choosing where to save your money, as if interest rates are lower than inflation, you might find that the money you put into a cash ISA could be worth less in the future.
Stocks and shares ISAs
Stocks and shares ISAs invest your money in funds which buy company shares. You earn returns, rather than interest, depending on how much those companies grow.
Stocks and shares ISAs therefore tend to offer greater potential for growing your money over the long term - five years or more. But when you invest there is always the risk that the value of your investment can go down as well as up. Some stocks and shares ISAs will include cash and fixed interest investments to reduce the risk of that happening.
Lifetime ISAs
When you save with a lifetime ISA, the government tops up the money you save by an extra 25%, as long as you use it to buy your first home or withdraw it after you turn 60.
If you take money out for anything else, the government charges you a withdrawal fee, which is a good incentive not to dip into your savings but does mean you need to be sure of what you're saving for!
You can put up to £4,000 each year into a lifetime ISA and get up to £1,000 a year from the government.
Lifetime ISAs come in cash and stocks and shares versions.
Innovative finance ISAs
Innovative Finance ISAs are a type of peer-to-peer lending. You lend your savings to borrowers in return for a pre-agreed amount of interest, which is higher the longer you keep your money invested.
How ISAs can help you to save for your future
Find out more how ISAs work in this short video.
ISA fees and charges
When you invest in a stocks and shares ISA you should carefully consider not only the potential losses and gains, but also any fees and charges.
Stocks and shares ISAs often come with several different types of charges, including annual management charges, platform charges, charges for transferring between accounts and other fund costs. You'll be able to check what these are with the ISA provider.
At OneFamily, we keep things simple with just one annual management charge of 1.1% of the ISA value, for both our Stocks and Shares ISA and our Lifetime ISA.
Risk and reward
Some stocks and shares ISAs will invest your money in an investment fund, that helps diversify your investment. The choice is huge and funds come with different mixes of investments. One of the most important things to consider is the trade-off between risk and reward - typically the more risk you take, the higher the potential rewards.
You can get low risk funds that will invest in cash and other fixed interest investments, and others that will invest 100% in company shares. The choice is yours as to how much risk you are comfortable taking with your money.
Are ISAs worth it? We think so
Cash ISAs are a tax-free alternative to traditional bank accounts and can be useful for short term savings goals.
But if you’re working towards a medium or long-term savings goal, over five years or more, stocks and shares ISAs offer greater potential for growth.
Any ISA invested in stocks and shares is subject to stock market fluctuations, so while the aim is to grow your money it is possible to end up with less than you started with.
Important information
You can only pay into one cash ISA, one stocks and shares ISA and one Lifetime ISA each tax year.
Those three ISAs are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which means if the savings or investment provider fails you will automatically be compensated up to £85,000. Find out more.
You can find further information on all the different types of ISA available at gov.uk.
Keep growing your money with OneFamily
You can easily transfer a matured Child Trust Fund or Junior ISA into our Lifetime ISA or Stocks and Shares ISA. Log into your online account once you've turned 18 to get started.
Find out more about investing in our Stocks & Shares ISA or Lifetime ISA.
Please note: OneFamily does not provide investment advice. You should always remember when dealing with stocks and shares, whilst they can have good potential for returns in the long run – their values can fall as well as rise. So, there’s always a chance you could get back less than is paid in.
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