ISA13 May 2018 10:32
Govt. trying to encourage saving believe it or not. Strangely they got rid of tax on savings interest up to about £1200 so holding a “cash ISA “ is an irrelevance really..unless interest rates shoot up and I don’t see that for up to maybe 10 yrs. The “ balanced” rate for the economy is around 3% ‘ish but it is nowhere near that. I remember it being around 10% early nineties...criplpled me with mortgage!!
Cash ISA’s don’t really exist now even if providers call them that. It’s just 20k in a NISA which can go anywhere you like, Cash/stocks/ funds ...whatever. Cash not worth it.If you have the money ISA’s are worth using every year though as you can build up a large amount that the govt. can’t touch . Capital gains tax around £12k I think. Doesn’t apply to ISA’s but if you make over that amount outside an isa wrapper the govt. takes a wodge of it :-(
So most advisors ( inc me) recommend using the 20 k each year ISA if u can.
I move money each year from SIPP to ISA and try to pay as little tax as poss on the Sipp withdrawal but it’s hard. £11,800 is tax-free earnings amount. and any income ( sipp is income if you withdraw) above that is taxed at 20% ( more if high earner).
SIPP does not IMO justify the 20% extra the govt. pays in. They only take it back one way or other. 2028 57 yrs old...stupid decision.
They have made pension saving compulsory if you are an employee now but state pension at 67+ and sipp at 57..... you don’t have that many years left !!!
ISA is easily best jobbie IMO. They can’t touch it. In good investments it can make more than CGT amount in a year but govt can’t take any of it. Tax avoidance is the way forward IMO. You don’t need an advisor ...you just learn about things yourself. As people say here..ISA very valuable with shares. 10 years of £20k gives £200,000 which can grow tax-free. Even using part of it is worth it. I have done exactly that...starting with TESSA in nineties and moving into ISA when Tessa became isa.
Worth keeping ALL investments in ISA wrapper. Build it up every year. Keep some cash as stability and to buy on a downturn and if things go t*** up on stock market. Even keep some cash in the ISA wrapper as I do even if it makes f’all interest. You can use it opportunistically as I have done with Glen. ISA is the tops.
I have large amount in SIPP but feel manacled as govt. takes 20% of whatever I take from it ( over £11,800 earnings limit ) . Got decent amount in ISA too but wish it was ALL in ISA.
My advice is to use as much as u can from ISA allowance and disregard sipp. But each to their own. Becoming an ISA millionaire is far better than being SIPP-rich. Tax sucks.
Hope this helped and was not too unnecessarily detailed. If special divvy or any divvy at all is taken...use ISA IM very honest O.