What is a Cash ISA?

A Cash ISA is a savings account that allows you to make regular contributions. Unlike a standard savings account, you won't pay any tax on the interest earned within your Cash ISA.

The main risk when holding your money in a Cash ISA is Inflation especially if it is running at higher than the interest you receive.

The other main difference between a Cash ISA and a standard savings account is the maximum amount you can pay each tax year into a Cash ISA is £20,000. 

What is an Insurance ISA

Generally these invest into a With Profits Fund like those offered by the Prudential and can suit those people dipping their toes into the market for the first time. The Prudential smooth the returns from the markets offering cautious investors with a choice from 7 of their Risk Rated Managed Funds with quarterly Estimated Growth Rates (EGR)s from 4.3% to 5.7%, as of February 2021.

The Prudential also make adjustments to the fund as and when there are large swings, these are called unit price adjustments so please note that the value of an investment can go down as well as up so you might not get back the amount you put in.

How does Stock and Shares ISAs work?

A stocks and Shares ISA gives you the chance to invest. You can invest in:

• Shares in companies.
• Unit trusts and Open-ended Investment Company funds (OEICs).
• Corporate bonds.
• Government bonds.

A fund is when investors pool their money together to buy a range of assets such as bonds, shares and property. If you have a Stocks and Shares ISA, you can usually select different funds to invest in, plus move your money between these without taking it out of your ISA and losing the tax advantages. It's worthwhile checking with your ISA provider to understand if there are any charges for moving your money between funds.

Please note that the value of an investment can go down as well as up so you might not get back the amount you put in.

 What is an Innovative Finance ISA? 

An Innovative Finance ISA lets you invest in peer to peer lending. 

Peer to Peer (P2P) lending is a form of investing where you directly lend money to borrowers and businesses through a P2P lending platform. The borrowers then pay back the borrowed amount with interest.

The interest they pay is the return you get on your investment. Please note as this works like a loan, The risk is there's a chance the borrowers could default on their repayments. If you want your money back you may have to wait several months for loans to be repaid before you can get your money out. These ISAs do not have the protection offered by the regulators FSCS financial services compensation scheme that other ISAs enjoy so you could lose all of your money.

 How does Lifetime ISAs work?

A Lifetime ISA (LISA) is a tax-free savings or investments account designed to help you buy your first home or save for later life. You must be 18 or over, but under 40 to open a Lifetime ISA.

You can put in up to £4,000 each year, until you’re 50. The government will add a 25% bonus to your savings, up to a maximum of £1,000 per year.

When you turn 50, you will not be able to pay into your Lifetime ISA or earn the 25% bonus. Your account will stay open and your savings will still earn interest or investment returns. 

You can only pay £4,000 into your Lifetime ISA in a tax year.

Of course like any investment, the value can go down as well as up so you might not get back the amount than you put in.

What is a Junior ISA

Thinking about opening a Junior ISA? Here’s what you need to know.

 Junior ISAs, also known as JISAs, are a great way to boost your child’s financial future since they allow you to save and invest for them, tax-efficiently. What does this mean?. When you pay into a Junior ISA, your child will not pay any tax on income they earn or returns they make, they were introduced in 2011 by the government to replace Child Trust Funds.

There are two types of Junior ISA:

A Junior Cash ISA is essentially the same as a bank or building society savings account, but your child will not pay tax on any interest they earn on their savings. With a traditional savings account, your child would pay Income Tax on earnings above £1,000. With a Junior Cash ISA, your child earns a rate of interest, however, if this rate doesn’t exceed inflation their savings will lose value in real terms. Also, there are restrictions on who can withdraw money from a Junior Cash ISA and when this can be withdrawn.

A Junior Stocks and Shares ISA is about investing your child’s money in shares and bonds without paying tax on any capital gains or dividends they receive from their investments. With investing there’s always a chance you could get back less than you put in, but it also means you could potentially get higher returns than cash savings over the long-term. A study conducted by Barclays1 has shown that historically, shares have performed better than cash 90% of the time when investing over a-10-year period.

It comes with an annual allowance: Unlike an adult ISA, where you can open a new one every tax year, your child can have just one Junior Cash ISA and one Junior Stocks and Shares ISA account throughout their childhood, into which you can put up to a maximum £9,000 this tax year 2020/21 – this is your child’s annual allowance.

The Junior ISA allowance for 2020/21 was set at £4,368. You can choose to put everything in one ISA or split the amount between the two types however you like. You have until midnight on the 5th April to use the annual allowance or you’ll lose it forever. On the 6th April, another cycle starts, and your child gets a new Junior ISA allowance. Your child will inherit it at age 18 absolutely.

I am often asked why am I so passionate about life protection - where does all that energy come from to make a difference. What are the drivers that keep me running around the country encouraging people to take out protection for themselves and their families also to protect the people that makes their business successful?

I am often asked why am I so passionate about life protection - where does all that energy come from to make a difference. What are the drivers that keep me running around the country encouraging people to take out protection for themselves and their families also to protect the people that makes their business successful?

Thankfully my GP was amazing, "you're meeting the surgeon next week, having surgery the week after, meeting the oncologist" and so on - quick and on the ball.

Another thing that was quick to get sorted was my critical illness payout from Scottish Provident, now owned by Royal London. No fuss, no real hassle and a massive weight off my mind financially. It made a very difficult time a lot easier to handle. When you are diagnosed with cancer all sorts of things hit you, some harder than others. It wasn't so much the physical side that hit me, after all I was a pretty fit having played county squash for over 20 years. The emotional and mental side hit me hard though. Am I going to die? What about the kids? What about my wife? What about my business? Why me and how did this happen? I was losing my mind with worry not of cancer. Life suddenly became very so insecure.

I can’t imagine how we would of coped had we not had the security of financial stability during all the emotional upheaval.

It took a whole year out of my life dealing with this illness!

When I bought my policy I was invincible in my mind and unaware of what was to come years later. Life happens, things come and bite you when you least expect it, and you don't really know how you'll handle it until it arrives. No-one is invincible, least not me anyway. It was the insecurity of life that frightened me. You can make that less insecure by getting good cover as cancer can affect anyone anytime.

Since then I'm driven to help as many I can insure against their own invincibility - its true, today cancer probably won't kill you, but the mental stress and impact that comes with it just might.

Since then my outlook on life has changed completely, I do things now that I would have put off for another day, I'm looking forward to many enjoyable years ahead, I sometimes get a little worried about a lump or bump, but happy I'm doing my bit to help others in their hour of need should they ever hear those frightening words from their Doctor. If you haven't got cover, buy some.

Its just another way to Fund Your Life !