With the end of the tax year less than 5 weeks away it’s no surprise there will be an avalanche of ISA applications arriving with Banks and Providers throughout March.
Despite the best of intentions much of the money invested into ISA’s doesn’t happen through the year with good advance planning it tends to go in tax year end.
Whether you complete your allowance early in the year or right up to the wire the key thing is that you make use of the allowance and more importantly that families make use of the full amount they have at their disposal to shelter as much savings and investments as possible from tax.
Are you aware the average family could shelter just over £58,000* from tax immediately if making full use of the back to back ISA allowance for this and the next tax year?
If you’ve already built up some cash in the form of an emergency fund then the next logical step is to invest in your ISA allowance. You should shop around, make sure you look at the best rates, understand the small print and do your homework before choosing what will work best for you.
ISA season is a great time to take stock of your finances and see how you are placed to make tax efficient savings, it’s also a good time to review your money in general and speak to someone about how you want to plan for the future.
There is no time like the present for starting good savings and investment discipline and wouldn’t it be great this time next year when everyone is rushing to do their ISA or wishing they’d looked at it earlier if you could relax and rest assured its already been taken care off as part of your financial planning in the year.
If you’ve always thought investing in an ISA makes sense but never get round to it then make 2012 the year you use that allowance not lose it.
It’s not too late to put something in place and we would be delighted to hear from you if you want to make the most of a great opportunity before the 6th April 2012.
Dr Claire Armstrong
Client Relationship Manager