Best ISA to put £20k in?

[MrHouse13]

Due an inheritance and want to invest in an ISA before April deadline. Any advice on which one to choose/avoid? Thanks

Go on Money Saving Expert web site and they have the highest paying ones. Do you know if you want cash or S&S ISA? Personally I’m no risk so go cash.

I need to look more into stocks
& shares so think it will just be standard ISA for quickness tbh. Money won’t be available until beginning of April.

As per PP, when you have the money in your account, search online for the best interest rates for cash ISAs.
Since you won't have access to the money until next month, you could use these next weeks to learn about/compare S&S ISAs.

For cash ISAs, the best rate is usually for the first year and then you need to open a new one and roll the money from the first ISA into it.

After 5 April, you'll only be able to put £12k into a cash ISA. But you could put the remaining £8k into a S&S ISA.

S&S ISA. You don’t need to pick the stocks as soon as you open it.

Hargreaves and Lansdown have them. Simple to open online and operate

I thought that the £12k limit started April 2027?

Vanguard ftse global all cap

Have a look at T212. Has some of the best cash ISA rates and you can easily switch it to S&S when you are ready.

I’m going to go for the Vanguard one this year. I’ve put the last 6 years into cash ISAs, but I’m going to go for S&S this year. I used ChatGPT as my financial advisor 😬.

If you are interested in ethics Vanguard rate at the bottom of the ethics pile according to ethical consumer because they are a massive investor in fossil fuels/climate change

Both myself and DS1 have cash ISA’s with Moneybox , always seems to be highly recommended by Martin Lewis. The app is really easy to use

I use both Vanguard and Trading 212, I switched to T212 as both their cash and S&S ISAs are flexible, so I can take my money out and replace it within the same tax year.

I don’t see how Vanguard can be any worse than T212, in terms of where my money is, as my stocks and shares are invested in the same funds with both.

People think cash is “low risk”, which in one sense it is (you won’t see it fluctuate in value), but in other ways it isn’t as you risk not beating inflation (so losing money in real terms) and/or ending up with less money than you otherwise would have (so worse off than investing). In 4 years my S&S ISA has increased in value by 56%, not gonna pretend it hasn’t been a rocky road (mostly thanks to Trump) but I’m still much better off than had it been in cash.

Look around to see which has the best charges. With that amount of money it is a good idea to diversify, so pick a few different funds. For instance if you had invested in just a middle east fund a few months ago, it would be rather volatile right now.

Look at MoneySavingExpert or moneyfacts comparison sites for cash ISA rates. Try and get the money into the ISA before 5 April which unfortunately falls at the Easter weekend this year.

Keep an emergency fund of 6 months expenditure. Then think about any short term spending needs e.g. House improvements or new car.

If you don't need the money for 5+ years then look at investing. You can transfer your cash ISA into stocks and shares. You may need to pay costs e.g. platform fees, transaction fees and funds fees. Look at a few platforms to compare as they all have different charges although there are a few free or very low cost platforms. When choosing an investment I would suggest a multi asset fund geared to your investment timescale and attitude to risk. Personally wouldn't go 100% in a global tracker as they are heavily weighted to the USA stock market.

This is incorrect. The new reduced limit isnt until April 2027. You can put £20k in next financial year.

Think about doing Rebel Finance School on YouTube to learn about investing. It’s a free course, you just need to give up some time to watch the videos.

S&S will always outperform cash over the long term so you are far better off putting the money there as long as you are happy to not touch it for at least 5 years.

https://rebeldonegans.com/finance/rfs/

MSE site, they’ve already done all the legwork. Last time I looked it was T212. What do you need/want the money to do?

I’ve just done this after years of thinking I was smart having cash in my offset mortgage. Hopefully this will make more financial sense over a long period of time.

Thanks everyone. I’m new to this and lucky to have a healthy inheritance hence asking to put maximum into ISA before April 5th. Still got lots going (mentally) on so don’t have loads of time to explore options.

Really appreciate the advice.

I recently saved myself nearly £1000 per year in fees moving out of Vanguard’s platform and replacing their efts with lower cost competitor’s efts - they are often recommended on here but just make sure they are the best value for you - they are not the cheapest and paying more doesn’t necessarily deliver more.

£12k limit is from 2027 for under 65s. If you're aged 65 or over the changes don't apply, you can still invest £20k

Exactly. Cash is rarely a good investment. Some of my shares are hundreds % up over the years now as I’ve been doing it for a while!