Cash ISAs versus S&S ISA

[Imtoooldforallthis]

I currently have 4 years worth of stock and shares ISAs which dont seem to be doing that well. Currently with Natwest. I know I could and probably should move them however I do kind of like them with my bank accounts so I can see everything together. However I'm wondering if they would earn more in a cash ISA . On looking it would appear so, just interested in others opinion.

Well, how well have they done? You can get 5% in the first year for new cash ISAs. If your S&S hasn’t grown that much in 4 years you might want to consider it. Also depends on you goals. Are they short term or long term? Long term I’d move it to a better performing S&S ISA.

What fund are they in? I have a s&s isa with NatWest and it’s up way more than I’d have got in a cash isa most of which are barely beating inflation…

My 80k is now at £95,500 and a fixed rate cash ISA would earn 4.25% so if I understand it correctly that would earn more.

If you sell now you are selling at a low point. You need to give S&S minimum 5 years to overcome stock market slumps. The markets have been bad since Trump bombed Iran, so selling now won't give you a chance to recoup your losses.

You need to consider your returns over the long term when investing, not over the next year or 2.

Thank you, that's probably what I needed to hear. I will leave them be for a now.

What fund(s) are they invested in?
When did you get your valuation?
This last week or so has been especially rocky for me. Don't crystalise a loss

It's just called an ambitious fund and shows a 12% overall profit

The fact it's with Natwest is irrelevant. It's the fund that matters, not the platform. My all world fund is up about 12% year to date, so much better than a cash isa. It was doing better but it's been a rough couple of weeks!

I googled for it. Your fees are quite high. You're paying 0.4%
There are platforms/funds you could use instead where you could expect to pay 0.02% for example. Your fees are high because it's actively managed. Is that what you want?

On top of that, the fund is medium to high risk. Is that what you want? Are you wanting to access the money soonish? Or leave it for ten years plus? Compare your fund against an all world tracker, or the s&p500 and you'd have seen 19% ish growth over the same timeframe.

Anyway if you do want to move it, be careful about the timing. Don't sell in a dip (now is a dip)

Total novice on investing, yes I went for medium to high risk as have good savings snd won't need the money anytime soon. I'll leave where it is and see how it goes.thank for your help.

The BOE meet in early November, the 6th I think, to discuss interest rates. They are predicted to rise, so if you are considering a cash ISA, I would hang on a couple of weeks. Vida savings have some good rates at the moment, and very easy to set up.

You can sell in a dip so long as you reinvest in s&s during that dip - but volatility being as it is, I’d never do it all at once.

Rarely is one bank the right place for all of your money. There will be a cost to the convenience of having it all on one dashboard. Although I know it can be annoying to have multiple accounts for different things.

I wouldn't necessarily see this as S &S Vs cash and more this fund of stocks and shares Vs a different and NatWest Vs other providers.

From a cash savings point the interest year on year matters but from stocks and shares what it is doing at the point you need the money is all that matters (to a degree)

It might be worth doing a bit of reading around stocks and shares and what to look for in a fund. Also, remember that you don't have to have all the money in one fund so it might be a case of leaving £60k where it is and investing £20k somewhere else or in the new tax year invest in a different fund.

We are new to S&S as it's only been in the last year or two that we have money that we won't potentially need in the next 2-4 years. We have put £10k in each, we have them across 4 funds and we currently are getting between 6 and 18%. I put mine in a month later than my partner and after 3 months he had made money and I had lost, now we are 6 months in and mine have made up their loss and now are ahead of his.

I think from April 2027 you can't transfer from a s&s isa into a cash isa.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6674303/transferring-cash-from-s-s-isa-to-cash-isa-after-2027

(Unless over 65)

I'm also with NatWest/RBS for my s&s isa and am looking to transfer to another platform for it as the fees are relatively high. It's definitely grown strongly though and does outperform cash in the longer term. So unless you might need access to the money In near future I'd leave it in s&s usa wrapper but do look for other platforms with lower fees.

Do not use a High street bank for S&S ISA, there are a few platforms like AJ Bell, Hargreaves Lansdowne and Vanguard.

Also remember that S&S should be spread around with various trackers. It’s long term so hold your nerve.

Never have loyalty to a bank, I actually have zero loyalty and have changed banks multiple times.

Natwest were my very first bank. Back then all banks required you to keep £100 in a current account or be charged. When I was 18 in 1984 that changed so I moved my account immediately to the Midlands Bank who broke that particular banking cartel.

I have my SIPP with AJ Bell. Opened it this year and is showing only around a 2% increase. Tax advantages are the reason I invested but definitely has put me off S&S. Though obviously Trump and all the wars have had a major impact

while the stock market has been volatile the past few weeks, generally the stock market has had a good few years ie above average returns. I do not use individual or managed funds but trackers, I have a FTSE 100 tracker an S&P 500 tracker and a global tracker,
on anverage over decades the stock market is above inflation by 3-4% , while any cash savings account is on average keeping up with inflation rather than out performing it, there are individual savings accounts offering more than inflation
CASH ISA is guaranteed growth tax free so your savings are keeping pace with inflation
S &S ISA are not guaranted but will on average growth faster also tax free, the usual advice is not to put money in a stocks and shares ISA that you will need in less than 3-5 years or that you might need in a hurry as you don't want to have to sell on a downturn in market

you can easily move from one ISA to another provider but use the inbult system never withdraw and reinvest as then the 20K ;imit applies annually but trasferring 94K to anothe rprovider should be straightforward lots of guidance abvailable on youtube etc on how to do this

last year 2025 FTSE 100 was up 21% S &P 500 17%(25% in 2024) global trackers around 20% so it appears your managed Natwest fund severely underperforned in relation to the market time for a move I would say but check fees as fees are often on whole investment not the growth

Thank you for that info who would you recommend to use.

check fees vanguard are good but fees are set so less good on small funds of below 50K i also use trading 212 it has lots of tracker funds
also recommend rebel finance school especially episodes 5 onwards for explaining fees and tracker funds as opposed to managed funds

My S&S isa lets you look at gains since opening, over 5 years,1 year and a month. This helps me keep it in perspective.

Since I opened it it has increased by 28 % but in the last month gone down by 0.5%.

I thought that S&S ISA's always performed better than Cash ISA's? That said, I do stick to Cash ISA's, because I can't lose money that way. Having lost money on shares before, I'm very risk averse.

Was the £80k invested for the whole 4 year period or did you put £20k in year 1, another £20k (making £40k) in year 2 etc?

If the latter, your return has been higher than a cash ISA. It works out at around 7% pa for the 4 full years or a bit higher if your 4th year isn't actually finished yet I.e. you invested the final £20k in April this year and here we are only in November.

7% pa isn't a brilliant return but it's better than inflation.

Thank you for working that out for me yes you are correct in that it hasn't all been invested fir the whole 4 years.