Indiviual Savings Accounts
ISAs were introduced on 6 April 1999, replacing the earlier Personal Equity Plans and Tax-Exempt Special Savings Accounts.
An ISA can contain two components:
- A cash component: a cash deposit that is similar to any other ordinary savings account, apart from the tax-free status.
- A stocks and shares component: the money is invested in 'qualifying investments' consisting of any combination of stock market equity investments public debt securities such as government or corporate bonds, As a consequence, the risk profile of the ISA may be anything from low to high. The investments may also include or consist of property funds or derivatives such as options. This element may be self-invested and managed through a stockbroker.
ISA’s are tax-free in that they are not subject to Income or Capital Gains Tax, therefore there are limits on the amount that can be invested in them. Please contact us for investment limits for the current tax year.
ISA Transfers
An ISA can be transferred from one provider to another without impacting on your annual allowance. This normally occurs where you are not happy with the performance of the funds within your Stocks and Shares ISA or with the Interest Rate in your Cash ISA. The monies from a Cash ISA can be transferred to a Stocks and Shares ISA, but not from a S&S ISA to a Cash ISA.
At Richard Jacobs we are able to look at the performance of your existing ISA’s and compare them to the market.
Discretionary Investment Management
Is a service offered by professional investments managers who specialise, normally exclusively, in managing individual investment portfolios for private investors and trustees. The professional investment manager will take responsibility for making all the decision about the investments in your portfolio at their discretion, based on your requirements. This is in contrast to a stockbroker who will only give you advice about investments or act on your specific request.
Many of our clients at Richard Jacobs Pension & Trustee Services have a proportion of their wealth invested with a discretionary investment manager, for example in the form of an ISA or with their pension monies.
Investment Trusts & Unit Trusts
An Investment or Unit Trust is a form of collective investment, which is a way of investing money with others to gain access to a wider range of investments than feasible for most individual investors, and to share the costs and benefits of doing so. One of the key differences between an Investment Trust and a Unit Trust, is that an Investment Trust manager is legally allowed to borrow capital to purchase shares, which in turn increases the risk of the product.
Life Bonds
A Life Bond (or insurance bond or investment bond) is a single premium life assurance policy for the purposes of investment.
There are many reasons why bonds would provide a suitable investment vehicle for your money, though for most people Unit Trusts and Oeics are more tax-efficient. This has become even clearer since changes to Capital Gain Tax in the 2008 budget. Useful features of Bonds for more specialist planning scenarios include the tax deferred status, the ability to write the investment in trust and reduce the inheritance tax liability on an estate, and exclusive access to expensive investment links like guaranteed or protected profits funds are to name a few. Bonds can provide income or growth and when income is required there are now bonds that can offer va set minimum guaranteed income for life of the plan holder.
