This weekend I had the joy of trying to explain to my adult children what the difference was between all the different ISAs they could invest what little money they had. This conversation was prompted by their confusion about why a new ISA had been introduced in last week’s Budget.
They’d only just got their head around the difference between a Cash ISA and a Stocks and Shares ISA and then I had introduced the scintillating Innovative ISA (remember that?) and the Lifetime ISA which went down a storm as it involves free government money.
This time it was the turn of the British or UK ISA to confuse them. As you’ll be aware, the most impressive piece of lobbying in recent times has resulted in a new £5,000 tax-free allowance for investors in British stocks. The letter from asset managers requesting the new allowance was only a few weeks old and seems to have hit the bullseye. (Here’s hoping my letter to the Treasury requesting that we properly fund our armed forces up to 3% of GDP also receives the same prompt attention!)