Latest news with #Isas
Daily Record
7 days ago
- Business
- Daily Record
People can now choose from over 2,230 savings account deals to boost their finances
Finance expert reveals the choice of savings products are 'at record levels but some rates at a two-year low'. Savers have a record high choice of deals to select from, but some rates have been falling to their lowest level in around two years typically, according to a financial information website's data. Moneyfacts counted 2,235 savings deals, including cash Isas, at the start of June, marking the highest total on its records, going back to February 2007. Some 639 cash Isa deals were available at the start of June, which was also a record high. The number of savings providers rose to 153, up from 152 last month, which was another high for Moneyfacts' records. The website tracked data from the first available day of each month for the research. The figures were released ahead of the next Bank of England base rate decision this week. Many economists have predicted the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will opt to keep rates on hold at 4.25 per cent when it meets on Thursday, following previous cuts. New UK inflation figures for May will also be released on Wednesday. Rising living costs eat into the returns that savers can make on their cash. According to Moneyfacts' figures, the average easy access savings rate on the market fell to 2.71 per cent at the start of June, from 2.78 per cent at the start of May. In June 2024, the average easy access savings rate on the market was 3.12 per cent. Moneyfacts said the June 2025 figure is the lowest since July 2023, when the average easy access savings rate on the market was 2.41 per cent. The average notice savings account rate was also at its lowest level since July 2023, falling to 3.67 per cent in June. The typical easy access Isa rate was 2.98 per cent at the start of June - its lowest level since August 2023. The average notice Isa rate fell to 3.55 per cent - its lowest level since July 2023. Meanwhile an average one-year fixed bond on the market pays 4.01 per cent - the lowest average rate recorded for the product since May 2023. The average one-year fixed Isa rate fell to 3.94 per cent - also the lowest level since May 2023. Rachel Springall, Finance Expert at Moneyfacts, said: 'Savers may be encouraged to see the array of providers and overall choice of deals has reached a record high. The steady rise of challenger banks has been a big contributing factor over recent years, and the variety of accounts to land onto the market can be useful for customers who have diverging needs. 'However, the recent cut to the Bank of England base rate may well dampen such growth in product choice and new rivals, as it has led to cuts to variable savings rates. As a result, the average easy access and notice rates, as well as their cash ISA counterparts, have fallen to their lowest levels in almost two years.' She continued: 'Those savers who prefer to secure a guaranteed return may wish to note the falls to the one-year and longer-term fixed bond and cash ISA rates month-on-month, with all rates apart from the one-year fixed bond, sitting below 4 per cent. The steady repricing of fixed bonds included some that had been on sale for some time, which has led to a rise in the average shelf-life of a bond to 49 days, up from 36 days a month prior. 'Providers have been monitoring movements in swap rates to gauge future rate expectations, but they must balance cuts or rises against their deposit funding targets. 'It is evident that cash ISAs are highly sought after, with the latest statistics from the Bank of England revealing a record monthly high of deposits of around £14bn during April. The noise surrounding cash ISA reforms and the rush of savers looking to protect their hard-earned cash from tax would have been a key influence in the significant deposits.' Ms Springall added: 'The popularity of cash ISAs is expected to linger, as millions of people are expected to pay higher-rate tax at 40 per cent this tax-year. Thankfully the choice of cash ISAs continues to thrive, reaching a new record high this month. Providers must continue to work hard to support their new and existing customers and savers must ensure they stay within their Personal Savings Allowance (PSA) and take full advantage of their ISA allowance when reviewing their pots or shopping around for a new deal.'
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
How much do I need to save to build a £100,000 ISA pot?
Whether you are saving for retirement, looking at long-term wealth building or have a specific goal in mind for the future, Individual Savings Accounts (Isas) can be a great tool to help you achieve it. Gains made from money in them - interest earned, dividends or capital gains - are tax free and under current regulations, each person can save up to £20,000 in them every single tax year. What's more, the earlier you start, the greater your chances of hitting your long-term targets, as time can be the great multiplier when it comes to your money thanks to the effect of compounding. Therefore, even if you don't get anywhere near using up your £20,000 allowance, you can still set yourself lofty targets over time - such as a milestone figure of reaching £100,000. There are other types of Isa available, but here we'll look at cash and investing Isas. The most-used Isa type is the cash Isa. Right now with the interest rate on cash Isas somewhere around a competitive 4.5 per cent mark, you can not only earn a reasonable amount on your money, but you can also protect it from inflation, which is running at 3.5 per cent and not projected to drop below 3 per cent until next year at least. However, interest rates fluctuate a lot over time, meaning you may need to regularly check you are earning the best amount on your money. How long it takes to reach £100,000 depends on multiple factors, such as your initial deposit amount, ongoing contributions and your interest rate. : £2,000 lump sum to start and £250 saved per month, at an average of 3.5% interest. In this scenario, you would cross the £100,000 mark during your 22nd year of saving regularly. At that point you'd have saved £68,000 of your own money, earning an additional £35,000 in compounded interest. : No initial deposit but £400 a month saved at average 3.5% interest. Some people may have no lump sum to get started with, but have perhaps taken a new job or a pay rise - so bigger monthly savings are possible. In this scenario, year 16 would be the milestone - with more than £25,000 of the total £102,000 in the pot being interest earned, showing the importance of consistency. While the above examples use a flat 3.5 per cent interest rate for cash, there's no way of knowing what the rate will be a year or a decade from now - it could be far higher or lower, as could inflation. There may be a better way of reaching your target figure than purely cash, however: a stocks and shares Isa, sometimes called an investing Isa. Here, your money can be put into the stock market in search of better returns - over longer periods of time, investing has historically always outperformed cash. If it's not your area of expertise, there are plenty of automated options where you can simply select your risk tolerance or other preferences and let your money be allocated for you accordingly. In investing, there is no certainty though - cash savings remain as cash savings and are easily predictable. A typical World Index Fund has returned between 10 and 11 per cent annually over the last decade, while the FTSE 100 (the UK's biggest 100 listed companies) generated a 6.3 per cent annualised return over the 20 years from 2003 to 2023, including dividends. Neither are guarantees of the future, but many experts suggest over the long term, an annual return of 6-8 per cent is possible for investors - which over many years can have a significant difference when compared to cash saving rates. : £2,000 lump sum to start and £250 invested per month, with an annual 6.5 per cent return. After 18 years of investing at this rate you'd hit the £100,000 mark - and your own money would only make up half of this total. £56,000 would have been saved through your deposits, with just over £50,000 gains giving a total of £106,866. By year 20, your total gains would outstrip your own deposits and you'd have £127,000 all told. : No initial deposit but £400 a month invested, with an annual 6.5 per cent return. More money going in each month means the initial pot builds quicker, so £100,000 is reached by year 14. However, as that money has had less time to grow and compound, £67,200 is of your deposits compared to just under £41,000 in earnings. The tipping point for bigger gains comes in year 20 - by which time the total pot would be £192,000. The lesson remains: starting sooner rather than later is key, as time plays the biggest role in compounding money, even if you start with small amounts. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
The Independent
09-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
How much do I need to save to build a £100,000 ISA pot?
Whether you are saving for retirement, looking at long-term wealth building or have a specific goal in mind for the future, Individual Savings Accounts (Isas) can be a great tool to help you achieve it. Gains made from money in them - interest earned, dividends or capital gains - are tax free and under current regulations, each person can save up to £20,000 in them every single tax year. What's more, the earlier you start, the greater your chances of hitting your long-term targets, as time can be the great multiplier when it comes to your money thanks to the effect of compounding. Therefore, even if you don't get anywhere near using up your £20,000 allowance, you can still set yourself lofty targets over time - such as a milestone figure of reaching £100,000. There are other types of Isa available, but here we'll look at cash and investing Isas. Cash ISA The most-used Isa type is the cash Isa. Right now with the interest rate on cash Isas somewhere around a competitive 4.5 per cent mark, you can not only earn a reasonable amount on your money, but you can also protect it from inflation, which is running at 3.5 per cent and not projected to drop below 3 per cent until next year at least. However, interest rates fluctuate a lot over time, meaning you may need to regularly check you are earning the best amount on your money. How long it takes to reach £100,000 depends on multiple factors, such as your initial deposit amount, ongoing contributions and your interest rate. Example 1: £2,000 lump sum to start and £250 saved per month, at an average of 3.5% interest. In this scenario, you would cross the £100,000 mark during your 22nd year of saving regularly. At that point you'd have saved £68,000 of your own money, earning an additional £35,000 in compounded interest. Example 2: No initial deposit but £400 a month saved at average 3.5% interest. Some people may have no lump sum to get started with, but have perhaps taken a new job or a pay rise - so bigger monthly savings are possible. In this scenario, year 16 would be the milestone - with more than £25,000 of the total £102,000 in the pot being interest earned, showing the importance of consistency. Investing ISA While the above examples use a flat 3.5 per cent interest rate for cash, there's no way of knowing what the rate will be a year or a decade from now - it could be far higher or lower, as could inflation. There may be a better way of reaching your target figure than purely cash, however: a stocks and shares Isa, sometimes called an investing Isa. Here, your money can be put into the stock market in search of better returns - over longer periods of time, investing has historically always outperformed cash. If it's not your area of expertise, there are plenty of automated options where you can simply select your risk tolerance or other preferences and let your money be allocated for you accordingly. In investing, there is no certainty though - cash savings remain as cash savings and are easily predictable. A typical World Index Fund has returned between 10 and 11 per cent annually over the last decade, while the FTSE 100 (the UK's biggest 100 listed companies) generated a 6.3 per cent annualised return over the 20 years from 2003 to 2023, including dividends. Neither are guarantees of the future, but many experts suggest over the long term, an annual return of 6-8 per cent is possible for investors - which over many years can have a significant difference when compared to cash saving rates. Example 1: £2,000 lump sum to start and £250 invested per month, with an annual 6.5 per cent return. After 18 years of investing at this rate you'd hit the £100,000 mark - and your own money would only make up half of this total. £56,000 would have been saved through your deposits, with just over £50,000 gains giving a total of £106,866. By year 20, your total gains would outstrip your own deposits and you'd have £127,000 all told. Example 2: No initial deposit but £400 a month invested, with an annual 6.5 per cent return. More money going in each month means the initial pot builds quicker, so £100,000 is reached by year 14. However, as that money has had less time to grow and compound, £67,200 is of your deposits compared to just under £41,000 in earnings. The tipping point for bigger gains comes in year 20 - by which time the total pot would be £192,000. The lesson remains: starting sooner rather than later is key, as time plays the biggest role in compounding money, even if you start with small amounts.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Starmer could be Labour's last PM. That's what makes him so dangerous
Brace, dear readers, brace, for everything will get worse before it gets better. Sir Keir Starmer's premiership is holed below the waterline, his party on the verge of disintegration. Starmer has lost control of immigration and of the public finances. Nobody knows what he stands for. It is a question of when, not if, he is forced to fire Rachel Reeves. It is unclear whether he will lead Labour into the next election, or even whether it will remain the dominant party of the Left. Bring it on, I hear you say. But a desperate Starmer will be far worse than the incompetent, complacent version we have been subjected to so far. He no longer has anything to lose. He will target Middle England with wanton abandon, embracing Corbyn-lite policies to shore up his far-Left flank. Every stupid idea in the collectivist arsenal – wealth taxes, the revaluation of council tax bands to hammer expensive homes, a cap on pension pots, the removal of pension tax relief, a war on Isas, steeper inheritance tax – is bound to make a comeback to fill his self-inflicted fiscal black hole. The 'rich' will be asked to pay more for water and broadband via 'social tariffs'. Ed Miliband will be emboldened in his rush to net zero, minus the occasional tactical delay. There will be no end to the woke madness, rampant crime and unjust legal decisions. As ludicrous as this might sound to outsiders aghast at Starmer's proto-socialism and disgusted by the human rights lawfare pushed by Lord Hermer, his attorney general, many Labour MPs and intellectuals actually believe that Starmer's error was to tack too far to the Right. They believe he cares too much about a Red Wall that is already lost. Those in urban seats hated his warning that migration was turning Britain into 'an island of strangers' (the Red Wallers disagreed). Most saw Reeves's attempts at trimming a few benefits to placate the bond markets as this Government's foundational error (the Red Wall MPs agree). Others believe he is being too cautious when undoing Brexit. Many MPs want Britain immediately to recognise an independent Palestine – even though no such body would truly accept Israel's right to exist – a grotesque gesture that would confirm once again that pogroms and terrorism works. The Prime Ministers' critics blame Morgan McSweeney, No 10 chief of staff, for the Government's supposedly centrist approach, and are convinced that Starmer listens too much to Tony Blair and his allies (such as Liz Lloyd, director of policy, delivery and innovation at No 10). There is talk that 15 Labour MPs may defect to the Greens if they choose as their new leader Zack Polanski, who wants to turn the party into a Left-wing populist alternative to Reform. It is hard to oust a Labour leader, but Starmer's position is weakening. Labour's problem is the mirror image of the Tories'. Britain is undergoing a brutal realignment. Both parties were coalitions; the Tories had no rival to their Right and Labour none to their Left. Policies were designed to appeal to centrist 'median voters' and a few thousand swing electors in a few seats. Everything has changed, for three reasons. First, the Blair-Brown-Osborne-Starmer managerialist orthodoxy has failed. The economy is toast, the public sector is kaput, social breakdown is rife and the ultra-high immigration model has gone badly wrong. The electorate craves new ideas. Second, voters have become radicalised by culture wars. Previously uncontroversial views – on biological sex, on free speech – are now key markers of identity. Education has become more important than class, income or wealth when it comes to political affiliation, and, tragically, sectarian voting is back, fuelled by demographic change. Third, the political marketplace is working: the public want more choice, and they are getting it. Nigel Farage's Reform is leading the polls, while on the far-Left the Greens and 'pro-Gaza' Independents are surging (with the latter's appeal probably underestimated by researchers). Many no longer detect any difference between Labour and Tories, and no longer care which of the old duopoly is in power. On the Left, voting is becoming performative, an expression of identity and values, not a means to seize power; tactical voting is waning, and fragmentation rising. The Labour coalition is gone, never to return. Its Right flank has fled to Reform. Some social democrats are opting for the Lib Dems, a party that could yet overtake Labour in parliament. For Starmer, the only hope is to tack Left, appealing to Greens and Corbynites, to bash Israel and U-turn on cuts, but it won't work: this electorate has become so extreme that even a speech praising Marx and Engels would flop. Recognising Palestine wouldn't be sufficient; they would demand Russia-style sanctions. Higher benefits would be ridiculed as Austerity 2.0. There are some around Starmer who believe he can muddle through, but they are deluded. Yes, the French are saying they will help with small boats (good luck with that), two polls suggest a smaller Reform lead, and £15 billion will be spent on buses in the North. So what? The big picture is apocalyptic. Reeves will increase taxes at the Budget to fund her U-turns on winter fuel, the two-child benefits cap and personal independence payments, as well as public sector pay rises. She will then need to rise taxes again and again over the next few years to put defence on course for 3.5 per cent of GDP, plus another 1.5 per cent on related spending – even before any further increases in spending on the welfare state in a doomed attempt to buy back votes. This could trigger a full-on fiscal crisis: the tax take is already maxed out and will surely fail to keep up with spending. Labour is polling at 22 per cent, down 11.7 points on a pathetically poor election victory. Gordon Brown, Ed Miliband, Jeremy Corbyn, Neil Kinnock and Michael Foot performed better than Starmer's current ratings. We need to go back to 1918, when Labour, still a fringe group, collected 20.8pc under William Adamson, for the party to be scoring so poorly. This is where Labour is heading, or worse. Starmer could be its final PM, the closing chapter in a 100- year story. Let's hope he doesn't entirely ruin Britain on his way out. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
02-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Savers pour record £14bn into Isas ahead of Reeves crackdown
Savers poured a record £14bn into cash Isas in April amid fears of a raid by Rachel Reeves on the tax-free accounts. Monthly deposits were the highest since the system was introduced in 1999, according to Bank of England data. While Isa deposits tend to rise towards the end of the tax year on April 5, Ruth Gregory, at Capital Economics, said the record total 'was probably due to speculation around the Chancellor considering slashing the cash Isa tax-free allowance'. Ms Reeves has been consulting on changes to the Isa system as she seeks ways to push more money into stocks and shares to boost growth. Savers can currently stash up to £20,000 into an Isa every year, with the option to split the money between cash or stocks and shares. The Chancellor confirmed last month that she will not change the overall annual limit on contributions, although she left the door open to curbing the amount that can be held in cash. Ms Reeves said: 'I'm not going to reduce the limit of what people can put into an Isa, but I do want people to get better returns on their savings, whether that's in a pension or in their day-to-day savings.' Emma Reynolds, the City minister, previously told a Lords committee that cash Isas were draining investment from the London Stock Exchange. 'Why have we got hundreds of billions of pounds in cash Isas? We have failed to drive an investment culture,' she said. Lowering the amount that can be put into cash Isas would mean millions would be able to save less each year tax-free and would face a choice between putting money into savings accounts subject to tax or investing in riskier stocks. Banks and building societies have been urging Ms Reeves to leave the system as it is. David Postings, the chief executive of UK Finance, which represents both banks and building societies, told The Telegraph last month: 'They are an easy-to-understand product that help individuals start saving and set aside money for the future. 'The money banks and building societies hold in cash Isas is also lent out, supporting borrowers and the wider economy.' Robin Fieth, the chief executive of the Building Societies Association (BSA), said: 'Simply changing Isa limits is unlikely to encourage people to invest, but it will hurt people who are responsibly saving for short-term goals, when investing is not appropriate. 'If the Government decides to make any changes to Isa limits it should make them to both stocks and shares Isas as well as Cash Isas, otherwise the administration of the system will become unnecessarily complicated.' Roughly 22.3m British adults hold more than £725bn in Isas, according to government data. The average amount stashed into a cash Isa was £5,295 in the 2022-23 tax year, according to official statistics, although this has climbed further against a backdrop of rising interest rates. 661,000 of the 6.5m people who put some money into an Isa in 2021-22 put in the maximum £20,000 annual limit in cash. While capital gains held in Isas are also tax-free, cash accounts outnumber stocks and shares by a ratio of 2:1. Despite this, more money is held in equities overall, with some £425bn parked in stocks and shares compared with £300bn in cash. James Blower, of The Savings Guru, a comparison site, said the 'astonishing' April deposit total also reflected the fact that interest rates on offer tended to be market-leading. He said: 'This is certainly helping fuel interest because there's very few people who won't be better off choosing an Isa as a result.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
