Introduction
Isas have been around for nearly 20 years, and have been a certain success story.
Millions have been ploughed into Isas, as savers and investors saw the benefit of getting all their returns and growth tax-free.
Such is the success of the Isa concept, that more recent chancellors have weighed in and sought to gain from their popularity by launching new Isas: Help to Buy, Innovative Finance and Lifetime.
Many think this has made the Isa idea too complicated, introducing a layer of rules that make the choices more complex.
Nonetheless, the Isa brand remains untarnished as a viable way of saving and getting the tax benefits. Once invested over the years, this can add up to a sizeable pot, which can be used for all sorts of long-term savings objectives.
For regular Isa investors, the stocks and shares Isas will be subject to the same vagaries as any other stock market investor, so savers will have to take the same interest in what goes on in international markets as the average investor.
This guide will look at why they have become a useful building block in client portfolios but are there now too many Isa products?
It will also consider how clients with stocks and shares Isas can protect their investments from geopolitical risk and, finally, the guide asks whether there is any value in cash Isas.
Contributors to this guide are: Scott Gallacher, chartered financial planner at Rowley Turton; Adrian Lowcock, head of personal investing at Willis Owen; Patrick Connolly, chartered financial planner and head of communications at Chase de Vere; Jamie Smith, financial adviser at Foster Denovo; Julia Groves, partner and head of crowdfunding at Downing Crowd; Heather Owen, financial planner at Quilter Private Client Advisers; Jason Witcombe, chartered financial planner at Progeny Wealth; Frazer Fearnhead, chief executive of The House Crowd; Darius McDermott, managing director of Chelsea Financial Services; Willis Owen; HMRC.
Melanie Tringham is deputy features editor and Saloni Sardana is a features writer at FTAdviser and Financial Adviser
