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Junior ISAs and what they offer

Archive for November, 2017

Junior ISAs and what they offer

Thursday, November 30th, 2017

Junior ISAs (JISAs) have now been around for over six years and continue to grow in popularity. They allow parents to save money for their child, which will be accessed when they come of age. But, as with any savings product, there are pros and cons to saving for your son or daughter’s future using a JISA.

One of the key benefits of the account is the tax efficiency they offer. In the tax year 2017/18, the maximum that can be invested in a JISA is £4,128 and it was announced in the Autumn Budget that this will rise to £4,260 in April 2018. An account must be opened on the child’s behalf by a parent or legal guardian, but once it is open anyone can pay money in and any income or gains within the JISA are exempt from UK tax – no matter who makes the deposit.

Two types of JISA have been available over the past six years, with Cash JISAs having proven far more popular than Stocks & Shares JISAs. It’s perhaps not surprising that parents have largely opted for the JISA which guarantees their child won’t lose money, rather than taking a risk with their investment and betting on the stock market.

Whilst those who have gone for the Stocks & Shares JISA have reaped the benefits over the last few years as the stock market has consistently outperformed cash savings, there’s no way they could have known this when opening the account. Despite the potential for greater returns, opting for a Stocks & Shares JISA will always be a gamble, one which you may not want to take with money intended for your child’s future.

Another aspect of JISAs worth considering is the restricted access they offer. Once money has been paid into a JISA it belongs to the child; whilst they can manage the account themselves from the age of sixteen, the child is unable to access their savings until their eighteenth birthday. Whilst this will be seen as a positive for some, ensuring the money can grow and teaching their child about the benefits of saving over time, others will undoubtedly want their child to be able to access their savings before they turn eighteen.

One alternative is a regular children’s savings account, some of which actually pay higher rates of interest than JISAs. However, ordinary savings accounts are subject to the ‘£100 rule’ – if money paid in as a gift from a parent generates over £100 of interest in a year, all the interest will be taxed as if it belongs to the parent. JISAs are not subject to this rule, leaving it up to the parent to weigh up which they value more for their child’s savings: easy access or tax-free interest.

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Video: Understanding risk in relation to your investments

Wednesday, November 15th, 2017

Watch our video 

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How to track down a ‘zombie’ Child Trust Fund

Wednesday, November 15th, 2017

Launched by the Labour government in 2005, A Child Trust Fund (CTF) was given to every child born on or after 1st September 2002 until just over nine years later at the start of 2011. CTFs were then replaced by Junior ISAs (JISAs) at the start of the austerity period. However, recent research has revealed that around 900,000 CTFs have since become ‘zombie’ accounts, lost and forgotten about in the intervening years.

If your child was born between 1st September 2002 and 1st January 2011, they will definitely have a CTF. How much is in there is dependent on a number of factors. At the start of the scheme, every child received a £250 voucher from the government, with children from lower income families receiving another £250 on top of that. This could be paid into either a cash account or an investment CTF by a parent. There was then a further government top-up when the child turned seven; friends and family could also pay into the CTF up to an annual limit, set at £4,128 in 2017/18.

The top up for seven-year-olds was axed and the initial voucher reduced to £50 in 2010, before the scheme was scrapped altogether the following year. How much is held in your child’s fund will therefore depend on when they were born during the CTF period, as well as how much growth the money has seen in the years since the money was paid in.

After sitting in limbo for a number of years since 2011, from April 2015 it’s been possible to transfer a CTF into a JISA, meaning that any money being held in your child’s name can now be invested as you see fit. If you have the paperwork for your child’s CTF you can contact the provider directly to start the process, otherwise you can use the Government website to locate any CTFs held by your children.

Once you’ve found your child’s fund, you’ll need to decide what to do with the money within it. One option is to move it into a JISA, which has the same annual investment limit as a CTF and protects your child’s money until they turn 18, at which point it becomes theirs. A JISA also has the added benefit of becoming an adult ISA once your child reaches their 18th birthday, whereas a CTF simply pays out a lump sum.

You’ll also need to choose whether to opt for a cash or stocks and shares JISA, so it’s a good idea to do some research into the best JISAs available on the market. If you’re unsure of what to go for, seeking professional financial advice is a good idea to ensure your child’s money is in the best place to grow for them. That way they’ll be able to see the value of good investment and enjoy a valuable nest egg as they enter adulthood – which is, of course, what the CTF was originally intended to do.

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Top tips to make your retirement savings last

Wednesday, November 15th, 2017

When it comes to saving for when you retire, at the very least you want to ensure that you’re going to have enough to pay for your living costs for the rest of your life. However, what you probably want to be aiming for is a nest egg which allows you to truly enjoy your life after work and do all the things you’ve planned for as you’ve saved. Some pensioners find themselves in a position where they have to compromise on what they can do during their retirement simply because of a lack of funds. So here are our top tips for retirees to help avoid finding yourself in that position.

  1. Commit more time to saving money – Once you retire, you’ll have a great deal more time available to you, meaning you should find it easier to spend time doing things that will help your money go further. One way of doing this is through a part-time job; but if you’re not keen on going back to work once you’ve retired, take time to collect coupons and hunt down special offers which you might not have had the time to do when you were working. This will help your monthly income go further.
  2. Consider your risk/balance – Most pensioners opt for low-risk investments as they depend on their pension and are not in a position to recover should the risk fail to pay off. However, taking calculated risks could help yield greater returns without opening yourself up to financial jeopardy. Deciding how much of your portfolio you’d be happy to put in higher-risk investments will be an individual decision, but is an option to consider as it can be a successful way to add to your pension at the same time as drawing down from it.
  3. Make sure you’re not paying too much in tax – Whilst you’ll never be in a position to pay no tax at all, your tax commitments are likely to change once you retire, so ensure you’re only paying the taxman exactly what you need to. Returning to the first point above, you’ll have plenty of time to investigate exactly what you should be paying in tax, so do some research and see what you can save.
  4. Come up with a budget and stick to it – If you’ve budgeted during your working life, this shouldn’t change when you retire, and if you’ve not managed to budget before then it’s never too late to start. Knowing exactly what you have coming in and going out each month means you’ll also know precisely how much money you can spend on enjoying yourself without worry or guilt about doing so.

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How will AI change your interactions with your accountant?

Thursday, November 9th, 2017

When you hear the words ‘artificial intelligence’, the first thing you think of is probably one of the many examples of computers and machines built to think, work and react like a human being in the movies. But AI is certainly no longer a fantasy restricted to the world of science fiction, with its application being explored in countless areas of real life, including accountancy. We might not be talking about a replicant from Blade Runner or The Terminator’s T-800 doing your tax return just yet, but it’s certainly worth considering the benefits and drawbacks of AI’s increasing application in an accountancy role.

Finance departments have seen automation increasingly become the norm in what they do, a move which has in many ways revolutionised their capabilities. However, this has so far always depended on fixed instructions being programmed into a computer tool at the start. AI allows computerised accountancy to take the next step through developing tools with learning and problem-solving capabilities.

Of course, advancing technology in this way means that roles performed by human beings twenty years ago are now being carried out by machines. Whilst there’s a temptation to adopt a Luddite mindset towards such developments, a far better approach is to embrace the inevitable, unstoppable creep of technology into the world of work and consider how you and your accountant can make yourself a part of it.

Whilst the numerical calculations and analysis inherent to the world of accountancy might be ideally suited to an intelligent computer, the reasoning and intuition a person brings to the role are unable to be replicated by AI. It’s in these areas that human accountants continue to bring value, shifting their role increasingly away from ‘number crunching’ and towards a business partnership. An experienced accountant should be able to take the work done by machines, translate it into meaningful commercial insight and, perhaps most importantly, add a human touch – something which a machine simply wouldn’t be able to provide.

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Millennials leading the way in saving for retirement

Thursday, November 9th, 2017

Recent data suggests that younger generations are on track to save more than their parents and grandparents, despite their earnings on average being considerably lower. Part of the reason for this is time: simply put, young people have more years ahead of them than older generations until retirement, meaning that any money they put away now has more time to grow.

But it’s also become apparent that many younger workers are also managing to put away a significant amount each month – in some cases up to 15% of their income – by making some considerable sacrifices. Some of these are undoubtedly luxuries, such as eating out and going on holiday, but the savings are substantial: restaurants on average charge a markup of 300%, making eating at home a great way to cut costs. The rise of the ‘staycation’ – saving money by holidaying at home and exploring free or cheap activities to enjoy – also helps younger people to find more money to put towards their savings instead.

However, some of the costs that millennials are willing to cut in order to save are at the opposite end of the scale. More young people are choosing not to continue in education to help them save. The financial benefits of this are twofold: not only does this remove the expense of continuing on to college or university, but it also allows a young person to begin working full time earlier in their life, which in turn allows them to start saving sooner. It’s a sacrifice some would not be willing to make but is nonetheless an attractive option for others, especially as more opportunities to earn qualifications through full time work become available.

Housing and car ownership are also areas where considerable savings can be made. Perhaps the most personal sacrifice some millennials are making is to limit the number of children they have in order to find more money to save.

It will always be a matter of individual choice as to what people decide to spend or not spend their money on but the data highlights that the decisions made now have a significant impact for the future.

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Power of Attorney – the case for and against

Thursday, November 9th, 2017

Setting up a trusted family member or friend with a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA) ensures that someone else is able to make important decisions for you when you’re no longer in a position to be able to make them for yourself. But this in itself is always going to be a key decision in your life, so it’s important to consider the benefits and risks before going ahead with giving another person the authority LPA unlocks.

LPAs come in two types: one covering money and property, and the other covering health and welfare. On average, a lawyer will charge £400 to file an LPA, with the cost rising to £600 to file both types of LPA at the same time. There is also an £82 registration fee for each application.

It is possible to make an application yourself, and this can be done online. However, it’s strongly recommended to apply through a solicitor to ensure no mistakes are made and that the person in question is not being put under pressure to do something they don’t understand or want to do. It’s also possible to appoint more than one person through an LPA for added protection, meaning that both people will need to provide signatures in order to make any decisions.

Without an LPA in place, anyone wishing to gain authority over your affairs once you’re unable to act for yourself will face a drawn-out court process no matter who they are. Whilst this protects you in some ways, it can also leave you in a position of vulnerability if nobody is able to make decisions for you, if you’re suffering from a mentally degenerative condition such as dementia.

The current system has come under criticism following recent statistics showing that the number of investigations into attorneys – that is, the people who are given control over the decisions – has increased to 1,058 in 2016, a rise of 20% from 2015 and almost double the amount seen in 2013. Whilst the rise may be in part due to the increasing number of dementia sufferers in the UK, it also highlights the importance of applying for an LPA in the proper way and only nominating a person, or preferably people, you know you can trust.

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