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Thrilling topic I know. I have a cash ISA that I use occasionally when I'm not throwing money at N + 1 bikes, so I get the idea of that. I have some Restricted Stock Units vesting in the next couple of months from work and I'm deciding if it's worth cashing them in, getting hit with the income tax and then investing in a stocks and shares ISA. I have no idea how these work and lots of googling brings up loads of sponsored biased content. I basically want to buy shares in companies and not pay further tax. I want to be able to sell these shares whenever I want (I appreciate the long term game) and also be able to track how the investments are doing.
Does this seem reasonable? Are there any companies anyone would recommend to use? Ideally I want an app on my phone to track stuff.
Vanguard are one of the generally accepted ones although I'd wait until the market dips again, its up very high currently.
I've stuck some cash in a NS&I ISA (0.9%) for the meantime but opened a Vanguard LifeStrategy 100 ISA for quick advantage should I need/want to transfer it into stocks & shares.
I made £10 yesterday in Vanguard to my surprise 😀
Hargreaves Lansdowne, AJ Bell Youinvest, iWeb, Charles Stanley... to name but a few.
HL is really user friendly and you can buy funds, trusts, and shares from the uk and around the world.
There are cheaper sites but the clarity and ease of use of the app, and the sheer range of investments available swings it for me.
If your RSUs are anything like the ones I get you'll be paying income tax as soon as they vest whether you sell them or not so I wouldn't let that worry you. My opinion is that you are always better off selling the RSUs straight away and investing in something other than the company you work for, assuming you aren't going to spend it.
I basically want to buy shares in companies and not pay further tax.
You'll ALWAYS pay a bit of tax. Even in an ISA dividends are taxed.
I want to be able to sell these shares whenever I want (I appreciate the long term game) and also be able to track how the investments are doing.
Buying individual companies is a bigger risk but it that's what you want then go for it. You'll need a trading account, I use Hargreaves Landsdown. It's a decent app and allows a good number of items to be traded online but I'm sure there are others. Be aware that the trading account will have fees associated with it and if you invest in funds they will have fees too. ISA limit is also £20k per annum but this can be split across cash and Stocks & Shares.
I've been dabbling with a trading212 investment ISA account I've made some "exciting" smaller investments in currently depressed companies that will either go pop or return a profit in a year and I've used it to throw change into a couple of ETFs so I don't really have to think about it. I'm not enough of a highroller for the trade and account value limits to concern me.
Pretty much all ISAs are crap in terms of interest at present, at least this way I can play Gordon Gecko once or twice a week and stuff some of my meagre savings straight into the same funds/shares half my pension is probably sat in...
I took out a Vanguard one just after the covid crash and it's performing well. Question is I know these sort of investments should be for the long term to minimise fluctuations but it's gone up >20% so should you transfer that to cash (within the isa still) to lock in gains or do charges wipe out any benefit generally of doing that?
Even in an ISA dividends are taxed
No, dividends on investments inside an ISA are tax free.
The important thing to watch when choosing an ISA provider is the charges. Some charge a percentage of your investments, some charge a flat rate (which is better if you're going to build up the pot over time) some charge for each sale or purchase and some include a few deals in the fee package. Look at the value of your pot and how often you plan to deal.
Vanguard have low fees but you can't buy shares directly, only their funds. They do a variety of funds, from straightforward trackers, where they buy all the shares in, say, the ftse100, so the value of the fund tracks the index, and others whether they mix in different investments to change the risk profile.
Any opinions on Nutmeg? Opened one there as it was easy, and the app is decent. Was doing very well before .. this .. Thinking of transferring in the kids JISAs so I can at least see them more than a statement a year.