ISAs or Individual Savings Accounts are one type of tax free accounts available in the UK. They are only available in one name (so you cannot have a joint account), hence the 'individual' part of the name. They are available as maxi or mini accounts. The accounts have a limit on how much money the investor can pay in each tax year and for mini accounts this is ?3600 a year and for a maxi it is ?7200 a year. This threshold tends to change and is likely to increase when a new tax year starts. The money invested in a mini ISA is invested in cash and the account terms will vary between banks and so can be instant access, fixed rate or notice accounts. The interest will vary depending on the type of account that is chosen. Another way of investing ISA money is in stocks and shares and there are the options of a mini or maxi ISA for this. You can hold a mini cash and a mini stocks and shares ISA at the same time but only one maxi ISA can be held. The stocks and shares ISA can work in several ways, depending on your needs and the company that you invest in. If you pick and choose your own shares you can usually have the option of wrapping these in an ISA which means that you will not pay tax on the interest that you receive. Many financial institutions also give the option of having a stocks and shares ISA where a mix of shares is purchased. You can either choose a spread of shares or a particular fund.



The main advantage of ISAs is that they are tax free so you will not be taxed on any interest that you receive on the account. It is important to remember that if your investment is held in shares then you will still need to pay tax when the shares are sold. It is still a great way to gain some extra interest on your money. You just have to be careful that you do not hold too many ISA's at once. You can have one of either type or two minis (one cash and one stocks and shares) but that is it. Of course if you have a partner and children, they can have them as well.

It is well worth doing a lot of research before taking one out. The cash ISA's can vary considerably in type and therefore the interest rate may be very different between one account and another. With the stocks and shares ISA you can find that some have quite high management fees. This is because many share accounts have managers which you will be charged for. You can take out a tracker share account which just tracks the stock market and has no manager. This means that the fees are lower and the amount of return you get on your investment should track the stock market. With an investment in shares you can lose money as well as gain it, so you do need to do research before buying these too.