There are two kinds of rainy days – the predictable kind that was forecast and came with warning signs and the unpredictable kind that can blindside you if you haven’t prepared for it.
For both types, we now have the New Individual Savings Account, NISA, which replaced the traditional ISA on 1st July 2014. The maximum contribution rose from £11,880 to £15,000. It’s worth noting that this is the steepest rise since the government introduced the ISA back in 1999 as a carrot method to incentivise saving for the future. While previously, we could only put half of the total allowance in a Cash ISA, with the option to invest the remainder in the high risk category of stocks and shares, now it can all be safeguarded in the cash NISA – untouched by the grubby hands of the pesky taxman. Or it can be split and moved freely between cash NISAs and stocks and shares NISAs.
The Bank of England foresees a rise in interest rates in the near future but as it stands, rates are pretty bleak and the difference offered by a NISA is a considerable one. Say you put £15,000 into an accessible, standard savings account, after a year, post-tax, you would be £75 worse off. Invest it all in a cash NISA with a rate of 2.5% and you’ll find your savings grow £375 after a year. So now is the time to do some research on Gocompare.com, get smart on your options and choose the right provider for you.
To encourage people to save and savers to get savvier, Go Compare have created a quiz called ‘What Type of Saver are You?’, which gives you a comedy character that represents your spending habits!
