When you invest your money, you may be required to pay tax on some of the profits you make – like income tax and capital gains tax. So, if you want to keep more of your returns, you might want to think about using a Wealthify Stocks and Shares ISA to take advantage of the handy tax-free allowance it gives you each year.
(However, do keep in mind that tax treatments depend on your individual circumstances, and may be subject to change in the future).
“Okay, I’m interested”, you think. But what is a Stocks and Shares ISA, and how does it even work? Well, let’s start by explaining what an ISA is.
Individual Savings Accounts (aka, ‘ISAs’) were created to encourage Brits to save and invest more of their money. They essentially do this by giving you a certain allowance you can pay into them each year without being taxed on the gains you make (like interest from cash savings, or dividends from investments, for example).
So, a key benefit of a Stocks and Shares ISA is that you can invest tax-efficiently, giving your money the potential to grow by buying assets (like stocks and bonds) and selling them at a higher price. You may also receive dividends, which may be paid from the companies you have shares in when they make a profit.
Though it is important to remember that with all types of investing, your capital is at risk – meaning that there is a chance that you end up with less than you put in.
For the 2024/25 tax year, the ISA Allowance is £20,000 and this can be spread across the different types of ISAs however you like (though you can currently only put a maximum of £4,000 each year into a Lifetime ISA, so do bear that in mind) [2].
These are the four types available for adults:
- Cash ISAs
- Stocks and Shares ISAs
- Innovative Finance ISAs
- Lifetime ISAs
You also have the option to open a Junior Cash ISAs and/or a Junior Stocks and Shares ISA for each of your children, and deposit up to £9,000 per year in them (though this allowance could change in future and it isn’t per ISA — it would need to be split across both types).[3]
But today, we’re talking specifically about one of the Wealthify ISAs.
Although the main advantages of Stocks and Shares ISAs are that you won’t pay tax on any profits you make from your investments and you’re entitled to deposit a £20,000 allowance in them each tax year, there are lots of different ones on the market — each with their own pros and cons.
So, keep reading to see if the Wealthify Stocks and Shares ISA could be the right option for you.
Why choose Wealthify for your Stocks and Shares ISA?
Now that you know about the benefits of Stocks and Shares ISAs, it’s time to think about what you want when choosing one.
For example, would you prefer to choose what you invest in, or have someone do this for you? Do you want the flexibility to withdraw your money easily?
As we’ve already said, there are various Stocks and Shares ISA providers on the market — including Wealthify. However, here are some of the reasons to consider ours:
- We make investing simple: with Wealthify, you don’t need to have bags of experience or financial knowledge. We have a team of experts who will build you an investment portfolio and manage it on an ongoing basis — including making changes when needed.
- There’s a low minimum investment: you don’t need to have thousands to invest with us — put in as little or as much as you like, starting from £1, and easily top-up your Wealthify Plan whenever you want (either through one-off payments or by setting up a Direct Debit).
- You can invest in a way that suits you: choose from a range of different investment styles based on your appetite for risk, and whether you want a sustainable investment portfolio.
- It’s easy to monitor your performance: thanks to our intuitive and user-friendly app, you can easily check in on how your investments are doing at any time and from anywhere in our app, as well as see a handy breakdown of where your money is invested.
- There are no withdrawal limits: you can take money out of your Wealthify ISA at any time, and without penalty. And because it’s a Flexible ISA, if you decide to deposit that money back in during the same tax year, you won’t use any more of your ISA allowance.
We offer other benefits too — such as ethical investment options, low fees, and a simple ISA transfer service for those who are looking to move their existing account to a new provider. But more on that below.
Low and transparent investment fees
It’s normal to pay fees when you use an investment service — especially when you have a team of experts choosing and managing your portfolio for you (as is the case with a Wealthify Stocks and Shares ISA).
However, we work hard to keep these as low as possible, so you can keep more of the returns you generate. We also won’t charge you for deposits, withdrawals or transfers, or for deciding to close your Wealthify ISA.
Plus, we’re always transparent about the fees we’ll charge you and why.
For our Stocks and Shares ISA, there are two sets of charges you’ll pay. These are quoted annually, but charged monthly:
- Wealthify fees: this covers the ongoing management of your investments, and is 0.60%.
- Average investment costs: this includes things like fund charges (which are taken by the fund provider directly), and market spread (which is the different between the cost we buy investments and sell them for). This is an around 0.16% for our Original Investment Plans, and 0.7% for our Ethical Plans.
Check out Wealthify Fees Calculator so you can get an estimate of how much you’ll pay based on the amount you’re planning to invest.
Different Stocks and Shares ISA providers will each have their own set of fees, so make sure you shop around and assess your options before making any decisions.
Ethical investment options
We’ve already mentioned that you can opt to have a sustainable portfolio of investments in your Wealthify Stocks and Shares ISA, but what does that mean exactly?
With our Ethical Investment Plans, your money will be going toward organisations that are committed to making a positive impact through their environmental, social, and governance (ESG). This could be by actively working to reduce their environmental impact, treating their employees well, or by supporting charities and their local community.
Plus, we also aim to exclude industries that are considered harmful to society from these Investment Plans — like gambling, tobacco, weapons, and adult entertainment, for example.
The actively managed ethical funds that are employed in our Ethical Plans (with ‘funds’ basically acting like baskets of investments) regularly monitor the activities of the companies they invest in on your behalf, and this ensures they maintain their ethical standards.
Simple ISA transfer service
There are several reasons why you may want to transfer to a new Stocks and Shares ISA provider, such as lower fees, easier withdrawals, and more control over where your money is invested.
So, if you already have a Stocks and Shares ISA with another provider and feel like ours would be a better fit, or you have savings in a Cash ISA that’s earning interest but you’d rather invest this money to see if it could grow further, then good news — you could switch to a Wealthify Stocks and Shares ISA using our easy ISA transfer service.
But before you make any decisions to move your money from a Cash ISA to a Stocks and Shares ISA, make sure you’re comfortable with the fact that the value of investments can go up and down over time — meaning you could get back less than you put it.
And if you do want to transfer an ISA to another provider, the best thing is that if you’ve already used that portion of your annual ISA allowance during the current tax year, transferring to another ISA won’t impact this.
Here’s how to transfer your ISA to Wealthify in four simple steps:
1. Fill out a transfer form (to ensure you retain your tax-free benefits from your previous ISA), then choose your Wealthify investment style and tell us how much you’d like to transfer.
2. Answer a few questions in our suitability quiz to help ensure your new Stocks and Shares ISA is right for your personal circumstances and attitude towards investing.
3. Our team of investment experts will get to work building your portfolio, choosing what you invest in, and making sure this is aligned with your chosen investment style.
4. Now all you need to do is sit back and relax while our experts manage your new Wealthify ISA for you — and use our online dashboard or app to follow your Plan's performance!
However, please remember that you won’t be able to transfer a Lifetime ISA or Innovative Finance ISA to us, and that your current provider might charge you a fee for transferring — so make sure you check this before starting the process.
If you’re ready though, you can start your transfer your Cash or Stocks and Shares ISA to Wealthify here.
We also offer this service for Junior ISAs, meaning you can also transfer your child’s existing Junior Stock and Shares ISA, Junior Cash ISA, or Child Trust Fund into our Junior Stocks and Shares ISA.
Wealthify reviews and awards
Not only are we owned and backed by Aviva (one of the UK's largest financial institutions), but we’ve also won various awards for our products and customer service over the years. As well our Stocks and Shares ISA being named the ‘Best Buy ISA’ by Boring Money in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023, here are just some of the other awards that are sitting proudly on our trophy shelf:
- Good Money Guide Awards 2024: Best Robo Advisor
- Personal Finance Awards 2024: Best Personal Finance Online Service
- Good Money Guide Awards 2023: Best Managed Stocks & Shares ISA
- MoneyAge Awards 2022: Small to Medium Wealth Manager of the Year
- Personal Finance Awards 2021: Best Investment ISA
- British Bank Awards 2020: Best Investment Provider
How to open a Stocks and Shares ISA
Ready to start giving your savings more potential to grow over time? It’s quick and easy to open a Wealthify Stocks and Shares ISA, with everything being done online.
1. Tell us how much you want to invest, what your preferred investment style is, and whether you’d like your portfolio to only contain ethical investments.
2. You’ll then need to take our suitability quiz. This will give us a feel for your appetite for risk and help us build an Investment Plan that is right for your circumstances and goals.
3. Now our investment experts will be able to build your portfolio for you, while ensuring it’s aligned with your chosen investment style.
4. We’ll manage your new Wealthify ISA for you on an ongoing basis, and you can easily see how it’s performing at any time – just log into your account via desktop or the app.
If you’re looking to give your savings an opportunity to grow, and a Stocks and Shares ISA provider that offers you simplicity, transparency, and affordability, then why not give us a go? Start building your financial future today with a Wealthify Stocks and Shares ISA.
Wealthify does not provide advice. If you’re not sure whether investing is right for you, please speak to a financial adviser.
With investing your capital is at risk, so the value of your investments can go down as well as up, which means you could get back less than you initially invested.
ISA rules apply. Your tax treatment will depend on your individual circumstances, and it may be subject to change in the future.
References:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-savings-statistics-2024/commentary-for-annual-savings-statistics-september-2024
https://www.gov.uk/individual-savings-accounts/how-isas-work https://www.gov.uk/junior-individual-savings-accounts
