ISAs

1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11  12  13  14  15  16  17  18  19   

7. Maxi or Mini?

In general, maxi ISAs have been more popular than mini ISAs. The main reason for this is that with a maxi ISA you can put your whole £7,200 (£10,200 from April 2010, or October 2010 for over-50s) ISA limit into stocks and shares component, whereas with the mini ISA the maximum is £3,600 (£5,100 from April 2010).

Brokers usually offer maxi ISAs and only the stocks and shares components. It is worthwhile checking with your broker on what they offer.

There are some advantages to mini ISAs though. The main one is that you can use different plan managers for each component.

So if you think one ISA manager runs a particularly good Stocks and Shares fund, and you want your cash ISA to be with a High Street bank, mini ISAs give you that flexibility.

1. What is an ISA? 2. Who can take out an ISA? 3. ISA investments: the 'Components' 4. The different kinds of ISA: Maxi, Mini and Tessa-only 5. How many ISAs can you have? 6. How much can you put in an ISA? 7. Maxi or Mini? 8. Tax rules on ISAs 9. Practical significance of ISA tax rules 10. Cash ISAs 11. Stocks & Shares ISAs 12. Choosing an ISA fund 13. Buying an ISA 14. Charges and CAT standards 15. Where to find an IFA 16. Switching ISA investments 17. Transferring shares into an ISA 18. Withdrawing funds from an ISA 19. Conclusion

• Fear and Loathing in My Bank Account