Getting started
New to ISAs?
Start here.
If you're new to investing through an ISA, read these 15 articles in order. Together they take you from what a Stocks and Shares ISA is to how wealth actually builds over decades. You don't need any background, and you don't need to read them in one sitting.
Step 1 of 4 · about 22 minutes
The basics
What an ISA is, the different types, and how the allowance works.
- 1.1What is a Stocks and Shares ISA, and How Does It Work?What a Stocks and Shares ISA actually is, how the tax-free wrapper works, and why it matters.7 min
- 1.2The ISA Family Explained: The Different Types and Who Each Is ForJunior ISA. Lifetime ISA. Stocks and Shares ISA. They’re not rivals, they’re family: five accounts, each built for a different job. Here’s which one fits yours.5 min
- 1.3How the ISA Allowance WorksA tax-free allowance every year, gone at midnight on 5 April if you do not use it. Here is how it works.4 min
- 1.4Cash ISA vs Stocks and Shares ISA: What's the Difference?They sound like the same thing. They are not. Here is how to tell which job you are doing.6 min
Step 2 of 4 · about 16 minutes
Opening your ISA
Opening an account, choosing what goes in it, and what it costs.
- 2.1How to Open a Stocks and Shares ISAOpening the account takes ten minutes. The decisions around it, the platform, the charges, flexible or not, and whether to transfer, are what shape what you keep.5 min
- 2.2Index Funds, ETFs and Individual Stocks: What's the Difference?The three aren't rival products, they're a spectrum of concentration: the whole market, a theme like AI or tech, or a single company. What each one asks of you.6 min
- 2.3Why Fees Decide Your ReturnsReturns are a guess. The cost is contractual. What a fraction of 1% really takes over thirty years, and the layers most people never add up.5 min
Step 3 of 4 · about 15 minutes
The principles
How to think about investing so that you stick with it.
- 3.1What Investing Actually Is, and What It Isn'tNot men in suits shouting, not a coin that turned £500 into £50,000. What investing actually is, noise stripped out.4 min
- 3.2Thinking in Years and Decades, Not Days and WeeksThe market gives you a number every second it is open. Almost none of it is information. Why the horizon you measure by matters more than almost anything else you choose.3 min
- 3.3Diversification: What Actually Spreads Your RiskHolding lots of things is not the same as being diversified. What actually spreads risk, the home-bias trap, and where diversification stops.4 min
- 3.4The Behaviour Gap: Why Most Investors Underperform Their Own InvestmentsTwo people, same investment, same years, very different results. The reason is the one part of returns you control.4 min
Step 4 of 4 · about 17 minutes
Building wealth
How the numbers grow, and what actually moves them.
- 4.1The Maths That Changes Everything: Compound Interest ExplainedYou put money in, you get a bit more back. What happens when that bit more starts earning its own is compounding.4 min
- 4.2Why Savings Rate Matters More Than ReturnsEveryone obsesses over returns. The number that matters more early on is the one you fully control: what you put in.4 min
- 4.3The Order of Operations: Where Your Money Should Go FirstMost people invest in the wrong order, and it costs them more than they realise. Here is the sequence I follow, and why each step earns its place.4 min
- 4.4What It Actually Takes to Reach £1 MillionThe honest maths of a seven-figure ISA: how much a month, how many years, and why most of the million is growth rather than the money you put in.5 min
Want to see your own numbers? The ISA calculators show what your ISA could grow to, what fees really cost and how much allowance you have left.
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