Grab your chance to ask Jamie Kermode, LV=’s ISA expert, some questions on ISAs
(1 vote)
With less than two months until the end of the tax year it's a good time to understand what you are entitled to invest as tax-free savings. Post your queries below and LV=’s ISA expert, Jamie Kermode, will be on hand to respond to your questions and give some general hints and tips.
Hi Jamie,
When will LV= be offering an ethical stocks and shares ISA?
Thanks!
Hi Azed
I'm checking with one of our senior fund managers on their thoughts, I'll reply back again once I've heard!
In the mean time, Happy New Tax Year everybody! :)
Jamie
Hi Azed, sorry for the delay in responding, the Fund Manager I contacted has just had a baby and so wasn't in the office! Congratulations to him and his family!
I've got 2 answers for you now, a short one and a longer one! I'll post both seperately.
"The short answer is that we don’t currently offer an ethical fund and aren’t planning one in the immediate future."
Long answer to follow...
Jamie
Whilst we don’t currently have an ethical fund:
“Liverpool Victoria believes in socially responsible investment. When selecting individual stocks, the environmental, social and political impact of a company’s activities are included in our appreciation of its long-term value to our members. We believe in a policy of engagement with a company’s management in order to achieve change or improvement in its policies or behaviours to the benefit of all concerned.”
“Liverpool Victoria’s investments are managed by Liverpool Victoria Asset Management (LVAM). Generally, we prefer to follow a policy of socially responsible investment through engagement with the management of companies in which we invest, rather than just by excluding a company from our investment portfolio purely on the basis of its ‘ethical stance’ or the nature of its business.
We believe that, in conjunction with other institutional shareholders, it is better to have a dialogue with management and try to change when appropriate a company’s policies, attitude or behaviour, rather than to sell shares and lose the opportunity to engineer change.
We also believe that an institutional investor discharges its responsibility to society more effectively by taking a balanced, proactive view, rather than an antagonistic stance likely to inhibit change. In LVAM’s case, such responsibility is examined on a case by case basis without an overriding blanket approach.
In addition, our experience shows that ‘unethical’ businesses are less likely to be attractive investments in their own right, and therefore we are less likely to be interested in their shares.
Finally, we need to balance the fact that our members will have a variety of views on what ‘ethical’ is, with our principal goal of providing good returns to our members from the investment choices that we make.”
Hope that all helps!
Jamie
Hi Jamie, I appreciated your honest and clear response to the question regarding ethical investments, and I certainly agree that an antagonistic stance benefits no-one. However, the nature of large and complex organisations is that it is not easy for the 'lay person' to determine - without a lot of digging - the full nature and types of investments engaged in (e.g. there may be 'hidden' ones - think history and the nature of arms dealing etc - an extreme example, but I hope you get the point:)
In terms of LV developing work in this area, you may well find it worth taking a look at the Triodos Bank, which operates solely on an ethical and socially responsible basis.
Thanks again for your explanation.
Hi Soluna
I've passed on your thoughts to our Proposition Controller for Asset Management so who knows what the future may hold!
Jamie
I have an ISA with a high street bank and I want to withdraw money from it using a cash machine, am I able to?
Thanks
Sam,
I’m sorry this is one that I can’t really answer for you as it depends on the bank. Some do and some don’t allow it. You will need to contact your bank to find out.
Jamie
Hi Jamie,
A friend of mine wants to invest in a UK cash ISA but they are not British, can they do this?
Thanks
Kellie,
The good news is you don’t have to be British to qualify for an ISA but only UK residents can apply. So if your friend is living, working and paying tax in the UK there’s a high chance they are eligible.
Jamie
Hi Jamie
Will the Easter break shorten the ISA deadline?
Thanks
Nick
Hi Nick
It certainly will! The tax year ends on Easter Monday so you’ll need to make sure that any ISA application is received by your Isa provider before the end of Thursday 1 April. Otherwise you’ll risk missing out on your 2009/2010 tax year allowance.
Jamie
Wow! Thanks so much for the great opportunity. I am sure it will help a lot because people nowadays are really badly needing advises regarding money matters. We are having tough economy, and sad to know that some people rely on payday loans in order to survive in the crisis we have.
Hi Jamie,
I have three questions for you:
1.How easy is it to take some cash out of an existing ISA account and move it into a new one?
2. Will I get penalised if I do that?
3. Is now a good time to invest in Equity ISAs and can you invest by industry sector?
Many thanks!
Hi Greg,
A slightly longer answer this time(!):
1) The beauty of cash ISA’s is that they must have complete flexibility as part of their terms. This means that you can transfer from provider to provider as many times as you like, and transfers do not count towards your current allowances either. You can transfer cash to cash, or cash to equity. The transfer itself relates to the tax year in which you originally deposited the money and can include all of the interest.
As an alternative to a transfer you can also take cash out of the ISA which you could then deposit into a new one. The disadvantage of doing this is that it will be part of your current tax years ISA allowance. That means any previous allowance that you benefited from will be lost.
2) Cash ISA providers may charge an administration fee for a transfer and fixed rate or products with special terms may have penalties attached. You will need to check the small print or ask your provider. Equity ISA’s usually have either up front or ongoing charges and sometimes both. There can also be a delay between your instruction to transfer and the actual transfer itself. This can mean missing out on rising markets or benefiting from falling markets in between times.
3) As for whether it’s a good time to invest in Equity Isa’s that really comes down to personal preferences with regards to the risks involved. You will need to consider whether you are able to invest over the medium (5 years) to long (10 years plus) term. You will also need to be prepared to accept that you could lose your initial investment as there are no guarantees.
You can pretty well invest in any area that you want whether its
· Geographic - UK, Europe, North America
· Index based – FTSE, Dow Jones
· Asset – Property, Gold, Corporate Bonds, Gilts
· Ethical – No investment in arms
· Fund of fund, manager of manager
If you are a new investor then you really would benefit from some advice. A good adviser will ask you about your knowledge and experience of investing to build a risk profile before making a recommendation for a fund or funds that suit you.
Hi
How much can I save into a mini cash ISA in 2010?
Thanks
Good question as this has changed recently!
The current ISA limits are:
From 6 April 2010 the annual investment will be £10,200 (of which £5,100 can be invested in cash).
For full details please visit http://www.lv.com/savingsandinvestments/isas/what