Early bird Isa investors make most of allowances just minutes into new tax year

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Isa savers were moving money around well into the night as the new tax year started, with some using all of their new allowance within minutes of the 2024-25 year getting under way.

Bestinvest’s final Isa subscription of the 2023-24 tax year came in at 11.55pm on April 5 – with just minutes to spare before the tax year ended.

Its first new Isa subscription for the 2024-25 tax year was made at three minutes past midnight on April 6.

And the first client to fully maximise their £20,000 Isa allowance for the new tax year did so shortly afterwards, at 52 minutes past midnight, Bestinvest said.

The platform estimates that Isa investors systematically investing their full allowance on the first day of the tax year over the 25 years since their inception in global equities could potentially be more than £67,000 wealthier than those investing on the last day each year.

The calculation makes certain assumptions, including lump sum investments being made in the MSCI AC World Index with dividends reinvested to April 7 2024.

Over time, savers can benefit from the effects of “compounding”, or the growth that they make on their gains.

The value of investments can go down, however, as well as up, so people should bear the risks in mind.

Jason Hollands, managing director at Bestinvest, said: “As the saying goes ‘the early bird catches the worm’ and those in a position to use their new Isa now rather than wait until the end of the tax year, should strongly consider doing so.”

Mr Hollands continued: “Of course, many people may not be able to make full use of their Isa allowance with a lump sum at the start of the new year, but starting early still makes sense and one option to consider is to take the timing and emotion out of the equation altogether by investing on a regular basis.

“Regular investing is a great discipline that keeps you going through the ups and down and helps reduce market timing risk as you’ll end up with ‘pound cost averaging’, an average entry price across the year that reflects some days when the market is up and others when it was down.”

Investment services provider Fidelity International said its first transaction of the new tax year was at five minutes past midnight on April 6. Meanwhile, another of its customers maximised their full Isa allowance of £20,000 at 20 minutes past midnight.

Ed Monk, associate director, Fidelity International, said: “While the annual Isa allowance remains unchanged at £20,000, savers will be able to pay into multiple Isas of the same kind from the start of the 2024/25 tax year, adding some more flexibility over how you choose to build your wealth.

“This will make it easier to have Isas of the same time in different places in the same tax year and choose the best Isa for your goals.”