With just a week left before the end of the financial year, shocking research from the Investment Association has found that many people are still missing out when it comes to their ISA allowances.
The investment body found that 17% of UK adults have “never heard of a stocks and shares ISA”, while a quarter of people who are aware that the savings vehicle exists “do not know anything about it”.
Miranda Seath, director of market insights at the Investment Association, said: “This means that people across the UK are missing out on the benefits and growth potential investing can bring – and that needs to change”.
For example, investors who had put £10,000 into their cash ISA five years ago would now have a pot worth just £8,713 in today’s money, due to the corrosive impact of inflation, the Investment Association calculated.
By contrast, the same amount put into the average global equity fund through a stocks and shares ISA would now be worth £12,249.
This follows research from AJ Bell last month, which found that investors could have missed out on up to £50,000 since 1999 by using cash ISAs instead of investing in stocks and shares ISAs.
There is a significant knowledge gap between people who already invest and the wider population, the Investment Association found. Just 2% of current investors said they had never heard of the tax wrapper.