Your last chance to find an Isa
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This tax-year, you can invest your full £7,000 Isa entitlement in stocks and shares through a maxi Isa. However, if you’ve already taken out a cash Isa this financial year, you’ll have to take out a mini stocks and shares Isa, which has a £4,000 limit.
If you’re new to investing at this level you could look at investment funds. These reduce the risk by pooling your money with other investors – one of the largest is Invesco Perpetual Income, a fund with £6bn – and spreading it between many different companies, limiting the damage if one company fails.
Different funds have different levels of risk, ranging from cautious managed funds like Newton Absolute Intrepid (which can invest up to 50% in cash) to high-risk specialist funds targeting emerging markets such as Brazil, Russia, India and China, or specific sectors such as biotechnology.
An independent financial adviser (IFA) can help find a fund that is suitable for you.
Earn more interest
What do the experts predict?
A poll of 100 IFAs has tipped equities from Asia (excluding Japan) to be the best performing asset class in 2008, according to research from Abbey-owned pension provider James Hay.
The adviser poll reveals that the experts are favouring emerging market equities, but UK equities are also expected to perform well in 2008.
However, the advisers predict UK equities will perform better than Asian equities over a five-year time period.
Emerging market equities top the five-year forecasts, expected to perform the best over the medium to long term, which will please those already invested in funds such as Neptune’s Russia & Greater Russia or Gartmore’s China Opportunities.
At the opposite end of the scale, UK residential property is expected to perform worst in 2008, closely followed by UK commercial property. US equities are also not expected to perform well in 2008.
Over a five-year term, UK government bonds are expected to perform worst, followed by UK corporate bonds and cash investments.
If you want to discuss these predictions further, get in touch with an IFA soon to beat the 5 April Isa deadline.
