We all know that it makes sense in our financial plans to keep some of our savings – investments in cash so that we can access them in an emergency.
ISA’s (Individual Savings Accounts) are the most tax efficient way for most of us as the interest is tax free and (and gains for a stocks & shares ISA) we can put away £5,100 per annum in cash ISA and £10,200 p.a. in a stocks & shares ISA

The Best returns for Cash ISA’s are currently (28 June 2010) around 3.00% AER

The latest inflation figures to 15th June 2010 from the office of National Statistics are

Consumer Prices Index  3.4%
Retail Prices Index         5.1%

CASH ISA TRAP

So by the two most popular measures of inflation you are losing 0.4% to 2.1 % in real terms!

WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT?

• If you need to have your money handy with no risk of capital loss (apart from the effect of inflation) the only thing you can do is look for the best rate from a reliable UK based institution to benefit from the financial services compensation scheme.

• CARE Do not cash in your existing ISA’s as they can be transferred to more appropriate investment ISA without you losing your accumulated ISA allowances.

• Talk to the Mark Gregory Team about alternative investments. Have your risk profile and objective professionally assessed.