This time last year I wrote that my annual ISA update was many months late. I had delayed it until using my full annual ISA allowance(s), which took me much longer than usual last year.
This year I actually completed my ISA topups in April, within a few weeks of the start of the UK tax year. Somehow I have neglected to post an update. And despite the clamour from my blog readership (not!), I have let this year’s post slip until December.
Given this post is 8 months ‘late’, I am going to keep it snappy.
The 2022/23 tax year was pretty unpleasant for my ISA holdings. They lost over 16% of their value. One of my biggest ISA holding in April 2022 was AEWU, a high income property REIT, which lost over 25% of its value in the year. Another large holding was BHP, which sat at over £30/share (briefly!) at the start of the tax yer, and dropped 20% to £24 a year later. Another key holding, Scottish Mortgage, was already well on its way down from its £15/share peak; it started the tax year at £10/share and finished it at under £7/share. And while Facebook started and finished the tax year at $220/share, in the meantime it dropped below $100 and I ended up selling it at well below $200/share.
On the brighter side, I had over £40k of dividend income into my ISA accounts. The accounts are topping themselves up by more than my annual topup allowance. And of course I maxed out on my allowance too so there was over £80k of inflow into my (and Mrs FvL’s) ISA accounts.
But net net, at start of the 2023/24 tax year, my ISA accounts were still worth less in April 2023 than they had been a year before. My $100m ISA dream looks less likely than ever before.
Since April, there has been plenty of good news. As at December, my holdings, including the topups I made in April, are up 15% since the start of the tax year. While I am still not an ISA £millionaire, but at the time of writing I am now an ISA $millionaire, by some distance.
FIRE v London 
Congrats. I’m hopefully 4-5 years away from a (joint) £1m ISA. The internal growth is close to the new £subscriptions so things feel like they are accelerating nicely.
I’ll Bed and ISA the last of our GIA next year and then start looking at moving in DC pension and/or BTLs (sales).
I think your plans are to grow your ISA indefinitely, I’m thinking about taking 6% pa at some in the next 5-10 years. Ultimately it’s there to be used – no first class flights for the kids!
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Please can you give your opinion: If I use a general investment account, can I transfer £20k to a shares ISA without being liable for any taxes.
Happy new year
Metro
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Obviously I don’t know your situation but in general if you have a general investment account and you move funds from that into your ISA (one per year, until next year) that is not a taxable event. You need to be a UK tax resident; you can only add funds to one ISA per tax year (until next year), max £20k per person – but there is no tax liability from doing this.
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Hi metro,
Shares can’t be moved into an ISA they need to be sold and repurchased.
It’s the selling of the shares outside of the ISA that may give rise to taxable gain (CGT). I have capital losses on my pref shares so don’t need to worry about gains.
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I am some way off becoming a ISA millionaire, but I only started maxing out my ISA contributions 6 years ago. In the time I’ve been investing tax treatment of pensions has changed frequently, but ISAs (of the stocks and shares variety) have been reassuringly stable, and I hope that continues! Plus, the changes to allow contributions in multiple ISAs will help me, since I spread my savings across multiple platforms to avoid concentration risk.
Do you expect to put any of your allowance into the Innovative Finance ISA now that LTAFs and PAIFs are allowed? I already have a slug of VCTs and PE holdings (and for the former at least the tax treatment is generous even if the returns are not), so I don’t see it as particularly attractive.
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Hi HH
No I don’t really believe in any of the formats except Stocks&Shares ISAs.
I tilt a bit more towards income /high yield in my ISAs to get the steady eddy returns, rather than Growth.
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I really think the S&S ISA is the only one that makes sense. The Cash ISA should be merged with it since why can’t an S&S ISA have a deposit account? Well it can. The rest should be scrapped since they are unneccesary. The IF-ISA is particularly bad and illogical. We end up in a situation where I cannot invest in sensible products via an S&S ISA due to the funds not having reporting status. Yet, you can invest in toxic P2P loans via an IF-ISA. LTAF may be ok but that could be done via an S&S.
Both my partner and I have seven figure ISAs. I started mine in 2000 and my wife (being foreign) didn’t start till 2007. Nonetheless, the one way train for asset returns over the past 15 years or so has been very kind to them. It makes up a bit for my wife not having any real pension. Even the kids now both have six-figure ISAs. Plan is never to touch them.
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