This one honestly surprised me!
Hello fellow Protagonists,
Some new stats were published recently about ISAs.
Yes I know I am sad for finding this interesting (I do the reading so you don't have to) but there was one statistic that stood out amongst all the pretty numbers and graphs.
Only 42% of all people in the UK have some form of an ISA account.
Hold on, that is less than half! I would have lost that bet.
This just won't do folks.
What I am going to try and persuade you Buff people to do today is to open an ISA account and put £1 in it. For those who have an ISA already I want to try and persuade you to keep the love.
Let's get the obvious out first, ISA interest rates are criminally low at the moment, I get that. My Cash ISA is currently making a whopping 0.1% interest, which is about the same interest as I have in the Kardashians. Solid cheap joke.
There are still reasons why having a separate ISA account makes sense. Or, maybe some of us are not yet aware that there are multiple types of ISA accounts to pick from.
So here is my attempt to lure you in.
It's all about what you can't see
Moving money into a separate account like an ISA is telling the rebellious, mink coat wearing, Filet Mignon chewing part of our noggin that it is not the same as the money in our spending accounts. We do have to be that obvious because the whispers will tell you otherwise. Sometimes the best way to resist temptation is to have it out of site. It's like when you are trying to shed a few pounds and think you can stare at a pack of Magic Stars in the fridge for a week.
Eat the lot, go to the shops to replace the bag in the fridge. Nobody will ever know.
Habit forming for when times get sweeter
Getting used to moving £1 today will make £10 easier, then £100 a time. When interest rates increase again in the future having this habit in place will be welcomed. Habits are always better to try and form when it doesn't really matter what the outcome is. So what if you don't manage to move anything or forget at 0.1%, but forget at 7% and you may kick yourself.
ISAs are a great place to store emergency/sink funds
Emergency/sink funds do not have the allocated purpose of making us more money. It therefore doesn't really matter what interest we get on the money in these. Earning anything above zero on these funds is just an unintended bonus. Like finding a crispy £5 in that bag you took on holiday last year. A weird example but it actually happened.
Start your journey on learning about different types of ISAs
Did you know that a stocks and shares ISA enables you to invest in the market with the added tax advantages of an ISA account. Searching for ISAs will open up other options to you that you may not have heard about. Doing a bit of research can help you decide on what you want to do. You can also mix different types of ISAs up to the maximum allowance per year.
Which is £20,000 this year!
If you can manage to max out your ISA this year, what on earth are you doing reading this? Go get yourself a hot chocolate and start telling me what to do!
Take the mic you gorgeous Buff person
Finally, because you have nothing to lose
Even if you open an ISA account, put £1 in it and never touch it again, you are only in the same position as you were before.
"Your net worth to the world is usually what remains after you bad habits are subtracted from your good ones" - Benjamin Franklin
You could probably set up a Cash ISA in the time it takes to boil the kettle. Now interest rates are so poor we are splitting hairs when choosing an account. When it comes down to picking the best of a shit bunch, remember that doesn't take away from the fact that they are all shit. It could be easier to just pick an account alongside a company you already bank online with.
There's nothing in it for me if you do or don't decide to. I just believe it will help you and that is what The Daily Buff is allllll about.
GLHF
Warrick
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