ISA season begins

In finance, specific calendar references regarding investment strategies are primarily nonsensical in modern times, yet bizarrely, many still affect market sentiment to this day. "Sell in May and go away" is one of my favourites, referencing a period of history where Merchant bankers would sell up and head off on a Grand Tour for the summer, creating a dip in the markets over the summer months, returning in the autumn for the St Ledger's day horse race, where market rallies would resume. This week's blog looks at a modern-day calendar entry that inspires a similar flurry of activity, ISA season.

ISA season is a frenzy of investing activity for retail investors from late February until the end of the financial year in April. Here we see businesses jockeying for positions to offer retail clients an opportunity to use it or lose it with their ISA allowance to ensure they get the most out of their chosen tax wrap. If you have capital sat elsewhere or are looking to move funds around, you can make use of the allowance before the clock runs out on the financial year. On the flip side, you will get the full 365 days of tax-free savings subject to your allowances by opening or transferring in at the start of the tax year.

If you are reading this, you have probably already considered or decided on the benefits of P2P investing for yourself or your clients, so the focus here will be on Innovative Finance ISAs and why we feel they are such a fantastic option when considering P2P. An innovative finance ISA is a type of ISA that adds a tax-free wrapper to savings income from peer-to-peer lending—introduced on 6th April 2016; it gave UK savers a way to make peer-to-peer (P2P) loans within a tax-free wrapper, meaning that any interest earned will not be subject to tax and will not count towards an individual's Personal Savings Allowance.

Invest & Fund offers an IFISA that serves dual purposes. Firstly, it exposes our investors to the UK property market as an asset class, with all the benefits of a secured physical asset, in the most tax-efficient way possible. Secondly, our IFISA allows for risk-adjusted returns without additional direct investment costs traditionally associated with the property market. There are some excellent benefits on offer by making the best use of the tax-free element of your ISA. Invest & Fund provide gross interest rates from 6.75% backed by the security of the property projects you will fund; it's a fantastic opportunity to grow your wealth over time.

When considering the products available within the ISA wrapper, it is worth looking at the performance of products over the last few years during some of the most challenging credit conditions in living memory. Invest & Fund's IFISA has proven extraordinarily resilient and desirable, delivering attractive returns for investors during unprecedented economic shocks and instability. In addition, the asset class has shown extremely low volatility over the last few years and stable returns.

For the sophisticated investor, it is worth considering whether now is the time to rebalance your portfolio and fully use the 2023/24 tax allowance in your Invest & Fund IFISA. Not only do you get the tax advantages, but you also get access to the team's deep expertise in credit risk assessment & property development and lending, the core of what makes our platform a fantastic choice for P2P lending.

It's worth remembering that Invest & Fund's IFISA has consistently delivered:

A consistent return of 6.75%
Stable low volatility return
Strong security headroom protection (typically 35% GDV)

So if you're looking to assist your clients or if you're looking to maximise your own returns, we would be very interested in speaking to you in the coming weeks.

Invest & Fund has returned over £140 million of capital and interest to lenders with zero losses, showing the rigour that governs our business.

To take maximum advantage of this robust and exciting asset class, please visit www.investandfund.com or contact Shaheel at shaheel@investandfund.com.

Don't invest unless you're prepared to lose money. This is a high-risk investment. You may not be able to access your money easily and are unlikely to be protected if something goes wrong. Take 2mins to learn more.