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Stocks & shares ISAs
Learn more about ISA and investment platforms
Every adult has a new £20,000 ISA allowance for 2022/23. And while many prefer the security of cash savings, it's possible to use all or part of that allowance to invest in the stock market. This guide runs through what you need to know before investing in a stocks & shares ISA.
There are no guarantees when you're investing
Investing comes with risk, as the value of your investments can go down as well as up. If you decide to do it, it's recommended you invest for the long term (five years or more), as the longer you invest, the longer you have to ride out any bumps in the market.

Other MSE ISA guides...
Cash ISAs: All the best deals, plus help choosing.
Full ISA guide: For everything you need to know about ISAs.
Lifetime ISAs: Get a 25% bonus on your savings.

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What is a stocks & shares ISA?

Everyone in the UK aged 18 or over has an annual ISA allowance – it's £20,000 for the 2022/23 tax year, which began on 6 April 2022.
You can use all or part of this ISA allowance to invest in a type of account called a stocks & shares ISA. Here, you can invest in funds (shares or bonds from various companies pooled into one investment), bonds (basically a loan to a company or a government), and shares in individual companies. The idea is that you don't pay dividend, capital gains or income tax on any gains or income from investments held in your stocks & shares ISA.
A stocks & shares ISA is very different from a cash ISA, which is just a savings account you never pay tax on. If this is your first experience of investing, read our Beginners' guide to investing to get a broader idea of what's involved.
The 11 stocks & shares ISA need-to-knows
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Stocks & shares ISA platforms to try
Investing isn't MoneySavingExpert's area of expertise. So, we don't tell you here what the 'best' platform for you is, or give you any top picks. What we've done is pull out some of the cheaper platforms for the two main types (DIY platforms and robo-investment platforms) so you have somewhere to start your own research.
'Do-it-yourself' stocks & shares ISA platforms to try

We list these different costs, but we haven't taken fund charges into account. These will vary depending on which fund you pick and - to an extent - which fund platform you choose (some platforms negotiate deals with fund managers for cheaper fees).
We've provided a mix of both cheap platforms and well-known platforms so you can start your research, just make sure that whatever platform you pick suits your needs. Keep an eye on charges as which works out cheapest for you will depend on what you invest in, how much you have to invest and how often you trade...
DIY stocks & shares ISA platforms
Provider & fee information | Other key info |
- Minimum deposit: £100 |
If you only want to buy/sell funds, InvestEngine offers over 500 exchange-traded funds (ETFs), though do note that you can't select individual shares. While there are no platform or dealing charges, the ETFs you invest in have their own annual costs (as all investment funds do), ranging from 0.04% to 0.99%.
1,800 available. InvestEngine is currently offering newbies £30 cashback when you invest £100. |
- Minimum deposit: £2 |
New. Both of Freetrade's Standard and Plus plans have more than 6,000 stocks and 200 ETFs to choose from. The main difference between the two plans is the amount of interest earned on uninvested cash – you get 1% on up to £2,000 on Standard, while for Plus you get 3% on up to £4,000. |
- Minimum deposit: £500 or £25/mth |
AJ Bell has more than 2,000 funds and 450 investment trusts to choose from, plus you can buy and hold shares. It will also give you a helping hand with investment ideas if needed. |
- Minimum deposit: £100 or £25/mth |
With Hargreaves Lansdown there's no annual platform fee for holding cash, though for shares the fee's a flat 0.45% (max £45) and for funds the fee's tiered – 0.45% for the first £250,000, 0.25% up to £1m, 0.1% to £2m, then free above that amount. There's no fund dealing charge, though it's £11.95 per trade for online share dealing (£8.95 if you trade 10+/mth, £5.95 for 20+/mth). |
iWeb* - Fund dealing charge: £5/trade |
iWeb is a no-frills platform operated by Halifax Share Dealing. Although there's a fee for each trade, there's no ongoing platform fee – instead there's a one-off account opening charge of £100. |
Interactive Investor* - Minimum deposit: £1 or £25/mth - Platform charge: £9.99/mth (4) - Fund dealing charge: 1 free/mth, then £7.99/trade - Share dealing charge: 1 free/mth, then £7.99/trade - Transfer-out fee: None - Manage it: Online / app |
Interactive Investor has over 3,000 funds and 40,000 shares for you to choose from. It usually costs £7.99 to trade funds and shares (first trade free), although if you use its 'regular investing' service then you can invest £25+/mth in up to 25 shares or funds without paying any trading fees. Interactive Investor also has a ready-made selection of funds and portfolios if you need a little help choosing. |
(1) 0.25% for under £250,000, 0.15% for £250,000-£1m, 0.05% for £1m-£2m, free above £2m. (2) Shares: 0.25% (max £3.50/mth); Funds: 0.25% for under £250,000, 0.1% for £250,000-£500,000, no charge above £500,000. (3) £4.95 if 10+ share trades in the previous month. (4) £9.99 for 'Investor' plan, £19.99 for 'Super Investor' plan (includes two trades free/mth, £3.99 thereafter)
It may also be worth looking at Vanguard. While it's not a platform like the ones above, as it only sells its own funds (and won't let you buy shares), it can be a cheap option for a stocks & shares ISA.
Robo-adviser stocks & shares ISA providers to try

If you go for a robo-adviser then it will choose an investment portfolio for you, based on your attitude to risk and what your investment goals are.
In general, these platforms won't be the cheapest, as they're doing all the work for you. But, often costs are kept relatively low as they tend to invest in funds which have low management charges.
There are many robo-advisers out there who can help you with a stocks & shares ISA, so always do your own research. Again, we've provided a mix of cheap platforms and well-known platforms so you can start your research...
Robo stocks & shares ISA platforms
Provider & fee information | Portfolio info |
- Minimum deposit: £1 - Platform charge: 0.35%/yr (1) - Avg fund cost: 0.14% per year |
Evestor's robo platform just has three portfolios to choose from – low risk, medium risk and high risk. |
- Minimum deposit: £100 |
InvestEngine offers two portfolios – growth or income. It will ask you questions to help you understand your risk appetite, to determine which risk portfolio could be right for you. Portfolios consist of various exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
1,800 available. InvestEngine is currently offering newbies £30 cashback when you invest £100. |
Dodl (by AJ Bell)
- Minimum deposit: £100 |
New. Dodl offers six portfolios to choose from based on risk level, as well as a seventh 'responsible growth' portfolio made up of more environmentally friendly firms. All are managed by parent company AJ Bell. |
Nutmeg* - Minimum deposit: £500 (4) - Platform charge: Free for 1 year for newbies via link, then 0.45% or 0.75% up to £100k and 0.25% or 0.35% on amounts above (5) - Avg fund cost: 0.2% - 0.32% per year (6) - Transfer-out fee: None - Manage it: Online / app |
Nutmeg offers a choice of low-cost portfolios which are auto-rebalanced to fixed targets, or higher cost portfolios which are fully managed by humans. It will ask you questions to help you understand your risk appetite in order to determine which risk portfolio could be right for you.
Plus, via our link, newbies won't pay the platform charge for the first year. |
Wealthify* - Minimum deposit: £1 - Platform charge: Free for 1 year for newbies via link above, then 0.6% - Avg fund cost: 0.16% - 0.7% per year (7) - Transfer-out fee: None - Manage it: Online / app |
With Wealthify, there are five portfolios based on your attitude to risk: cautious, tentative, confident, ambitious and adventurous, then you choose between 'original' or 'ethical' investments.
Via our link, newbies won't pay the platform charge for the first year. |
(1) 0.25% Evestor fee + 0.10% product fee. (2) Average ETF charges are 0.22% (Growth) and 0.32% (Income). (3) Growth fund: 0.31%, responsible fund: 0.45% (4) For the waived fees. (5) Fully managed/Smart Alpha/socially responsible: 0.75% up to £100k, 0.35% beyond. Fixed allocation: 0.45% up to £100k, 0.25% beyond. (6) Smart Alpha: 0.23%, fixed allocation: 0.19%, fully managed: 0.2%, socially responsible: 0.28%. (7) Original plan: 0.16%, ethical plan: 0.7%.
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Get free research to help choose a fund
We don't cover what to invest in because we never want to have told you to put your money in something, only for you to lose money on it – though these sites do:
- Hargreaves Lansdown – helpful and easy-to-navigate site, including a 'Wealth Shortlist' – a collection of funds selected for their performance potential.
- Interactive Investor – includes beginners' guides, a glossary of terms and tables showing the 10 top, bottom and most-traded funds via its platform each month.
- Bestinvest – a large range of free guides covering everything from how to spot the worst-performing funds, to the top-rated funds.
- Charles Stanley Direct – the market data section breaks down lists of FTSE companies and allows you to check performance for any time period from one day to three years, updated every 15 minutes.

Want help investing?
If you're not sure how to invest and what to invest in, seek independent financial advice. Read our Financial Advisers guide for more information.

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