New tax year – get tax efficient in three simple steps

It makes sense to get tax efficient as early as possible in the new tax year. But how do you do it? 

Step 1: set a goal

If you have money to invest, what do you want your money to do this tax year?

If you don’t have a goal, how do you know if you’re using the right investment strategy?

Our survey¹ revealed that 58% set goals but underestimate the cost. The good news is there are lots of goal-planning tools to support progress. Bestinvest clients can access two digital tools when they login to the Life Plan section of their account: 

• Retirement planner – you can enter amounts for different scenarios to see how much you need to save
• Grow my money – calculates how much your money could be worth one day

Goals-based investing can help you define the account and risk profile you should choose.

Step 2: make allowances work for you

Which allowances could help you achieve your goal?

The new tax year releases the allowances available for the next 12 months. It’s a good opportunity to review and decide which allowances can help you achieve your goal.

When you use your allowance we suggest you try not to think in lump sums but instead think of utilising your allowances as you go through the year. You can contribute what you choose as consistently as possible to get started.

You can use your allowances to help you get where you want to be. When you use your allowances early in the tax year your money benefits from being in a tax efficient account for longer.

Here are some of the most important 2023/24 tax allowances

ISA	£20,000
Junior ISA	£9,000
SIPP or other pension	£60,000
Pension lifetime allowance	Unlimited

Step 3: clarify your risk profile

What’s the right level of risk to help you achieve your goal?

Think of risk as going up a ladder. What risk do you need to take for the next step of your journey?

Specifying ‘high, medium or low’ is just one part of an accurate risk profile. You also need to establish your risk capacity and tolerance. Capacity refers to how much money you can lose without impacting your standard of living.

An accurate risk profile helps you understand what you need to do to achieve your financial goals. Bestinvest clients can fill out a risk questionnaire in the Coaching section of their account. This helps them understand how risky an investor they are. 

To understand more about risk, you can explore our bite-sized How to invest tutorial, What is investment risk?     

How Bestinvest can help you get tax efficient

At Bestinvest you can invest how you want with as much free expert support as you like. We’re here to help you find the fastest path to your investment goals.

If you are keen to get started but would rather leave the investing to the experts, try one of our Ready-made Portfolios. These are professionally managed portfolios with decisions about investments and risk already made. You won’t pay more than 0.2% and have five types of portfolio to choose from.

And if you’d like to chat about your plans, it’s easy to book yourself in for a free 45-minute coaching session. All our Coaches are qualified financial planners, like Matt Morgan, our head investment Coach.

Open an account                   Log in 

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Source

¹ Bestinvest’s Give Us Your Goals Study surveyed 2,000 people across the UK between the ages of 18 to 65+. The survey was carried out by global market research firm 3Gem between May 13 to May 18, 2022.

Important information

Whatever choices you make, remember investing carries risk and you may not get back the amount invested.