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Individual Savings Account risks and rewards

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Choosing where to invest your money and deciding in which individual savings account (ISA) is a complex process and relies on a number of personal factors including your needs, circumstances and objectives. Take charge of your investment destiny - take the following points into consideration to pin-point the market sectors most suitable to you:

  • Your needs - do you require income or capital growth?
  • Your objectives - what do you want and what is most likely to meet these desires?
  • Your circumstances - your attitude to risk, the length of time over which you can invest, where your existing portfolio is invested, how much you can afford to lose and your current tax situation.

With just a few weeks to go before the end of the financial year, consumers who have yet to use their ISA allowance and benefit from their tax-efficient status should consider these points when choosing where to put their £7,000. Moneyextra's easy to use stocks & shares ISA tool helps narrow the choice by allowing you to choose one of five different levels of risk:

  • Conservative
  • Conservative / Balanced
  • Balanced
  • Speculative
  • Very Speculative
  • You may also opt to review investment performance over one, three or five years. Stock market investing should have a medium-term time horizon so you may wish to start by reviewing performance over five years.

    Then simply pick the level of risk you're comfortable with, and potential investment options reviewed by our sister company AWD Chase de Vere, are displayed to you.

    Conservative

    There are no stocks and shares ISAs that satisfy a conservative attitude to risk over a five year time horizon consider a cash ISA instead.

    Conservative / Balanced

    Topping the list in this category M&G UK - Recovery A Inc - shows a 74.67% return over five years and a discounted initial charge of 2.25% for online applications (4% normally). The fund invests in a range of companies that are going through a difficult period or whose future prospects are not fully recognised by the market.

    Balanced

    BlackRock ML Managers - Gold & General Inc - returned 191.34% over the past five years and has a discounted initial charge for online applications of 1.25% (5%). The fund aims for long-term capital growth by investing in gold mining and precious metal-related shares.

    Speculative

    Old Mutual Fund Managers (UT) - UK Select Small Cos Acc investing in a portfolio of UK smaller companies, put on 205.95% in five years and has a discounted initial charge of 1.5% for online applications (4%)

    Very Speculative

    Gartmore Fund Managers China Opportunities R Acc which invests in companies quoted in Hong Kong and Shanghai returned 147.84% over the past five years. The discounted initial charge for online applications is 1.5% (5%).

    16 March 2007 © Moneyextra.com

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    Moneyextra.com recommends you should consider taking independent financial advice before acting on any article. Please contact us for help with your individual circumstances if any assistance is required.