Six steps to boost your wealth

INVESTORS are beholden to the ups and downs of financial markets – but that doesn’t mean they are powerless. Here are six tips to guarantee a boost to wealth.

INVEST within an Individ1 ual Savings Account (Isa) wrapper and you can keep every penny of profit. Fail to do so and you may be liable to tax on dividends, interest or capital gains. Everyone has a £20,000 Isa allowance each tax year.

PUT £80 in a pension and it 2 will be worth £100 straight away – before you even start thinking about investment returns. That is thanks to tax relief on pension contributions. Higher rate taxpayers only need to invest £60 in a pension to get a total contribution worth £100.

IF YOU are aged between 18 3 and 40, you may be eligible for a Lifetime Isa. These give a 25 per cent bonus to your savings, up to £1,000 a year. Savings can only be withdrawn to buy your first home or when you’re aged 60 or over. Lifetime Isas can hold both cash and stocks and shares.

PARENTS tend to be cau4 tious when investing for children, but this is often when you can most afford to take risk. Children’s savings have years to ride out market highs and lows. Under-18s have a £9,000-a-year Junior Isa allowance, which can be put in cash or stocks and shares.

IF YOU really want to turbo 5 boost a child or grandchild’s savings, open a pension for them, as children also benefit from tax relief on pensions. If you want the yearly maximum of £3,600 to go into a child’s pension, you just have to pay £2,880 and Revenue & Customs pays the rest.

WATCH out for fees, as the 6 investing process is riddled with charges. You pay a monthly or percentage fee to the wealth platform where you hold your account, additional fees to fund managers, fees for buying – and fees for selling. These can add up to tens of thousands of pounds over time so watch out and make sure you are getting good value.