Every March, like clockwork, the noise begins.
“Use your ISA allowance.”
“Don’t waste your £20,000.”
“Act before 6th April.”
It has become a seasonal ritual. A financial version of panic-buying Easter eggs or signing up to the gym in January. Briefly urgent, mildly stressful, and usually followed by a quiet return to doing… absolutely nothing.
And yet I put it to you, the approaching end of the tax year is not really about the allowance.
It is about a question most people avoid because it is inconvenient, uncomfortable, and doesn’t fit neatly into a spreadsheet.
What are you actually doing with the opportunity you have been given?
Yes, the UK still provides a £20,000 annual ISA allowance. Yes, if you do not use it, it disappears. No rollover. No second chances. No “sorry, I was busy.” It is gone.
And now there are policy shifts in the air suggesting the allowance may remain £20,000 but be split, potentially a maximum of £12,000 into Cash ISAs and £8,000 into Stocks and Shares ISAs, with those over 65 exempt from the restriction. Of course, any such changes would be subject to legislation and may not be implemented.
There are discussions in policy circles speculating that the Government wants more people investing. Less money sitting idle. More money being productive.
And honestly, that is not a terrible idea.
But here is the part worth questioning. Most people treat ISA planning like a chore, not a strategy.
They ask, “Where should I put it?”
They rarely ask, “What is this for?”
And that difference is everything.
An ISA is not just a tax wrapper.
It is a decision about future freedom. It is a quiet vote in favour of options later. It is the moment you decide whether you are running your finances, or your finances are running you.
In a previous piece, I wrote about giving future you a voice in today’s financial decisions. Most financial mistakes are not caused by a lack of intelligence. They are caused by a lack of education & imagination. We struggle to picture future consequences, so we default to comfort. Delay. Inertia.
And inertia is expensive.
But even that is only half the story. While everyone is obsessing over their own ISA allowance like it is the last train home, there is another tool sitting in plain sight.
The Junior ISA.
The Junior ISA has an annual allowance of £9,000.
Not £900. Not £90.
£9,000.
Per child. Per year. From birth to age 18.
That is £162,000 in contributions alone, assuming the allowance stays the same. And that figure does not include investment growth, compounding, or the thing most people underestimate until it is too late: time. Of course, where funds are invested rather than held in cash, their value can rise and fall, and outcomes are not guaranteed.
At this point, I can almost hear my old mentor, Mr B, in the background.
He used to bang on about the incredible opportunity we have in this country through tools like ISAs, Junior ISAs, and even Junior SIPPs. Not in a flashy, marketing way. In a slightly exasperated, “do you people realise how rare this is?” kind of way.
And he was right.
We are handed tax-efficient wrappers, annual allowances, gifting exemptions, and even the ability to start a pension for a child before they have earned a single pound. Contributions into a Junior SIPP are topped up with tax relief, meaning that even modest sums can begin compounding for sixty or so years.
Sixty years.
Most people struggle to plan six. Of course, pension investments are long-term and subject to market risk, and access rules may change over time.
The opportunity is extraordinary.
So why are these tools still underused?
That is the baffling part.
Because at the same time, we are surrounded by national debates that never seem to go away.
University costs and the associated student debt.
Housing affordability through deposits and interest rates higher property prices.
Inheritance tax. Estate planning panic.
Pension reform. Threshold freezes. Policy uncertainty.
These issues dominate headlines. Politicians argue. Campaigners lobby. Panels debate. Experts shout. Social media boils.
And the rest of us sit at home thinking, “Yes, but what am I supposed to do about it?”
It is almost as if we have accepted that the only way to solve these problems is for the government to step in and rescue everyone with one perfectly written policy.
Which is an adorable thought. Very optimistic. Almost childlike.
Because if there is one thing governments are brilliant at, it is moving the goalposts. Usually right after you have kicked the ball.
But here is what is interesting. Many of the biggest political debates are, at their core, family problems.
Not in a moral sense. In a structural sense.
They are problems of timing, support, and planning.
And families, unlike governments, have the ability to create something incredibly powerful.
A meaningful layer of resilience.
Not against life’s hardships. Those will always exist. But against unnecessary stress.
Let us talk about housing.
Getting on the property ladder is a huge milestone. Whether someone saves every penny for years, works overtime, sacrifices holidays, lives at the family home longer than they would like to build a deposit from scratch, that is still an achievement. It should never be minimised.
But we can still say this without offending anyone.
There is a difference between achieving something through these previous methods and through the assistance of family planning. Stress.
The stress is the enemy, not the effort.
Now look at higher education.
We routinely talk about student debt as though it is a rite of passage. Almost like it is part of the university experience. Freshers’ Week, questionable house shares, and a debt that follows you around like an unwanted flatmate for decades.
But the real tragedy is not the debt itself.
It is that so many young adults begin life with their financial confidence already damaged. They do not start their twenties thinking about opportunity. They start thinking about survival.
Then we act surprised when they delay buying homes, delay starting families, delay investing, delay building wealth.
It is not laziness.
It is weight. The weight of, you guessed it… Stress.
And then we have inheritance tax.
Older generations are increasingly anxious about estates, especially as policy changes tighten and pensions may become more exposed to inheritance tax in future. Many people are realising that what they thought would be passed down smoothly may now be eroded.
So, we have this strange national situation where:
Young people feel stuck and squeezed.
Older people feel guilty and targeted.
Politicians argue about who should pay for what.
Meanwhile, one of the simplest solutions is sitting quietly in the background.
The UK has an annual gifting allowance of £3,000.
Now pause here, because this is where the plot thickens.
Subject to current HMRC rules, a grandparent can gift £3,000 per year and it sits outside the estate for inheritance tax purposes. That is not some niche loophole. That is a deliberate allowance.
Two grandparents. Potentially £6,000 per year.
And if that money goes into a Junior ISA?
That is not “helping out.”
That is building opportunity.
Because £3,000 is not £3,000.
It is eighteen years of forward planning.
It is the ability to step into adulthood with choices, rather than obligations.
It is a head start, not in privilege, but in stability. And yes, I know what some people will think.
“That is all well and good, but what if the child spends it irresponsibly at 18?”
A fair point. A sensible concern. The Junior ISA becomes the child’s at 18, and they can access it.
But here is the uncomfortable question people rarely ask.
If you do not trust your family to handle money, is the problem really the ISA wrapper?
Or is it that nobody ever taught them what money is for?
Because in most families, wealth is not lost through tax.
It is lost through silence.
This is not about telling grandparents, parents, godparents, aunties and uncles to start giving money away recklessly.
It is not about emptying savings accounts in the name of generosity. Any gifting strategy should take account of your own financial security and long-term needs.
Security matters. Independence matters. Care costs matter. The older generation should never feel pressured into sacrificing their own wellbeing.
But it is worth asking whether many families are thinking too narrowly.
Most people plan in silos.
My ISA.
My pension.
My estate.
My tax bill.
My problem.
But wealth does not exist in isolation. It moves through families whether we plan for it or not. The only difference is whether it moves deliberately or by accident.
And the families who plan deliberately do not just reduce tax.
They reduce stress.
They reduce panic.
They reduce that constant feeling the younger generation carries, that life is a race they are already losing.
Governments will keep doing what governments do.
They will announce reforms. They will shift allowances. They will freeze thresholds. They will adjust rules. They will call it fairness or growth or fiscal responsibility, depending on what polls best that week.
And we can complain about it. Many people do. Loudly.
But we cannot build financial stability on hope that politicians will suddenly become consistent, predictable, and long-term thinkers.
We build stability by planning anyway. We build stability by using the tools available while they exist. We build stability by asking harder questions than the average headline encourages.
So, as 5th April approaches, yes, use your ISA allowance if it fits your strategy.
But do not stop there.
Ask yourself whether you are thinking like an individual or like a family.
Ask whether your planning is simply tax efficient or genuinely purposeful.
Because the most powerful financial planning does not begin with numbers.
It begins with intention. It begins with responsibility.
It begins with deciding that your family does not need to be at the mercy of every political debate that comes and goes.
Not because you can control the world. But because you can control your corner of it.
Because if you wait for politics to solve personal problems, you will be waiting a very long time. Families who plan early cannot just save tax. They could be buying peace of mind, reducing stress, and trying to give the next generation something far more valuable than money: breathing room.
And sometimes, that is enough.
Important Information
This article is for information purposes only and does not constitute personal financial advice. The value of investments can fall as well as rise, and you may get back less than you invest. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change in the future. Before making any financial decisions, you should consider seeking personalised advice. The Financial Conduct Authority does not regulate estate planning or tax advice.
A pension is a long-term investment not normally accessible until age 55 (57 from April 2028 unless the plan has a protected pension age). The value of your investments (and any income from them) can go down as well as up which would have an impact on the level of pension benefits available.
