Early bird Isas – tend to earn higher returns by earning up to an extra year of dividends and potential market growth.
The most popular investments chosen by early Isa savers are US, global and Indian funds, plus some well-known UK financial stocks, new research reveals.
A technology tracker fund and investor favorite Fundsmith Equity round out the top purchases among Hargreaves Lansdown clients who paid into stocks and shares Isa during the first 10 days of the new financial year.
The DIY investment platform says there was a 10 per cent increase in the number of early birds this year, and a 31 per cent increase in those who immediately maxed out their £20,000 annual Isa allowance.
Early bird Isa investors tend to achieve higher long-term returns by getting up to a full year of dividends and potential market growth ahead of those who leave it until the last minute, although in some years laggards manage to dodge the nasty dips in the market. market.
The rise in early investments this year shows investor confidence is clearly alive and well, according to Emma Wall, head of investment research at Hargreaves.
He notes that the following list of top buys is a continuation of the business trends of recent months, with the United States, India, banks and technology dominant, and highlights “a combination of momentum and income.”
But Wall adds: “This is a more diversified list than up until 2023, when only technology dominated the top 10 buy lists, and for an Isa wrapper, which we typically consider a 5-10 year investment term, these They are appropriate selections.
“However, investors should consider the correlation between some of these picks and make sure that by buying into areas of the market that have performed well they may be increasing portfolio biases.”
Hargreaves recently analyzed the characteristics, behavior and investment performance of early Isa investors.
It found that someone who invested their entire Isa allowance into a global tracker on the first day of the tax year over the last decade would have seen their investments grow to £360,500, compared to £322,500 if they had left it until the last day.
Men are more likely to be early risers than women. Around 62 per cent of Hargreaves Isa customers are men, but men accounted for 68 per cent of its first customers in 2023 and 67 per cent this year.
The company attributed this to men tending to have higher incomes than women and are more likely to be higher and additional rate taxpayers with an incentive to shield investments from dividend tax and capital gains tax. .
People aged 30 to 54 are most likely to start investing in Isas early, followed by those aged 65 to 80.
And Hargreaves found that people tend to be stuck on being early risers or last-minute rushes when it comes to their Isa investment habits – only one in 100 people invest at the end of one tax year and the beginning of the next.