Investing - Choosing Individual Savings Accounts

ISAs replaced PEPs and TESSAs for new investments after April 1999 and are guaranteed to run for ten years. The annual limit for investment is £7,000 (£5,000 from April 2006). Income and capital gains in an ISA are tax free and dividends receive a 10% tax credit until 2004.

Investments can be in three components:

up to £3,000 (£1,000 from April 2006) in a cash component in banks, building societies, National Savings products (the taxable ones of course);
up to £1,000 in an insurance component single premium life assurance policies such as with profits bonds;
up to the full £7,000 (£5,000) in stocks and shares investment or unit trusts, preference shares, bonds and gilts or directly in equities (a self select ISA). There are no geographical limits as there were for PEPs.

There is a question mark over the value of the insurance component because insurance linked products pay income tax (albeit at a favourable rate), which cannot be recovered and no more tax is payable on investments outside an ISA except for higher rate taxpayers.

Shares arising from employee share option schemes can be transferred to a stocks and shares ISA without counting against the annual limit.

Although 18 is the starting age for ISAs, 16 and 17 year olds can invest up to £3,000 (£1,000 from 2006) in a cash ISA.

There are three kinds of ISA:

Maxi ISAs - up to the full £7,000 (£5,000) is invested with one provider, although it can still be broken down into two or three components.
Mini ISAs - you can have one, two or three providers, one for cash, one for insurance and one for stocks and shares (but you cannot forgo either the cash or insurance mini ISA to put £4,000 in stocks and shares).
TESSA only ISAs when a TESSA expires, the capital element (but not the interest) can be re invested in a cash or TESSA only ISA without counting towards the annual ISA limit.

You cannot invest in both a maxi ISA and a mini ISA in the same year.

Income can be left in or withdrawn but once taken out neither income or capital can be put back into that year's ISA.

CAT standards exist for ISAs (charges, access, terms) to protect inexperienced investors but providers do not have to follow them.

Are they good value?

There has been some debate about the value of PEPs, particularly for standard rate taxpayers, since not many People pay capital gains tax and the extra charges could be greater than the income tax savings. However, this dates back to the time when PEPs could only be invested in equities. The same questions arise in connection with ISAs.

Statistics of returns over a period are only available for the time when PEPs were limited to equities. They show that equity investment through a PEP achieved a higher return although it took a lengthy period for the difference to be significant.

Corporate bond ISAs and PEPs

Now that ISAs and PEPs can be invested in company fixed interest stocks and shares, producing more income than equities at least to start with (as well as incurring less risk), there will be a tendency, particularly in the case of higher rate taxpayers, to use ISAs and PEPs in this way.

Another reason is that the full amount of tax deducted at source from company fixed interest stocks can be recovered by the ISA manager instead of the limited recovery of tax deducted from dividends.

Choosing an ISA

Even when you have decided on the type of ISA you wish to invest in, there is still a wide choice. Here are some questions to ask the ISA provider:

What are the initial/exit and annual charges and are they charged to income or capital?
What are the dealing costs (if applicable)?
What is the charge for transfer to another provider?
Is there any charge for switching between the provider's own funds?
Are there charges for collecting dividends, getting company reports and attending AGMs?

It is possible to have a self select share ISA in which you choose which shares or units to invest in and you can trade in the usual way (this also applies to PEPs). There is no specified limit as to how long you can hold cash - the criterion is an intention to invest.

Putting all your annual share ISA money into one unit or investment trust, while economical, can be somewhat risky, especially in the case of an ISA mortgage, but you can spread the risk by choosing a different investment sector for each ISA year.

Fund supermarkets are worth considering for ISAs.

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Health Savings Accounts Put You in Control of Your Healthcare

As Health Savings Accounts grow in popularity, there is growing fear among those who want to nationalize healthcare that they will not be able to put the cat back in the bag. There are already over 3 million HSA owners, and by 2010, the Treasury Department estimates as many as 45 million Americans will be covered by HSA plans. They will have billions of dollars invested to cover future medical expenses, and by then it will be politically impossible to take that benefit away.

If you currently have a high-deductible health insurance plan, you can invest tax-free money in a Health Savings Account. You get to choose the type of investment - anything from savings accounts or money market funds, to a full brokerage house. If you invest wisely, you could have well over $500,000 in the account when you retire. You will be able to use that money to pay for your healthcare in whatever way you please, tax free. You can go to the best surgeons, or the least expensive doc-in-a-box. If you decide to treat a condition with acupuncture, homeopathy, or psychic healers, you can do that too. Whoever offers you the service you want with the best combination of quality and price should get your business. And since you are the one paying, it will be completely your choice. You have healthcare freedom.

If proponents of a single-payer system were to ever have their way, you would be at the mercy of a government bureaucrat when it comes to your healthcare. To see what this may look like, all one has to do is look at the state of health care in Canada, England, New Zealand, and the parts of Europe that have not yet abandoned single-payer systems.

Proponents of a single-payer system tend to point to Canada or England as countries that cover all their citizens with quality healthcare, while spending less money per person than the U.S. But if we look a little more closely, we see that these publicly financed health insurance systems are breaking down, the quality is low, and the costs can be quite high. Here's what Canadians have to deal with if they need medical care:

Long waits. Hundreds of Canadians go to Detroit and other U.S. cities every year for procedures like CAT scans, which they can obtain treatment in a matter of days. In Canada, the wait is typically six months. Currently 876,000 Canadians are on waiting lists for medical procedures.

Difficulty in getting life-enhancing procedures done. If a Canadian is having a heart attack, they will be treated right then. But if the surgery is considered "elective" (meaning that possible death is not eminent), the wait could be months or years. Average wait for cataract removal is 18 months. Average wait for a knee replacement is one year.

Increased risk of dieing. The average Canadian waits eight weeks to see a specialist, and another nine weeks before getting treated. This is even the case with conditions that are likely to get much worse if there is any delay in treatment. For example, the median time for a mastectomy is 14 weeks, enough time for the cancer to spread to other parts of the body. In fact, 28% of those diagnosed with breast cancer in Canada die from it, while the mortality ratio in the U.S. is only 25%.

Things don't look any better across the ocean. Each year the British National Health Service cancels 410,000 surgeries because of resource shortages. According to the London Sunday Times, there are currently over 1 million Brits awaiting elective surgery. Thomas Cook, a British travel agency, is even considering offering "sun-and-surgery" packaged trips to Indian hospitals for British citizens fed up with low standards and long waiting times for surgery.

The British and Canadian governments have the power to make healthcare "free", but they are unable to control its costs. So the costs become longer (and potentially fatal) delays, and fewer innovations.

It's not surprising when you think about what is happening. Universal health insurance systems always encourage over-consumption by patients, and such over-consumption always leads to financial crises. The result is inevitably broken promises about universal access and quality care. Because there are always limited resources, single-payer systems tend to overspend on primary care for the healthy, while denying more expensive specialist care to those with serious medical problems. This is because most people (voters) are healthy most of the time, and the sick and dieing are less likely to be able to organize into a political force.

What makes the United States such a great country is the "freedoms" we enjoy. Though our freedoms seem to be constantly under attack, there is still no nation in the world that has the freedom of the press, freedom of religion, freedom of association, or the free markets that we have in the United States. As anyone who understands even a smidgen of economics knows, free markets encourage competition and innovation, which lead to lower prices and better quality.

Though the U.S. system of health care can not really be considered a "free-market", it is certainly much more free than any single payer system. Some of the benefits we see as a result of our current healthcare system include:

- U.S. medicine produces the best outcomes for virtually every patient, from premature babies to elderly cancer patients.

- American companies are the chief source worldwide of new treatments and procedures which each year are used to save millions of lives.

- U.S. medical training and research facilities are the best in the world.

Though Canadians might have to wait a year or two for hip replacement surgery, they can get the same operation done on their dog in less than a week. This is because veterinarians are competing for that business, finding innovative ways to deliver service more quickly and less expensively. Another example is laser eye surgery, a procedure that is rarely covered by insurance, so laser eye surgeons must compete on the basis of cost and quality. While costs for most medical procedures have been going up every year, the cost for this procedure has dropped by 80% over the past decade.

Unfortunately, U.S. healthcare policies still tend to limit competition, restrict consumer's freedom to choose, and discourage consumers from shopping for value. Thus, there are too few choices and there has been little attention paid to price and quality of service. The answer is clearly not more government intervention, but instead letting competition and the power of the marketplace drive down prices and increase quality and access to care.

Health Savings Accounts are the Solution

There is increasing recognition that third-party health insurance payers are actually a major cause of escalating medical costs and the decline in the quality of service. The increasing adoption of HSA plans has already begun to cause greater transparency and competition in the medical marketplace. There are now physicians available by phone, medical kiosks setting up in malls, doctors that accept only cash (and who charge significantly less), and others competing directly for the consumer's healthcare dollar.

Don't be fooled by the politicians who advocate a single-payer system, claiming their only concern is the uninsured. If a single body (such as a government bureaucracy) controls healthcare, they control one seventh of the national economy. And everywhere in the world that central control of the economy has been tried, it has been a colossal failure.

As public policy reforms centered on individual choice continue to gain wider footholds, the result will be greater prosperity, greater choice, and a better value for all. The culture of dependence and entitlement will begin to fade, as millions of individuals demand further policy reforms that will reinstate the values of freedom and personal responsibility that helped establish this great nation.

As more consumers turn to health savings accounts, the market will respond. Innovative providers will begin to compete more on price and quality of service, and those that provide the best value will get wealthy doing so. And all consumers will benefit.

By Wiley Long - President, HSA for America - http://www.health--savings--accounts.com. HSA for America makes it easy to learn about and set up a Health Savings Account (HSA) that best meets your needs. Please link to this site when using this article.

How To Produce Taxi Driver Accounts Plus Tax Returns In Less Than 2 Hours

Since the majority of taxi drivers, but certainly not all, have little accounting or bookkeeping knowledge the lower the level of expertise required the more suitable such an accounts package will be. Data entry basically consists of just 3 records, being an excel spreadsheet for taxi receipts; another for taxi expenses plus a further worksheet in which assets such as a vehicle can be recorded.

Taxi receipts are entered on a series of excel worksheets within the taxi income work book preset with each day of the financial year. Weekly and monthly totals are added and transferred through the linking system from the taxi bookkeeping sheets to the taxi financial accounts sheet.

Taxi expenses are listed on a series of twelve monthly spreadsheets which have preset columns with appropriate headings for taxi drivers to record office and rental costs, fuel bills, other vehicle costs and licence fees. The total of each expense is entered on each row and a single letter used to then analyse the taxi expense to the column required. As with the taxi income sheet the columns are then automatically added which includes a check on data entry accuracy before being transferred to the taxi driver accounts sheet.

Cash and bank spreadsheets are not provided as not required by taxi drivers as taxi drivers do not need to produce a balance sheet.

In addition to entering purchases on the taxi expense sheet the only other entries required from the taxi driver to produce a set of taxi driver accounts is to also enter vehicle and any other assets purchased on the fixed asset spreadsheet. The fixed asset spreadsheet having already been preset with both depreciation rates and the capital allowances that taxi drivers can claim. The taxi accounts software is then complete.

The financial accounts file contains formulae to produce a monthly profit and loss account that includes the taxi capital allowances from the fixed asset schedule.

A unique feature is that both mileages covered and vehicle running costs can be entered. The tax rules in the UK state that drivers cannot claim both mileage allowances and vehicle running costs. It has to be one or the other and only at the end of the financial year when it becomes clear which is the most tax efficient.

This taxi accounts package compares both the mileage cost and the vehicle running cost and automatically selects the most expensive. This ensures the highest costs are selected into the calculation of the net taxable profits and highest cost equals lowest tax bill.

Also in the taxi accounts file is an excel spreadsheet designed with the same layout, colour codes and box numbers as the inland revenue self assessment tax return. The taxi self assessment tax return is completed automatically by the cabsmart taxi accounts software. No entries are required leaving the taxi driver only to click print to produce the self assessment tax return.

Finally having calculated the net taxable profit for the year the accounting package also has a tax calculator that calculates the amount of income tax and national insurance to be paid.

The taxi driver accounts package has been tested many times and the annual receipts and expenses for a full year take approximately 2 to 3 hours to enter, and have been completed in less than 2 hours. The end product is a full set of taxi driver accounts including the self assessment tax return.

Both couriers and van drivers have similar businesses to taxi drivers in that they move items from one place to another in a similar way in which taxi drivers move people from one location to another. And because of the similarity in business activity then this taxi accounting package would be equally suitable for couriers and van drivers.

Terry Cartwright, a qualified accountant in the UK, designs Taxi Accounts software on excel spreadsheets specifically for the Taxi Driver wishing to save money and prepare the Taxi Driver Accounts and produce the self assessment tax return in the process.

How To Produce Taxi Driver Accounts Plus Tax Returns In Less Than 2 Hours

Since the majority of taxi drivers, but certainly not all, have little accounting or bookkeeping knowledge the lower the level of expertise required the more suitable such an accounts package will be. Data entry basically consists of just 3 records, being an excel spreadsheet for taxi receipts; another for taxi expenses plus a further worksheet in which assets such as a vehicle can be recorded.

Taxi receipts are entered on a series of excel worksheets within the taxi income work book preset with each day of the financial year. Weekly and monthly totals are added and transferred through the linking system from the taxi bookkeeping sheets to the taxi financial accounts sheet.

Taxi expenses are listed on a series of twelve monthly spreadsheets which have preset columns with appropriate headings for taxi drivers to record office and rental costs, fuel bills, other vehicle costs and licence fees. The total of each expense is entered on each row and a single letter used to then analyse the taxi expense to the column required. As with the taxi income sheet the columns are then automatically added which includes a check on data entry accuracy before being transferred to the taxi driver accounts sheet.

Cash and bank spreadsheets are not provided as not required by taxi drivers as taxi drivers do not need to produce a balance sheet.

In addition to entering purchases on the taxi expense sheet the only other entries required from the taxi driver to produce a set of taxi driver accounts is to also enter vehicle and any other assets purchased on the fixed asset spreadsheet. The fixed asset spreadsheet having already been preset with both depreciation rates and the capital allowances that taxi drivers can claim. The taxi accounts software is then complete.

The financial accounts file contains formulae to produce a monthly profit and loss account that includes the taxi capital allowances from the fixed asset schedule.

A unique feature is that both mileages covered and vehicle running costs can be entered. The tax rules in the UK state that drivers cannot claim both mileage allowances and vehicle running costs. It has to be one or the other and only at the end of the financial year when it becomes clear which is the most tax efficient.

This taxi accounts package compares both the mileage cost and the vehicle running cost and automatically selects the most expensive. This ensures the highest costs are selected into the calculation of the net taxable profits and highest cost equals lowest tax bill.

Also in the taxi accounts file is an excel spreadsheet designed with the same layout, colour codes and box numbers as the inland revenue self assessment tax return. The taxi self assessment tax return is completed automatically by the cabsmart taxi accounts software. No entries are required leaving the taxi driver only to click print to produce the self assessment tax return.

Finally having calculated the net taxable profit for the year the accounting package also has a tax calculator that calculates the amount of income tax and national insurance to be paid.

The taxi driver accounts package has been tested many times and the annual receipts and expenses for a full year take approximately 2 to 3 hours to enter, and have been completed in less than 2 hours. The end product is a full set of taxi driver accounts including the self assessment tax return.

Both couriers and van drivers have similar businesses to taxi drivers in that they move items from one place to another in a similar way in which taxi drivers move people from one location to another. And because of the similarity in business activity then this taxi accounting package would be equally suitable for couriers and van drivers.

Terry Cartwright, a qualified accountant in the UK, designs Taxi Accounts software on excel spreadsheets specifically for the Taxi Driver wishing to save money and prepare the Taxi Driver Accounts and produce the self assessment tax return in the process.