Daily Archives: February 7, 2024

IN THE NEWS

Who wants to be an (ISA) millionaire?

The number of ISA millionaires – i.e. people who have built up a tax-free pot of £1m or more by investing in stocks and shares ISAs – has almost quintupled since 2017, with the figure now standing at 2,760 ¹. With the first ISAs introduced in 1999 aimed at encouraging more people to save, the data certainly suggests the objective is being satisfied for an increasing number, with the most recent data suggesting around 11.8 million adults were subscribed to an ISA in 2021/22, making £66.9bn deposits in that tax year.

More people choose living inheritances

There has been an increase in the number of people who are choosing to gift significant sums of money to beneficiaries whilst they are still alive –otherwise known as a ‘living inheritance.’ One in 10 respondents to the Great British Retirement Survey 2023² said they had given a living inheritance in the past three years. This increased to 15% amongst over-65s.

One million more over-65s still at work

There are now nearly a million more people over the age of 65 in the UK labour market compared with the number still at work in the year 2000³. This is according to the Centre for Ageing Better, which has calculated that 976,000 workers over the age of 65 and 3.1 million aged 50-64 have been added to the workforce since the Millennium. It is thought that the UK’s ageing population, in addition to changes in the State Pension age, are mostly responsible for the increasing numbers of older workers in the UK’s labour force over the
past few decades.

1 HMRC, 2023
2 Interactive Investor, 2023
3 Centre for Ageing Better, 2023