Nutty

Can you have more than one Stocks & Shares ISA?

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Fact checked.
Updated
May 3, 2024

In a nutshell

Yes! You can have multiple Stocks & Shares ISAs. You can open as many as you like, and pay into them all each year too (previously you were limited to one per year).

A Stocks & Shares ISA can be a great way of saving for the future and growing your money at the same time. So, you might be wondering if you can have 2 – or even 3 or 4 – Stocks & Shares ISAs!

Well, the good news is that you can have as many as you want, and you can pay into as many as you like each year too.

Previously, you could only pay into one per tax year (April 6th to April 5th the following year), but this rule has now been scrapped (since April 2024). And the choice is all yours!

The only rule you need to be aware of is the ISA allowance, which is where you can only save as much as £20,000 per tax year. Which applies as a total to all of your ISAs.

Before you head off, is your ISA working hard for you? Is it with the best Stocks and Shares ISA?

We’ve reviewed all the top ISAs to determine the best options to put your hard earned cash. And here they are: (both expert-managed and self-managed ISAs.)

Ready to open up a second stocks and shares ISA?

Check out the best investment platforms to find the best one for you.

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Best expert-managed Stocks and Shares ISA

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Expert advice
Moneyfarm rated 5 stars

Moneyfarm

Moneyfarm is a great option for saving and investing (both ISAs and pensions). It's easy to use and their experts can help you with any questions or guidance you need.

They have one of the top performing investment records, and great socially responsible investing options too. Plus, you can save cash and get a high interest rate.

The fees are low, and reduce as you save more. Plus, the customer service is outstanding.

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Pros

  • Great for beginners and hands-off investors
  • Easy to use
  • ISA
  • Pension
  • Free personal investment advisor
  • Great track record for growing money
  • Socially responsible options
  • Invest cash for a high return

Cons

  • Have to invest at least £500
  • Not much else!

Capital at risk.

Ready to open up a second stocks and shares ISA?

Check out the best investment platforms to find the best one for you.

Best investment platformsBest investment platforms

Best self-managed Stocks and Shares ISAs

Ready to open up a second stocks and shares ISA?

Check out the best investment platforms to find the best one for you.

Best investment platformsBest investment platforms
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Free share up to £100 - use code NUTS

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Best ISA
Trading 212 rated 5 stars

Trading 212

Trading 212 is a platform built for everyone in mind – there's over 2,000,000 customers! It’s great for beginners to get started, and perfect for experienced investors too with a huge range of investment options.

It’s also the cheapest platform out there, completely commission free, and the lowest fees when buying foreign stocks.

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Not investment advice. Investments can rise and fall, and your capital is at risk.

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Best traditional
AJ Bell rated 5 stars

AJ Bell

AJ Bell is well established, with a good reputation.

It's one of the cheapest traditional stock brokers out there (charging a low annual fee).

There's a huge range of investment options – pretty much every investment out there (including both funds and shares).

The customer service is great too.

Overall, it's one of the best options.

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What is a Stocks and Shares ISA?

In case you’re not sure, a stocks and shares ISA is a pretty awesome savings account that helps you save and grow your money tax-free. Woohoo!

An ISA is tax-free

Let’s rewind a little bit. When you get a stocks and shares ISA, any money you put in it will get invested.

In other words, your money will be used to buy investments, which can include stocks and shares (which represent part of the ownership of a company), and lots of other types of investments, such as investment funds (groups of lots of investments pooled together and typically managed by an expert).

The idea is that these investments will hopefully increase in value so you can make a profit and grow your savings. Kerching!

You can decide if you want the experts to manage your investments and your ISA, or if you want to make your own investments. You’ll typically need a different ISA provider for each option – but you can do both if you want to.

Nuts About Money tip: if you’re new to investing, it’s often a good idea to simply leave it to the experts – they know what they’re doing and will typically invest sensibly to grow your money over time.

To put it plainly, a Stocks and Shares ISA is a really good way to save for the future, which we should all be doing more of.

How many Stocks and Shares ISAs can I have?

You can have as many Stocks and Shares ISAs as you like. You can open them whenever you like, and pay into lots of different ones too within the same tax year too.

Before April 2024, you could open and save into one Stocks and Shares ISA per tax year. You could have multiple Stocks and Shares ISAs, but you had to wait until the next tax year in order to open a new one, and then couldn’t save any more cash into your old one (but they could still both exist).

You could have another type of ISA alongside your Stocks and Shares ISA, such as a Cash ISA (to save cash in return for interest), or a Lifetime ISA (to save for your first home).

Now, the reins are off, and you can go wild and have as many ISAs as you like. Although there is just one rule, you can only save into one Lifetime ISA each tax year.

Oh, and you can only save up to £20,000 per tax year (called your annual ISA allowance), across all of your ISAs (and only £4,000 into a Lifetime ISA).

Can you pay into more than one Stocks and Shares ISA each year?

Yep, in case you missed that just now, you can pay into as many Stocks and Shares ISAs as you like at the same time.

Why would you want more than one Stocks and Shares ISA?

If you wanted to, you could have an ISA managed by the experts, for growing your savings over the long term, and then a self-managed ISA to make your own investments alongside.

Or, you could even have two ISAs managed by the experts to spread your money across different providers and experts.

Maybe, you might come across a great new provider, but you’re not quite sure about them just yet, so want to add a little bit of your savings and see how it goes.

The choice is all yours!

Don’t forget, you can also transfer your ISA to a new provider too… Don’t withdraw your money from one ISA and put it into another ISA, as that will use up your ISA allowance (the £20,000), so you might not be able as much in as you’d like in future.

Let’s recap

There we have it – you can open and save into as many Stocks and Shares ISAs as you like.

Previously, you were only allowed to save into one each tax year, but the ISA rules have now changed to give you lots more freedom with your savings, and choose as many ISA providers as you like.

It makes sense to us, and means you have lots more control over your savings and where your money is, and how you like to invest…

For instance, you can have an ISA for your ‘sensible’ savings, with experts who know what they’re doing, aiming to grow your money over time (such as the top rated Moneyfarm¹.)

And, if you want to make your own investments, have a self-managed ISA, where you might take on a bit more risk and invest in companies that you like (such as Trading 212¹.)

The only rule is you can’t save more than £20,000 in total across all your ISAs.

Happy saving and investing!

Ready to open up a second stocks and shares ISA?

Check out the best investment platforms to find the best one for you.

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This article has been fact checked.

This article was written by the team at Nuts About Money, and fact-checked by 2 independent reviewers. You’re in safe hands.

Ready to open up a second stocks and shares ISA?

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