More ISA questions

How does John Lewis Investments manage my ISA?

When you set up an ISA with John Lewis Investments, we put the ISA wrapper on your account as a whole. This means that you can create as many pots as you like — from paying for your children's education to buying a new home — and don't have to worry about which one is your ISA pot. We'll automatically count every contribution towards your ISA allowance until you reach the limit.

When you make a withdrawal from your account, we'll first sell any investments that are not in your ISA. This means that you won't lose a portion of your ISA allowance unnecessarily.

Can I transfer existing investments to John Lewis Investments?

You can transfer stocks and shares ISAs to John Lewis Investments. However, your existing investments will be sold and the money transferred as cash. We will then invest your money on your behalf, in accordance with our investment strategy.

If I transfer an ISA to John Lewis Investments, will it still have an ISA wrapper?

Yes. Any ISA transfers will maintain their ISA status.

Can I invest more than the ISA limit with John Lewis Investments?

Absolutely — although investments in excess of your ISA allowance will be held in a general investment account and may be subject to tax.

I had a stocks and shares ISA elsewhere last year, and I want to open one with John Lewis Investments this year. What should I do?

First, you need to find out whether your previous ISA has rolled over into this year. You should be able to do this by contacting your provider, or by checking their terms and conditions. If the ISA does roll over, we can help you transfer it to us. If it doesn't roll over, you will be able to open a new ISA with John Lewis Investments (and, if you want, transfer the old one as well).

Our ISAs automatically roll over from one tax year to the next — unless you tell us otherwise.

Cash pots within your GIA and ISA

You have the option to create a pot that is 100% allocated to cash within a general investment account (GIA) or stocks and shares ISA wrapper. 

You can choose to hold a cash pot within your investment product if you don’t want these funds to be exposed to the risks associated with investing. A cash pot is not a cash ISA and isn’t intended to be used for long-term savings – think of it as a waiting room for your cash before it gets invested.

If you decide on a cash pot, you can create one and put money into it from your desktop dashboard. You can then set up a regular monthly transfer into an investment pot to drip-feed your cash through to the markets.

The drip-feeding feature taps into an investing principle known as pound cost averaging. By contributing smaller amounts on a regular basis, you buy into the markets during the various ups-and-downs, meaning you’re less exposed to short-term market movements.

There are no fees charged on cash pots.

What happens if I pay too much into my ISA?

When you set up an ISA with John Lewis Investments, we'll ask you if you want to set a limit for your ISA — for example if you hold a cash ISA elsewhere. Setting a limit helps make sure you don't pay too much into your ISA.

If you (or we) make a mistake, please let us know as soon as possible and do not try to correct the mistake yourself. In some circumstances an over-subscribed ISA could become void.

I have a general investment account with John Lewis Investments, with no ISA wrapper. What happens if I want to add one?

Opening an ISA once you have an account with us is easy — just log in and click on the links to "Open a current year ISA". We offer two options as to what happens to your existing investments.

1) You can transfer your current John Lewis Investments holdings into your ISA, up to the ISA limit you set, at our next investment cycle.

2) Alternatively, you could keep your present portfolio invested, and only apply new contributions to your ISA. This means that your current holdings would remain in a taxable account.