Why Isas are still the best place for cash

George Osborne's new tax-free allowance on cash deposits is good news, says Merryn Somerset Webb. But don't neglect your Isa.

George Osborne wants to create a savings culture in the UK. That's a good thing, given that we haven't got much of one at the moment.

So you'd think that we would welcome the chancellor's announcement that, with effect from April 2016, basic-rate taxpayers will be able to earn up to £1,000 of interest per year on cash deposits tax-free (higher-rate taxpayers only get a £500 allowance). And we do but only half-heartedly.

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Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.