Will Isas replace pensions?

Individual savings accounts (Isas) could be on track to replace personal pensions as the standard way to invest for the long term.

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Individual savings accounts (Isas) could be on track to replace personal pensions as the standard way to invest for the long term, new figures from HMRC suggest. Investors put £21.4bn into stocks and shares Isas in the 2015-2016 tax year, up bya fifth since 2014-2015, and the highest total since Isas were launched in 1999. By comparison, around £20.3bn was paid into personal pensions by individuals and employers combined in the 2014-2015 tax year, the most recent for which figures are yet available.

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David Prosser
Business Columnist

David Prosser is a regular MoneyWeek columnist, writing on small business and entrepreneurship, as well as pensions and other forms of tax-efficient savings and investments. David has been a financial journalist for almost 30 years, specialising initially in personal finance, and then in broader business coverage. He has worked for national newspaper groups including The Financial Times, The Guardian and Observer, Express Newspapers and, most recently, The Independent, where he served for more than three years as business editor.