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The early bird catches the wallet

While you won't need to wake at dawn, investing in an ISA as early as possible in the tax year is proven to deliver greater returns. Delay and you could significantly reduce your nestegg.

How to buy
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We need to take a breath and make it happen, though. Putting off things like washing the car, doing housework or weeding the garden might make little difference. Putting off investing carries longer-lasting implications for your future.

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put off
personal admin

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put off
washing the car

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put off
weeding the garden

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put off
thinking about their future

Do nothing and your piggy bank continues to just hold buttons. But if you'd acted and invested monthly in a stocks and shares ISA just 10 years ago (up to the maximum allowance) and paid in each year, you'd be sitting on an extra £199,506. A net gain of 80%.1 That's...

House, car, and chair illustration

Not surprising then that

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people wish they'd invested at an earlier age

and

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wish they'd invested more frequently1

May ... the month to stop kicking the can down the road

With the new tax year (and your new £20,000 annual ISA allowance) comes a real opportunity to start accumulating - and relaxing. Delaying a year will often lead to the need to invest far greater sums to achieve the same goals later on.

Starting early in the year is almost as important as starting at all. The sooner you invest after April 5th, the sooner your cash can grow tax-free and benefit from compounding over time. Start in September and you've lost 6 months of that.

UK investors are seeing the new tax year as a real opportunity1:

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plan to increase the amount they invest

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say they will start now to invest regularly

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plan to invest regular amounts into an ISA

What's more effective? Lump sum, monthly or both?

It goes without saying that how often you invest has a major impact on your returns too.

Not everyone has a lump sum, but if you invested one every April for 15 years, your returns would be 7% higher than if you paid in monthly. Invest that same lump sum at the tax year end in March and your returns would be 9% lower.

Paying in monthly, however, does bring its own comforts. Especially in volatile times like today. 25% of people invest monthly with a further 20% investing every 2-6 months. Investing monthly enables you to spread your risk and even out market volatility.

But what if you want to do both? Our analysis shows that investing half in April then spreading the rest monthly delivers 3% more than investing monthly alone. And 3% less than a lump sum in April alone.2

Calendar icon with pound symbol illustrating 25% of people invest monthly
Person relaxing on a couch

The value of staying comfortable over time

While volatility is a natural part of investing, less
seasoned investors may find the ride uncomfortable
when their investments go up and down.
As a result, some are tempted to sell early rather
than stick it out. But patience usually pays off.
Analysis shows, for example, how investors
could have built up as much as £192,000 over
30 years, by holding their nerve and not selling.3
On the flipside, one in 10 investors who sold an
investment in the last 6 months sold at a loss. Over
12 months, this rises to a quarter; 36% saying they got
scared their performance would dip further over time.1

While volatility is a natural part of investing, less seasoned investors may find the ride uncomfortable when their investments go up and down.

As a result, some are tempted to sell early rather than stick it out. But patience usually pays off.

Analysis shows, for example, how investors could have built up as much as £192,000 over 30 years, by holding their nerve and not selling.3

On the flipside, one in 10 investors who sold an investment in the last 6 months sold at a loss. Over 12 months, this rises to a quarter; 36% saying they got scared their performance would dip further over time.1

Some investments have been bringing investors comfort for years

Choosing an investment with a proven track record that allows you to luxuriate in the comfort you can 'plant it and leave it' for your future self is really important.

At Alliance Witan, we've been practising the long-term approach since 1888, supporting shareholders and their families for generations to make the most of practising patience.

Bird on a branch

We aim to offer a comfortable balance of risk and reward, providing you with an investment you don't need to fret about. Instead, investors can be confident that over the long-term their investment is in safe hands.

While returns from equities can be volatile in the short term, the Alliance Witan approach offers a good chance of achieving attractive long-term returns.

About Alliance Witan

  • One of the UK's largest and most established investment trusts
  • Ideal foundation for any portfolio
  • Diversified multi-manager approach that invests globally
  • £5.7bn in assets as at February 2025
  • 58 consecutive years of rising dividends

Start Early. Be Persistent. Stay Invested

How we invest
Alliance Witan bird logoAlliance Witan bird logo

When investing, your capital is at risk. The value of your investment may rise or fall as a result of market fluctuations, and you might get back less than you invested. Towers Watson Investment Management (TWIM) is the Alternative Investment Fund Manager (AIFM) for Alliance Witan PLC. TWIM is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, firm reference number 44674, registered office Watson House, London Road, Reigate, Surrey RH2 9PQ. TWIM is part of Willis Towers Watson. Alliance Witan PLC is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is registered in Scotland No SC1731. Registered office, River Court, 5 West Victoria Dock Road, Dundee DD1 3JT. Alliance Witan PLC gives no financial or investment advice. Tel: 01382 928 320. © Alliance Witan PLC.

  1. Research was conducted by Opinium on behalf of Alliance Witan from 18th – 25th March 2025. The study surveyed 1,000 UK adults with investible assets worth £10,000 and over.
  2. Methodology: To model the long-term impact of different ISA investment behaviours, we used the share price of Alliance Witan (ALW.L) as a stand-in for global stock market performance. Alliance Witan is an actively managed, multi-manager investment trust with broad international exposure. We simulated monthly investments based on the annual ISA allowance (using historical limits) from April 2010 to March 2025, assuming dividends were reinvested using the adjusted close price. We also modelled lump sum investing in April (the start of the tax year) and March (the end), as well as a hybrid approach: investing 50% of the allowance in April and spreading the rest evenly over the remaining 11 months. For comparison, we modelled a cash ISA using average interest rate data from the Bank of England, with interest compounded daily. To estimate the tax benefits of using an ISA, we applied current UK rules on capital gains and savings interest for both basic-rate and higher-rate taxpayers, based on the latest HMRC thresholds.
  3. Research methodology and assumptions: Model based on two investors each making an initial stake of £10,000 in Alliance Trust in 1992 and then adding 10% of the average national salary every month afterwards. The Patient Investor remains in the market throughout, while the Impatient Investor sells 25% of their holdings whenever the market dips 5% in a single day and buys back in when the market recovers 10% in a single day using cash accumulated from monthly contributions, previous redemptions, and accrued interest. NB: The model uses the Alliance Witan share price as a proxy for the market.

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