Last year’s Stocks and Shares ISA allowance is dead. Long live the 2020/2021 allowance! Today is 6 April, the first of the new tax year. It means every UK adult gets a brand-new £20,000 ISA allowance, and can invest even more money in top shares, free of tax, to get rich and retire early.
As stock markets crash, now’s a great time to take out a brand new Stocks and Shares ISA. By investing at times like these, when markets are crashing, you can pick up cheap shares and turbocharge your efforts at building your wealth for an early retirement.
If the idea of paying in a single lump sum today makes you nervous, then I’d recommend setting up a regular investment plan. You could pay in £100, £500, £1,000, or even more, depending on the funds at your disposal.
Invest £500 a month in a Stocks and Shares ISA
This is the ideal day to start investing to get rich and retire early, because your money will have the longest possible exposure to the stock market. If you wait for the perfect buying opportunity, you’re just wasting time. Nobody can expect to time the exact bottom of the market. History shows the best thing you can do is to get invested when you have money to spare, and leave it there for the longer run.
One of the big attractions of investing a regular monthly sum, such as £500, is that you don’t have to worry about what the stock market is doing in the short run. In fact, you actually benefit when share prices crash, as your monthly contribution picks up more stock.
If you hold on for the long term, you’ll end up richer as a result. And that will give your campaign to get rich and retire early a boost.
Buy this stock market crash
The simplest way to invest is to buy a tracker fund following a major index, such as the FTSE 100 or FTSE All-Share. That gives you a spread of the UK’s biggest and best companies, and reduces the damage if one or two of them fail.
If you prefer to buy individual companies, there are some terrific opportunities out there. You could play safe by investing in a health-related company listed on the FTSE 100, such as GlaxoSmithKline or Hikma Pharmaceuticals.
Alternatively, go for a super-high dividend payer, such as Imperial Brands Group, which has been yielding as much as 15% in recent days. British American Tobacco may also tempt.
Get rich and retire early
I would also consider spirits giant Diageo, because the world needs a drink right now, and investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown which, like other wealth managers, is seeing record levels of interest.
Focus your fire power on companies with strong balance sheets and cash flow, manageable levels of debt, and the opportunity to grow their dividends in the longer run.
Don’t wait until the end of the tax year. Start investing your £500 today, and move a step closer to your goal, which is to get rich and retire early.
