From 6 April 2011, the ISA allowance increases to £10,680 a year, from £10,200 at present. Of that, half - £5,340 - can be saved in a cash ISA.
Where clients want to save in an ISA, we often advocate setting up a regular monthly payment system. It's a lot easier to find one twelfth of your target each month than it is to find the lot in one go at the end of March. We practice what we preach - I have monthly standing orders set up of £425 to a cash ISA and another £425 to a stocks and shares ISA. Come the end of the tax year, I'll have used my allowances exactly, without missing the money - well, without missing it too much, anyway! I've just made a diary note to increase those amounts from next April, and if you use a similar system you might want to make a note too.
