Fidelity urges savers to be early birds with extension of half price ISA offer*

Savers who leave their ISA investments until the last minute, potentially missing out on thousands of pounds of extra savings, have been given an extra incentive to get in early this year with the extension of Fidelity's Half Price ISA offer.
 
Fidelity's busiest day for ISAs in the 2012/2013 tax year was the 4th April, just two days before the ISA deadline. The busiest hour was 9pm on 3rd April and the last online ISA sale took place just seven minutes before the midnight deadline on 5th April.
 
Fidelity analysis shows that savers who invested their ISA in the FTSE All Share at the start of the tax year, every year since ISAs were launched in 1999, would have been an extra £2,000 better off than those who left it until the last minute. Investors who had chosen a more aggressive, actively managed fund, such as Fidelity's Special Situations Fund, would have been even better off - enhancing their savings by an extra £19,218 over the same 14 year period.***
 
Tom Stevenson, Investment Director at Fidelity Worldwide Investment, comments: "Investing earlier rather than later in the tax year simply gives your money more time to grow in the market over the long run. Put another way, more of your money is sheltered from the tax man for longer."
 
To encourage savers to be "early birds" this tax year, Fidelity is extending its half price ISA offer. Anyone investing during the new offer period will get 50% of the annual management charge (AMC) back on their ISA investment. The payment will be calculated from the date of the original investment until the end of the 2013/14 tax year, so the earlier the investment the better.
 
Investors who take advantage of Fidelity's Half Price ISA this year will save £87 if they invest their full ISA allowance into an actively-managed fund such as Fidelity Special Situations, Invesco Perpetual High Income or M&G Global Growth, which all have an AMC of 1.5%. The offer also applies to low cost passive funds such as the Fidelity MoneyBuilder US Index Tracker where investors will pay an AMC of just £5.80 for the year for access to the world's largest stock market.
 
One investor has already got off to a good start, with the first online ISA deal being received by Fidelity at 9.25am on 6th April.****
 
Mark Till, Head of Fidelity Personal Investing, adds: "Sorting out your ISA can be a chore; just like spring cleaning, but the sooner it is done, the sooner you can reap the rewards. Fidelity's extended half price ISA offer should persuade customers or those thinking about opening an ISA to do so sooner rather than later. I like to think of us as a guardian angel providing guidance to make the most of your hard earned savings."

* Half Price ISA: Terms and Conditions, This offer is open to direct investors making a lump sum or setting up a new Monthly Savings Plan ("MSP") investment into a 2013/14 Fidelity ISA between 6 April and 30 April 2013
 
fidelity.co.uk/investor/isa/stocks-and-shares-isa/default.page
 
** Source: Fidelity 9th April 2013
 
*** If an investor had invested the full ISA allowance at the start of the tax year, rather than waiting until the end of the tax year they would be better off by £2,063 if the investment was in the FTSE All Share or £19,218 if the investment was in Fidelity Special Situations. This is based on the full ISA allowance being invested since the start of ISAs in 1999 and the 2013 investment stopping on March 1st. Past performance is not a guide to future performance. The value of units may go down as well as up.
 
**** Source: Fidelity 9th April 2013