ISAs just got NISA

Money,

ISAs just got NISA! No really, they did! Don’t run away now because of that rubbish headline, OR because you think this is going to be a long and boring post  – it’s not. It’s going to be so simple that even I can understand it! Whoop!

So here’s the deal. At the moment, should you be sensible enough to have an ISA, you can save up to £11,880 tax free. Yes, thanks HMRC for that wonderfully convenient number for us to remember. But wait – there’s more on the inconvenient number front – only £5,940 of that can be in a cash ISA. Though you can have as much in a stocks and shares ISA as you like, up to…wait a minute, I wrote it down here somewhere…yes, up to £11,880. Minus whatever’s in your Cash ISA, of course. Bored? Confused?

Me too. But the good news is that it’s all getting much simpler. Like, properly, sensibly simple. From 1st July, this is the deal…

  • ISAs will now be called New ISAs
  • There will still be two types of NISA available – cash and investment – and you can have one of each per year
  • You can save up to £15,000 tax free per year
  • This can be split in any way you like (or not at all) between your Cash and Investment  NISAs
  • If you have an ISA it will automatically switch over to being a New ISA

And that, my friends, is that! Perfectly simple and straightforward. One lovely, easy number to remember. And you don’t even have to do anything to your current ISA – it just sort of magically happens at midnight on Monday. Hurrah! Bish bash bosh! Job done! Bob’s yer Uncle! (Unless he’s about to keel over leaving £15K, in which case he’s very much MY uncle.)

I did my research on this on the Scottish Friendly website – they have a brilliant downloadable guide which explains everything really well, and also a short video (below) which talks through the New ISAs. It’s well worth a look if you want to find out more about the New ISA, or in fact about savings and investments in general, in a surprisingly non-stuffy fashion. AND they have a cool timeline thing at the bottom which is kinda fun, even if it does make me feel ancient! And if you do Twitter, they can be found here.

**Disclaimer – this is a sponsored post, written in collaboration with Scottish Friendly**

‘The Skeleton Cupboard’ by Tanya Byron – Review

Book Reviews, Reviews,

the skeleton cupboard

Many of us are familiar with Tanya Byron from her work as a TV psychologist, or from her regular columns in Good Housekeeping and The Times. A respected academic, she advises governments on issues relating to children, young people and mental health, and now she has drawn on her extensive background in the area of mental health to write a work of fiction ‘The Skeleton Cupboard – the making of a clinical psychologist’.

The Skeleton Cupboard opens by telling us about the author’s violent introduction to the concept of frontal lobes at the age of 15. Brutal and shocking, this part of the story deals with the murder of her grandmother, and represents the point where she first became fascinated by mental health as it affects every one of us. This chapter is the only one of the book which details a real life experience; from here on in, the book becomes a fictionalised account of the training placements undertaken by Tanya’s on her journey to becoming qualified. In the words of the author,

 ‘[The characters] are constructs, influenced by the many incredible people I had the privilege of meeting during my training. I dedicate my book to them.’

We are then taken through six case placements in diverse settings, ranging from a psychiatric unit for 12-16 year olds, to a GP surgery, to an older persons’ residence. Each placement brings with it its own challenges and the author does a good job of portraying these in a realistic fashion, whilst at the same time charting her growing confidence – and occasional over-confidence – in dealing with situations arising.  The story also depicts an initially tricky relationship with Tanya’s academic supervisor, which develops into a mutual respect, and as we learn in the book’s epilogue, an enduring professional relationship.

Although the backbone of the story is the author’s journey to becoming qualified, the real flesh on the bones comes from getting to know the diverse characters Tanya meets within each placement. All of these people have stories to tell – some are heartbreaking; some are heartwarming; some are tragic and not all have a happy ending:

‘Paul taught me that my rescue fantasies were my problem. He was my professional salvation. You can’t save everyone. Rescue fantasies are just that; they’re fantasies.

Some people you can’t save.’

The story also informs us about how attitudes to – and treatment of – mental health issues have changed over the years – and raises valid questions about the accepted view that institutions are automatically an inhumane way to treat those with serious mental health problems, as opposed to caring for them in within the community.

‘It was about de-institutionalisation; patients were put on ‘social skills’ programmes in order to one day blend back into the community – a community that just did not bloody care and was frightened by and could not tolerate difference.’

The over-riding message of the story is that we are all, more or less, touched by mental health issues in some way – and this is brought home by some of the very ordinariness of the characters we meet and the lives they lead. In addition Tanya’s supervisor Chris suffers her own breakdown part way through the story, but we are also shown her coming back to work and continuing with her highly successful academic career; the clear message being that nobody, not even a ‘brilliant supervisor…one hard-core, fiercely intelligent, no-nonsense woman’,  can consider themselves immune from mental ill-health at some point in their lives. A point that is made again with the last words of the book:

‘I will end now by re-iterating that none of these people I have written about in The Skeleton Cupboard exist; I have betrayed no confidence by telling their stories.

But then again, I would suggest, and forgive me for leaving you with this, that they actually do exist – bits of them exist in us all’.

I found The Skeleton Cupboard to be an engaging read, easy to get into and follow, despite the complexity of the subject matter. The book deals with a difficult subject, one that is still not as openly discussed or accepted as it should be, but it does so in a non-threatening and unpatronising fashion. I would definitely recommend this book – if you have an interest in psychology there is plenty to fascinate you; equally, if you don’t think mental health issues are any of your concern, reading the book may open some interesting doors onto the subject.

**Disclosure – I received a free copy of this book from Mumsnet and PanMacmillan Books, in exchange for writing a review. I have not been otherwise recompensed for this post, nor have I been asked to say anything specific in the review.**