If you save or invest, you should have an individual savings account (Isa). More than 20m of us already do, preventing the taxman from taking a £2bn slice of our gains last year alone, but millions more don't. Yet, unlike other tax shelters, Isas are easy, flexible and well worth having. You can open one with a small amount of money, you can take your money out at any time and for every £100 of earnings inside an Isa, you avoid having to hand over as much as £50 of that to the taxman (£45 in the new tax year).
Being able to earn money tax-free (or largely tax-free in the case of dividends) is the main reason behind the enduring appeal of Isas. Around £200bn was locked away in cash Isas and almost the same again (£190bn) in stocks-and-shares Isas as at April 2012, and in the new tax year starting on 6 April you can invest up to £11,520 a year.
You can check the best cash Isa rates on offer in our table in Highest paying cash Isas. Choosing a stocks-and-shares Isa is a rather more difficult process as there isn't one single factor to consider, but we've picked out a selection of shares (10 shares for your Isa), bonds (High five for bonds), investment trusts (10 investment trusts for your Isa) and active (The finest of ISA funds) and passive funds (Trackers for your Isa) that could make good holdings. We've also looked at the process of buying an Isa - see How to buy an Isa - and how to maximise the returns of your existing Isas - Rebalance for the best returns.