It depends on your savings goals and how long you want to put your money away for.

If it’s for retirement then you might want to consider a pension, where the government will boost the value of your contributions, but you usually can’t access that money until you’re 55 (or 57 if retiring after 6 April 2028).

Otherwise you might want to consider a Stocks and Shares ISA which shields any returns you may make from Capital Gains Tax, but contributions to all ISAs are limited to £20,000 per tax year.

If you’ve already contributed the maximum to your Stocks and Shares ISA then you can still get access to investing with our Investment Account. There are no maximum contributions but any returns you may make would be subject to Capital Gains Tax.

If you’d like to have a chat with us about our accounts, give us a call on 03455 28 88 52 and we’ll be happy to help. We can’t give you financial advice, so if that’s what you need, it’s a good idea to speak to Money Helper or Unbiased.

To open an account with us, you must be a UK resident registered with HMRC. You’ll need to be living in the UK or have a British Forces Overseas address.

If you become non-resident for tax after you’ve opened your account, please call us on 03455 28 88 52 straight away as you may not be able to make any more payments. Other providers might offer you an account if you’re a non-UK resident.

We’ll use the info you share with us in your application to verify your identity online. Sometimes we need a few more details to process an application. If we need more details from you, we’ll get in touch.

Yes. This is a digital account, so you’ll need to open and manage your account online. If you need help with this, give us a call on 03455 28 88 52 and we’ll be happy to help you get up and running.

If you need help with your application, give us a call on 03455 28 88 52 and we’ll be happy to talk you through it. You can also chat to us using ‘Start a webchat’ while you’re filling out your application.

If you think you might need financial advice before you apply, it’s a good idea to speak to Money Helper or Unbiased.

You can open a pension, Stocks and Shares ISA or Investment Account with us if you’re 18 or over.

You can find the latest terms for your account in Online Service, under Documents. You’ll also be able to view our Investment Account and Stocks and Shares ISA Account Terms here and Pensions Terms here.

When you open your Stocks and Shares ISA or Investment Account, you’ll need to make minimum payments. You can either pay in at least £25 a month, or deposit a lump sum of £100.

Once your account is up and running, you can top it up whenever you want with payments from £1.

You can invest as much as you want in your Investment Account. There’s no limit.

You can pay money in to your Investment Account by:

• Debit card – If you’re making a one-off payment
• Direct debit – If you’re making regular monthly payments
• Transfer – If you’ve got another investment account with us, you can transfer the cash value

You can stop, start or change your payments whenever you like.

If you change your mind about your ISA or Investment Account, that’s totally fine. If it’s within 30 days of opening your account, it’s easy to close it.

All you have to do is let us know. Send us a secure message by signing into Online Service, call us on 03455 28 88 52 or write to us at Octopus Money Direct, PO Box 24204, Edinburgh, EH3 1JP.

We’ll close your account and refund any account charges. You’ll get back whatever your investments are worth, which could be more or less than you paid in.

If you change your mind more than 30 days after opening your account, you can close it by withdrawing the money or transferring it to another provider.

We don’t offer joint accounts, so you’ll need to open your account in one name only.

Both are Individual Savings Accounts (ISAs) so any returns made on the savings or investments held in the products are shielded from income tax and capital gains tax.

A Cash ISA is a savings account where you can earn interest on your money, whereas with a Stocks and Shares ISA, the return depends on the investment approach you choose and how markets perform.

This means you may get back less than you put in, but your money could also potentially grow more than it would in cash savings.

Find out more in our handy guide.

The current ISA allowance is £20,000 for each tax year. You don’t need to invest your whole allowance in one ISA – instead, you could spread it around.

For example, you could put some into a Cash ISA and some into a Stocks and Shares ISA, but you’ll need to make sure you don’t pay more than the current annual allowance into your ISAs each year.

You can find up to date info on gov.uk about the current ISA allowance.

If your spouse or civil partner dies, you’re entitled to an extra ISA allowance which is equal to the value of their ISAs, even if you don’t inherit the money or assets in their ISA.

This is called an Additional Permitted Subscription (APS) allowance, and you’d get it on top of your own annual ISA allowance.

We accept ISA APS allowances as long you’ve got a Stocks and Shares ISA with us, you live in the UK, and you meet our eligibility criteria. Find out more about Additional Permitted Subscription allowances

You can make payments into your ISA by:

• Debit card – if you’re making a one-off payment
• Direct debit – if you’re making monthly payments
• Transferring another ISA to us – you can transfer Cash ISAs and Stocks and Shares ISAs from other providers, in part or in full

You can stop, start or change your payments whenever you like, as long as you don’t go over your ISA allowance for the tax year.

No, our Stocks and Shares ISA isn’t a flexible ISA. A flexible ISA means you can withdraw money from your ISA and replace it within the same tax year without using up any more of your ISA allowance.

With our Stocks and Shares ISA, if you withdraw money and then replace it, that money will count towards your ISA allowance for the tax year.

You can only invest up to £20,000 in an ISA, but if you’ve used up your ISA allowance for this tax year and still have money to invest, you might be interested in our Investment Account.

It’s important to remember that you may have to pay tax on any dividends or capital gains.

You can find the latest terms for your account in Online Service, under Documents. You’ll also be able to view our Investment Account and Stocks and Shares ISA Account Terms here.

You won’t be able to keep cash in your investment or pension accounts long term. You might have cash in your account temporarily, for example during a transaction, but you won’t earn any interest on it.

In the unlikely event we can’t meet our financial obligations, you may be entitled to compensation from the FSCS up to a maximum value of £85,000.

You can cancel your pension with us within 30 days after you’ve opened it. Send us a secure message, give us a call or write to us at Octopus Money Direct, PO Box 24204, Edinburgh EH3 1JP and we’ll sort it.

Once you’ve asked us to cancel, we’ll sell all your units and convert them to cash. We’ll also pay back any account charges you might have incurred. You’ll get back whatever your savings are worth, which could be more or less than you put in.

If you transferred a pension to us from another provider, we’ll check whether we can return the cash to them. If they can’t accept it, you’ll need to find another provider to transfer your pension to.

You can also cancel a transfer from another provider within 30 days of starting it. Your cancellation rights only apply to the transfer, and not to the other savings in your pension. We’ll return the amount the transfer is worth, which could be more or less than what we received.

You can make payments into your pension by:

• Debit card – if you’re making a one-off payment.
• Direct debit – if you’re making regular monthly payments.
• Transfer another pension to us – you’ll be transferring a cash value, not the investments themselves – this means your money will be ‘out of market’ whilst the transfer is made.

You can stop, start or change your payments whenever you like, as long as you keep within the pension rules. Other people, including your employer, can also pay into your pension.

If you opened your account before 1 January 2023

You may also be able to make payments by cheque.

Yes. Other people can pay into your pension, and so can your employer. If you’d like someone else to pay in to your pension, give us a call and we’ll be happy to help.

It’s important to remember that you won’t benefit from income tax relief on pension payments that come directly from your employer. Also, if your employer makes payments into a Octopus Money Direct pension, they can’t use this as an approved auto-enrolment pension scheme to make payments.

Yes, you can.

If you’re a sole trader, you can make personal contributions to your pension.

If you’re self-employed and run your own business through a limited company, you can make personal contributions and employer contributions, too.

Employer contributions will be deducted from your company’s total profit margin, so they aren’t liable for Corporation Tax.

You don’t receive income tax relief on employer contributions, unlike personal contributions. You may want to get advice on the best option for you.

If you’d like to make employer contributions, get in touch with us and we’ll be happy to help.

Yes. Our Navigator pension is our default investment option, and it gives you a hands-off way to manage your pension.

We’ll adjust your pension automatically based on your age, focusing on growth when you’re young and stability as you get older.

Yes. It’s a good idea to review your pension and how it’s invested every so often. Once your pension is open, you can switch between Navigator and Self-Drive easily. All you have to do is sign in to Online Service and follow the on-screen instructions.