Wrappers

Wrappers are enormously important, as they can be enablers of major tax concessions. They are an administrative necessity to ensure that the investments for which tax concessions are granted are used in the way the government intended in return for the tax break.

To some extent all investment products are wrappers - bundles of investments packaged and sold to you as a single investment. In this section we limit ourselves to tax-advantaged wrappers where you control the contents. Do not expect product-providers to observe this distinction. It is usual for a managed portfolio of funds in an ISA wrapper (e.g.) to be advertised as just an ISA.

Providers of wrappers usually charge an annual fee for the administrative service. Providers will also expect to earn dealing or management fees from the investments you hold within the wrapper.

There are a variety of pension fund wrappers, described in the Products section under Personal Pensions.