Life insurers Legal & General Group PLC (LSE:LGEN) and Aviva PLC (LSE:AV.), banks such as Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LSE:LLOY) and funds including Terry Smith's Fundsmith Equity and income trusts City of London Investment Trust (LSE:CTY) and JPMorgan Global Growth & Income have been among the favourite investments of the canniest ISA investors.
It is widely touted that getting in early is one of the golden rules of investment, including in the ISA season as you get other benefits, so it is assumed that these are among the canniest or at least the keenest to gain tax-efficiencies.
April is generally the biggest month for ISAs, with a third more clients paying than the average month.
In the two weeks since the new ISA season started, the top company investments for these savers on the Interactive Investors (ii) platform was L&G, followed by GSK, Diageo, Lloyds, Glencore and Aviva.
Among collective vehicles, Fundsmith Equity was top, with the City of London and JPM Global G&I investment trusts not far behind.
In between was Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC (LSE:SMT), down from second at this time last year to seventh most popular overall this time.
SMT's shares are down 60% from the all-time highs around two and a half years ago and recently fell below where they were at the start of the pandemic.
Another trends seen in the ii data is the decline in interest in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and other passive funds.
Despite passive funds having dominated the platform's best buys so far this year, the early birds turned their back on them, ii said, with not a single of its normally popular Vanguard LifeStrategy fund making it into the top 10.
Does the early bird catch the worm?
Sort of, is the short answer, but it takes a lot.
Clearly, to max out the full £20,000 allowance in two weeks you need plenty of wonga.
It also requires plenty of spare time too if you are doing the research yourself, says Alice Guy, ii's head of pensions and saving.
“There are also pros and cos to the strategy: investing a lump sum in one go brings market timing risk in the shorter term."
And she suggests there are many investors who might not sleep that well if they did so.
“But early bird investors can be less likely to get caught up in last-minute ‘emotional’ decision-making ISA rush. It also gives you an extra year in the market, and longer-term, that’s powerful.
“Although there only appears to be one day in it, if you start the clock on 6 April and one set of investors chooses the early bird route and invests £20,000 at the start of each tax year, they will end up with a portfolio worth £264,136 after 10 years assuming a 5% annual return after charges – not easily achieved."
If this scenario plays out in full, it would provide £12,578 more than those last-minute ISA dealine investors who choose to invest their £20,000 at the end of each tax year, as this essentially only gives them nine years’ worth of growth, with their portfolio ending up at £251,558.
“Over 20 years, the impact is even more stark," says Guy.
An early bird portfolio would be worth over £33,000 more, £694,385 compared to £661,319 if you were lucky enough to generate a 5% return after charges.