For added flexibility, you can hold gilts until their maturity or sell at any time. It’s worth noting that while dividends and repayment at maturity are known, market prices fluctuate. Your return will vary depending on the timing of your trades and market interest rates.
Fund your financial goals
Choose from a range of maturities to match your savings timelines. Get predictable income in the meantime.
When you invest, your capital is at risk. The value of your investments can go down as well as up and you may get back less than you invest. Gilt prices can fluctuate, which may affect returns.
Other charges may apply. ISA and SIPP eligibility and tax rules apply.
A SIPP is a pension designed for you to save until your retirement and is for people who want to make their own investment decisions. You can normally only draw your pension from age 55 (57 from 2028), except in special circumstances.
At present, Freetrade only supports Uncrystallised Fund Pension Lump Sums (UFPLS) for customers who wish to withdraw funds from their SIPP after their 55th birthday. We strongly encourage you to seek financial advice before making any withdrawals from your SIPP.
This is really fantastic news! Being able to trade gilts without commission is super useful and compliments the bills offering.
Hoping to see more maturities and some index linked gilts soon.
Quick question, what are the tax implications of gilts in a GIA account?
I believe there’s no CGT on gilts but what about dividends?
Any ideas / thoughts?
What is the difference between putting money into a gilt in a GIA vs putting money into an interest paying bank account?
For a bank account the interest is taxed as income, and for the gilt the coupons/dividends are subject to income tax
So from my perspective the difference is just the potential gain you get for holding the gilt to maturity or by selling it early if the prices go up.
I have maxed my ISA so would have to hold in a GIA or SIPP. And for now I am using TBills in both my ISA/SIPP as my fixed interest component.
Let’s say I buy the 6% gilt that matures on Dec 2028. Do I get 6% dividend p/a until then, and get the full coupon value (£1.5 per share) at the end? It’s currently priced at £1.07
For anyone that is looking into gilts and doesn’t know of it already, being able to calculate the ‘yield to maturity’ is a useful metric. This will help determine a total rate of return with the bond price and attached coupons.
Your capital will pull to to par the nearer to 2028 you get. So you buy at 1.07, that 1.07 will drift to 1.00 upon maturity, so in theory you will make a capital loss if bought and held to maturity, however you will receive the 6% coupon payment per annum until maturity.
The Freetrade description box for each gilt has all the numbers/info you need to enter. It’s really simple and the calculator just spits out the interest rate
This is great. Will there be additional gitls added?
There are a lot of 4% ish yielding gits which would be great for SIPP or ISA. These low yielding gilts are good for GIA due to most of the gain being from capital and gilts are currently exempt from capital gains.
In ISA or SIPP I want the juicy high interest paying ones for income. I can use that income to invest in more risky equity.
Any plans to add UK government gilts to freetrade (eg TN25). These are great in GIA accounts as a way to reduce tax on returns (capital gains are tax free on gilts), and are best selling products on other platforms (ie would bring in significant trading volumes).
Agreed. Individual bonds would set FT’s offering apart as it’s relatively slim pickings in terms of options for Average Joe to invest in them directly.
I have already suggested this feature and FT was well please with the suggestion , there working on this , as to last FT email it mentioned coming before end of this year so keep an eye out and fingers cross nothing changed the plans. im waiting on this feature for years. and how they can make it cheap to purchase .
I have placed an order for UK gilts, yesterday. However, although the money has definitely come out of my bank account and into my FT account, there’s no record of the purchase on my FT account as you have when you buy a stock. Will this order show up on my FT account later this week and, if so, when? Without this record how do I know if my purchase has been successful and how do I get my money back if I change my mind before about my order before the cut-off on Thursday?
