I am currently between jobs and don’t have a lot of money but I’ve been saving some money to invest and I don’t know if I should open an ISA or GIA. the ISA is £3 a month although it sounds like a small amount I’m only 18 and recently left my job, I don’t know how long until I find a new job. I have enough to pay for a few months. Should I choose ISA or go with GIA?
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An ISA means everything is TAX protected so for the long term I would always prefer that option for myself to avoid any accounting headaches in the future but it really is a personal choice.
The fact that you will be investing at the age of 18 is absolutely fantastic and I wish you all the very best with your job search 
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Welcome to the forum and investing.
If you expect to get more that 12300 in capital gains or 2000 in dividends per year then gia will do.
But like said above isa is much easier option for tax reasons, I would pick this.
But it is personal choice you need to make for your circumstances
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Short term if you’re not going for thousands of profit, just start with a GIA and learn the ropes. You could always move it to an ISA later on, they’ll do it in app for you if you ask support.
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You can transfer your gia into an ISA on Freetrade? I did not know that
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Just cash, you’d have to sell up first and rebuy. And I’ve seen a couple of people complain its quicker to just withdraw and redeposit so who knows.
If you are investing smaller amounts and on a limited budget I would say start with a GIA. It is not worth the additional ISA fee and you won’t need to start paying tax until you are receiving £2k dividends or capital gains (if you earn more than £12,300 a year as mentioned above, which is the governments annual tax free income earning amount) … You will also lose money paying ISA fees each month on top of any other ETF/investment charges.
Once your investments get to the size where your earning above £2k in dividends you can then switch as it makes sense to benefit from the tax free wrapper of an ISA, but until that point I personally feel you maybe throwing money away. Ofc dyor.
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I would open an ISA long before I was earning 2k a year in dividends. You would need quite a bit of money invested by that point and it would be a ball-ache selling and then rebuying in an ISA.
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Given your current circumstances
- Look for a new job
- Open a GIA
- Land a new job
- Calculate how much you can responsibly transfer per month into your GIA and stick to it religiously. Recalculate accordingly when pay rises occur or when in between jobs
- When your GIA assets are around £4k in value open an ISA
- Start selling your GIA holdings, starting with the ones on the green, transfer the money into your ISA, and reinvest in what you just sold or something else you think is best
These are my two cents only. Based on my personal experience but with some modifications due to different circumstances in life
Good luck for your job search and for your investing journey 
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Please just keep in mind that if you buy a stock, you’d need to sell it and wait around 5-8 working days for the money to clear into your bank after the funds settle first to Freetrade.
If you think you may ever need access to this cash in under 2 weeks or you think you need it for an unexpected payment, then I would hold off investing until you are in a new job.
Otherwise, you’re doing an amazing thing of investing at your age and the advice above to play around with the GIA first would be advise I echo.
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