IFISA interest on the rise
Searches for Innovative Finance ISAs (IFISAs) are on the rise, research suggests.
Peer-to-peer lending platform easyMoney analysed Google search terms around the subject of investments and ISAs to see which has seen the biggest increase in interest since the start of 2023 based on the ‘interest score’ attributed by Google.
An interest score represents interest relative to maximum search popularity for any given time and place.
The score does not refer to the overall number of searches, but rather a term’s popularity. A score of 100 indicates maximum popularity.
The research by easyMoney shows that in the first five months of this year, ‘Cash ISA’ has seen the highest average interest score, averaging 45.8 over the last five months.
Read more: IFISA returns on the rise
‘Property investment’ has seen an interest score of 44.7 making it the second strongest ISA search term, while ‘Stocks and shares ISA’ sits third with a score of 40.2.
This means that the most common types of ISA have seen the highest level of interest from people searching the internet for investment information and advice.
However, while these may be the most common ISAs available, the research by easyMoney shows that the IFISA is starting to gain ground.
Since the start of the year, searches for ‘Innovative Finance ISA’ have increased by 5.4 per cent.
This is the largest increase of all search terms analysed by easyMoney with the exception of ‘Lifetime ISAs’ which has seen a 6.2% increase.
Read more: How to invest in an IFISA with less than £1,000
In contrast, searches for ‘Cash ISA’ and ‘Stocks and Shares ISA’ have both seen a considerable reduction in search interest so far in 2023, down 13.9 per cent and 17.9 per cent respectively.
“It’s interesting to see that while the most common types of ISA remain the most searched for, IFISAs are gaining ground with one of the biggest increases in search interest since the start of the year,” said Jason Ferrando, chief executive of easyMoney.
“An IFISA offers consumers the opportunity to utilise a peer-to-peer lending network, lending their funds to others and earning tax-free interest.
Read more: How liquid are IFISAs?
“The fact that traditional investment avenues can’t offer any real stability to investors, especially amateur investors who are using their own earnings, means more and more people are looking for a good way of getting high returns outside of the traditional banking systems.”