Russell’s view – January 2026

Hello!

Just to introduce myself, I’m Russell Bignall and I’m the Group Managing Director here at Fairstone.

This is the first in a series of regular columns where you’ll be hearing from me and other members of the team.

A Christmas confession

I have to start with a confession: I enjoyed Christmas perhaps a little too much.

I have a terrible weakness for a good cheeseboard so I found myself in the first week of January sweating it out in the gym trying to make up for my sins.

It’s a slight consolation to know I wasn’t the only one – I’m sure many of you would have been in a similar position (or at least thinking about it) as so many of us try to turn over a new leaf in the New Year.

Shedding pounds and saving pounds

Yet while people often think about shedding a few pounds in January, not enough of us consider the thousands of pounds we could be saving by investing our money.

Let’s take the past year as an example.

The power of investing

If you’d invested the maximum ISA allowance of £20,000 at the start of the 2025/26 tax year into a cash ISA at the best available rate of 4.33%, your money would have grown to £20,645 by the end of 2025.

Not bad, you might think.

Yet if you’d invested the same amount in an ISA on the Fairstone Nova 9 model portfolio over the same period of time, your money would have grown to £24,300.

Investing over time

While investment returns aren’t guaranteed, you can see how a similar performance over the course of a number of years could make a huge difference to how much your money grows.

You don’t need to take my word for it.

Even the Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her Budget speech pointed out how that someone who had invested £1,000 a year in an average stocks and shares ISA every year since 1999 would be £50,000 better off than if they’d put the same money into a cash ISA.

Look over a longer term and you can see the difference between investing money and keeping it in cash:

The effect of inflation

And the other thing to bear in mind is the fact that, much like me with the Christmas cheeseboard, inflation will keep eating away, reducing the amount your money is worth:

While everyone needs a ‘rainy day’ fund to cope with unforeseen emergencies, investing money with the help of expert advice can be a life-changing decision.

This applies not just to your own finances, but for those of your nearest and dearest.

Investing for family

Investments like a Junior ISA or a child’s pension can make even small amounts of regular gifts add up to a fantastic start to adulthood or a financially secure future for your children or grandchildren.

And the best part of this is that, unlike sweating it out in the gym, making this change couldn’t be easier.

Getting started

All you need to do is pick up the phone to your Fairstone adviser, pop them an email or fill in our form below.

It could be the best exercise you do this year or for many years to come. Now if you excuse me, I have an exercise bike with my name on it…

Get in touch with your adviser now

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change. The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. Past performance is also not a reliable indicator of future performance. Always seek professional advice before making financial decisions.