How do I buy, manage or transfer a workplace ISA?
Updated 02 April 2024
Through your online service you can buy a stocks and shares ISA. An ISA gives you a flexible, tax friendly way to save, and could put you firmly in control of your retirement planning.
The Aegon Stocks and Shares ISA gives you:
- Access to a wide range of investments to choose from.
- The same service charge as your workplace pension. So, if you have a discounted service charge for your pension set up through your employer, we'll apply this same price to your Aegon ISA. Depending on the funds you choose to invest in, there may be additional charges that we'll add.
The value of a stocks and shares ISA can fall as well as rise, it’s not guaranteed, and you may get back less than you invest.
Although the investment has no fixed term, you should be prepared to hold the investment for at least five years, ideally longer.
If you don't have a financial adviser, you can visit MoneyHelper to find the right one for you.
Remember, you can only have one stocks and shares ISA, one cash ISA, one lifetime ISA and/or one innovative ISA in any one tax year, up to the ISA yearly allowance which is currently £20,000 this tax year. You can use this allowance in just one of these ISAs, or you can split it across one or more of the different ISA types. We only offer a stocks and shares ISA, if you aren't investing in any other type of ISA with another provider, you can invest the full yearly allowance each year with us.
Buying and managing your Aegon ISA
The following questions aren't here to give advice. They explain how to buy and manage your ISA. If you're unsure, we recommend you speak to a financial adviser. If you don't have a financial adviser, you can visit MoneyHelper to find the right one for you.
You can purchase the Aegon Stocks and Shares ISA through the Retiready online service. This can be accessed either through the Shop section of the site, or by selecting the Aegon Stocks and Shares ISA tile whilst in your Savings dashboard.
To buy an Aegon Stocks and Shares ISA yourself you’ll need to be in gate two or above. If you’re not in gate two or above, the first thing you’ll need to do is change your gate. This is presented to you as the first action as part of the purchase and our Guide to Gating can help with that.
Once you’ve made sure you’re in an appropriate gate, you’ll move on to choosing how you want to fund your Aegon Stocks and Shares ISA. You can:
- Transfer in an ISA from another provider
- Make a one-off payment by bank transfer
- Set up regular payments by direct debit, or if your employer allows, via payroll contribution
Or any combination of the above.
Then you’ll need to choose your funds. The Aegon Stocks and Shares ISA has a selection of over 4,500 investment funds (as at 25 November 2022) available and our fund research tool is there to help you pick investment funds that are right for you. Additionally, for those who are in gate three there is the option to purchase equities. Equity trading takes place through our ARC platform, so if you want to do so you’ll need to set up access to ARC.
Finally, we’ll clearly highlight to you what you’ve selected, give you all the information you need, and ask you to agree to the declaration. Your Aegon Stocks and Shares ISA will then be available to access in your online service.
What’s gating?
Investing in ARC can be as complex or as simple as you choose. We’ve split ARC’s wide range of savings and investments into four different levels, or gates, with each gate offering progressively more choice. To put you in control you can choose which gate you want to be in. You’ll be able to move to another gate through your
self-service online account. Before choosing to open a new gate, you’ll be able to see which additional investments and product wrappers you’ll be able to access - you’ll need to accept a declaration before actively choosing to move.
You can transfer in an existing ISA you hold elsewhere.
You can do this through Retiready and you can find out how to transfer an existing ISA to us here.
You can pay more money in (top up), either as:
- A single (one-off) payment.
- Increasing your regular payments.
- If you have ISA savings elsewhere, you might want to consider moving these savings into your new ISA. See the section above How do I transfer an ISA I already have into my existing Aegon ISA? for more information on how to do this.
All of the options you need to manage your ISA are accessed by selecting the ISA within your Savings dashboard. You can make a single payment, amend regular payments, transfer, switch funds, or make a withdrawal - this can all be done through the Retiready online service.
Don't forget, you can only have one stocks and shares ISA, one cash ISA, one lifetime ISA and/or one innovative ISA in any one tax year, up to the ISA yearly allowance which is currently £20,000 this tax year. You can use this allowance in just one of these ISAs, or you can split it across one or more of the different ISA types. We only offer a stocks and shares ISA, if you aren't investing in any other type of ISA with another provider, you can invest the full yearly allowance each year with us.
Equity trading takes place through our Aegon Retirement Choices platform. You can set up single sign on so you seamlessly go from your Retiready account to Aegon Retirement Choices.
What is single sign on?
Nowadays, almost every website, app or service requires you to have a sign in and password to gain access. It can be difficult to keep track of all the different passwords.
Single sign on is a functionality that lets you link your accounts meaning you'll only need to sign in to Retiready. You'll not need to sign in separately to Aegon Retirement Choices if you want to carry out equity trading. Once you've set up your single sign on, you can go directly to Aegon Retirement Choices.
Setting up your single sign on
To enable you to use single sign on, first you’ll need to link your two accounts – but don’t worry you’ll only need to do this once.
Step one - request your ARC sign-in details and activate your ARC account
- If you’re new to ARC and don’t have your ARC sign-in details chat to us online to request these.
- We’ll then send you your new sign-in details by email.
- You should then use these details to activate your ARC account – your email will tell you how to do this.
- Once you’ve activated your ARC account you’ll need to return to Retiready to link your two accounts.
Step two - link your accounts
- If you’ve already got your ARC sign-in details, and have activated your ARC account, you should sign into ARC to link your accounts.
- The next time you want to transact you can go straight through to ARC by selecting the Take me to ARC button above – no need for two sign ins.
If you’re a TargetPlan customer, you should manage your details through your TargetPlan online service. These details will then be passed through to be updated on your ISA.
If you’re a Workplace ARC customer, who manages your pension through the Retiready online service, then you can update your details through your profile.
For more information on how to use ARC, please read Your guide to Aegon Retirement Choices.
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