Virgin FTSE All-Share ISA - Our customers have over £1.8 billion invested in our low cost fund

'ISA' stands for Individual Savings Account. They are the Government's way of encouraging you to save by giving you a tax incentive.

Unlike bank or building society deposit accounts, unit trusts or similar investments, you do not have to pay any additional income or capital gains tax on the money you make.

You can use your ISA to invest in stocks and shares, or simply as a risk-free savings account where your interest is tax-free. Or you can do both. You do not even have to tell the taxman about your ISAs on your annual tax return.

For this tax year your annual savings ISA allowance is £7,200, or £10,200 if you were born on or before 5 April 1960. You can:

• Invest up to £7,200 (£10,200 if you are 50 or over this tax year) all in a Stocks & Shares ISA
• Or invest up to £3,600 (£5,100 if you are 50 or over this tax year) in a Cash ISA with the rest in a Stocks & Shares ISA.

This higher allowance will apply for everyone from 6 April 2010.

ISAs are a great way to make the most of your savings, because of the tax incentives on offer.

At the very least a Cash ISA should give you a better return than you would get from your bank or building society savings account, because your interest comes tax-free.

Also, if you are:

• looking for a potentially higher return than a bank deposit account can offer
• prepared to accept more investment risk and invest for a few years

That is when ISAs like our FTSE All-Share Tracker ISA and Climate Change ISA really come into their own. Over longer time spans few other investments can match the stock market for potential returns. It remains the No.1 place for investors looking to grow their money.

If you are not comfortable at the thought of investing in the stock market, you might want to consider our Bond and Gilt ISA instead. It should give you a higher return than a building society savings account, without significantly increasing your risk.

To see the Simplifed Prospectus for the investment funds in a Virgin ISA click on the link below. (NB. There is no Simplified Prospectus for the cash part of an ISA.)

ISA Simplified Prospectus

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Alternatively, you can call 08456 10 20 20 or email info@virginmoney.com to have a copy of the Simplified Prospectus sent to you.

For this tax year your annual savings ISA allowance is £7,200, or £10,200 if you were born on or before 5 April 1960. You can:

• Invest up to £7,200 (£10,200 if you are 50 or over this tax year) all in a Stocks & Shares ISA
• Or invest up to £3,600 (£5,100 if you are 50 or over this tax year) in a Cash ISA with the rest in a Stocks & Shares ISA.

This higher allowance will apply for everyone from 6 April 2010.

You can also transfer cash ISA investments from this or previous tax years into a Stocks & Shares ISA without affecting your current tax year limit.

Both the FTSE All-Share Tracker ISA and the Bond and Gilt ISA have an annual management charge of 1% a year.

There are no other charges, and no charges at all on our Cash ISA.

The Virgin Climate Change ISA has an annual management fee of 1.75%. There may also be a 20% performance related fee, which we only earn if we outperform agreed benchmarks.

Yes, whether it's an ISA from a previous tax year or one you're paying into this tax year, you can transfer it to Virgin.

If you're interested in transferring an ISA to us, click here or call us on 08456 10 20 20.

Customers growing their savings in our index tracking fund since it launched in March 1995 have received an average return of 6.31% a year.

An investment of £3000 in March 1995 would have increased in value to £7,325 on 30/09/09 - a total return of 144.17%.

Source: Morningstar Workstation, 03/03/1995 - 30/09/2009, buying to selling unit prices, basic rate tax with income reinvested. If you had invested £3000 on 03/03/1995 it would be worth £7,325 after charges on 30/09/2009.

Here's how the fund has performed over each of the last five years.

Source: Morningstar Workstation, year on year, 30/09/2004 - 30/09/2009, buying to selling unit prices, basic rate tax with income reinvested

Remember, with stock market investments the value of your savings and the income you get from them can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invest. It's also worth remembering that past performance of a fund isn't a guide to how well it might do in the future.

No, some have a bias toward certain sectors of the market. They may only invest in the top 100 companies, or in technology stocks or small companies. These investments can pay off, but if an individual sector performs badly it can have a more serious impact on your returns than if you'd invested across the market as a whole.

Stocks and shares should be seen as long term investments, so we suggest keeping your money tucked away for at least five years, preferably longer, to increase your chances of a good return.

You can, however, get at your money any time you need to.

Investing in stock market shares is not without its risks. They can rise spectacularly in value over many years, go into periods of decline, or fall suddenly in value, with no guarantee you'll get back the full amount you invest. The key thing to remember is, the longer you stay invested in the stock market the better you tend to do.

If you only invest in a handful of shares over the short term you'll certainly increase your risk. But by investing over many years and spreading your savings over a wide range of shares, you lessen that risk and actually increase your chances of getting a good return.

The risks of not investing in the stock market are rarely spelled out, but are real. For instance, you probably think your bank or building society savings are safe, but did you know their real value can actually fall over time. It's to do with inflation. If your deposit account only earns 2% in interest but the cost of living goes up 2.5%, your savings aren't growing in real terms, they're shrinking. Please do remember though, investing in an ISA is different to a deposit account, where your money is not at risk.

History shows that long-term investors shouldn't be too worried when the stock market falls. The people who lose out are those who panic and cash in their investment, instead of waiting for the market to rise again. For example, in 1987 the market actually finished higher than it started, despite falling 32% in the October 87 'crash'.

However, if the market goes into a longer fall (known as a 'bear market') it can sometimes be a few years before you start to see a decent return on your money. As ever, time is the key, and you should only consider investing money you can afford to tuck away for at least five years.

Not necessarily. How closely a fund tracks its chosen stock market index (known as 'tracking error') can also have an impact on your returns. Some trackers don't invest in all the shares on an index. Instead they select a 'sample' of shares to invest in, which is really active management by the back door, and will affect your returns. A 'fully replicated' tracker which buys shares in every company on the index will track the index closer.

Also, always check charges carefully. Some companies advertise what appears to be the lowest charging tracker, but there are often strings attached, or other charges that can bump up the cost.