Direct investing in the UK is entering a new phase. With Rachel Reeves’ recent changes to ISA limits, designed to encourage more people to move beyond cash savings and into Stocks & Shares ISAs, the government has signalled a fundamental shift in how British consumers will build long-term financial resilience.
For providers, this moment accelerates a trend already well underway: the need to create clearer, more intuitive digital journeys that help users make the transition from “I’m saving” to “I’m investing.” It’s a shift that requires not just strong product design, but thoughtful orchestration of trust, personalisation, and education across the entire customer experience.
At Hi Mum! Said Dad, our work with Bestinvest, leading UK retail investing platforms, and savings propositions across banking has shown us how to design wealth experiences that feel intuitive, confidence-building, and genuinely user-centred.
For years, the UK market has treated savings and investing as separate digital ecosystems. The result has been fragmented journeys from savings into investment, with unclear signals, product-led nudges, and very little confidence-building along the way. Many customers who do choose to make the leap to investing, rarely find themselves doing so with their savings provider.
But Reeves’ ISA reforms change the dynamic entirely. By lowering the Cash limit, the government is pushing a larger portion of the population towards investment products, even those who may never have considered themselves “investors.”
This means the savings journey becomes more important than ever, as it is where users begin forming financial habits, where trust is established, and where the first seeds of “maybe I could invest” are planted.
In this model, savings is not simply a holding area for cash, it becomes the strategic foundation of a user’s wealth journey.
Banks now have a real opportunity to guide customers along a connected, confidence-building pathway within their own ecosystem. Too often, the transition from saving to investing feels fragmented, prompting customers to look elsewhere for direction.
A better model is a unified journey that supports users from early savings habits, through their first Stocks & Shares ISA, and onward into broader direct investing. Not by pushing products early, but by making each step feel coherent, supportive, and grounded in clarity.
In practice, this means blending personalised education that builds foundational understanding with goal-based tools, such as our work with Bestinvest’s LifePlan, that show users the long-term impact of their decisions. Add well-timed guidance (human or digital) at moments that feel high-stakes, and the journey becomes truly empowering.
By designing pathways this way, banks can turn S&S ISAs into the bridge that brings customers deeper into investing, and keeps them within the bank’s ecosystem as their financial needs evolve.
The ISA reforms may change the rules, but they don’t automatically change behaviour. Encouraging more people to invest is one thing, guiding them through a journey that feels intuitive, safe, and trustworthy is another. That responsibility now sits firmly with providers.
Generic investment journeys aren’t enough. Customers need experiences that guide them with:
At Hi Mum! Said Dad, we specialise in turning complexity into clarity. We design wealth journeys that support the emotional, educational, and practical steps required to become an investor, on a user’s own terms and at their own pace.
As the UK enters a new era of savings-to-investment behaviour, providers who invest in these experiences now will become the trusted homes for Britain’s long-term wealth.
If the ISA reforms have prompted you to reassess your investing experience, come say hi! Reach out to erin.gibbons@himumsaiddad.com
