Cash in your portfolio
Effective from 16 November 2026
Types of cash
Cash can be held in a Managed portfolio or a Self-Managed account in four ways:
#1 Allocated cash held in either your Managed investment pots or in your Self-Managed account
This is cash which is allocated to a “pot” in your Managed portfolio or allocated to your Self-Managed account, which is not “in transit” (i.e. earmarked for a payment, sale or withdrawal, or is in the process of being allocated to a specific pot or account). Within your Managed portfolio, allocated cash can be in an investment pot, an income balance pot or a cash-only pot.
#2 Transitory cash
Transitory cash is money that is temporarily “in transit” while we process a payment, investment, sale, withdrawal or while it is being allocated to a specific pot or account.
For example, it could be cash waiting to be invested in your Managed portfolio or proceeds from a sale waiting to be allocated or paid out in your Self-Managed account.
#3 Unallocated cash
All money paid into a J.P. Morgan Personal Investing account must be allocated to a Stocks and Shares ISA (ISA), General Investment Account (GIA), Lifetime Stocks and Shares ISA (LISA), Junior Stocks and Shares ISA (JISA) or Personal Pension pot in your Managed portfolio or to an ISA or GIA in your Self-Managed account.
Unless you instruct us otherwise, we will allocate payments in line with our Terms and Conditions.
If we cannot determine where you want a payment to be allocated, it will be held as “unallocated cash”.
#4 Withheld cash
We may hold cash in this way in a limited number of circumstances, where we reasonably consider it appropriate or necessary to do so.
Cash in your Managed portfolio
Interest rates
The following interest rates apply to the different types of cash in your Managed portfolio.
Types of cash | Interest rate | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
Cash in your investment pot(s) or income balance pot(s) | The current Bank of England (BoE) base rate minus 0.75%* | Interest is paid quarterly into the pot in which it was accrued |
Cash only pots | 0%* | - |
Transitory cash | 0% | - |
Unallocated cash | 0% | - |
Withheld cash | 0% | - |
*Please note, if the BoE base rate is 0.75% or lower, you won’t receive any interest. If the BoE base rate falls below 0.75% your interest rate will stay at 0%, you won’t owe us interest.
Here’s some more info on the types of cash you could see in your portfolio:
Cash in your investment pot
All our investment portfolios contain a small amount of cash. The cash is used to pay the management fee without needing to sell investments to do so. Cash can also play a part in a diversified portfolio.
It is also possible for your General Investment Account (GIA), Stocks and Shares ISA, and Lifetime ISA (LISA) investment pots to have a 100% cash allocation.
Cash-only pots
It’s possible to create a pot that is 100% allocated to cash within a GIA or Stocks and Shares ISA wrapper. Please note, this option is not available for Income Investing pots.
A cash-only pot is intended to serve two purposes:
- Drip-feeding your cash into an investment portfolio. You can set up a regular monthly transfer from your cash pot into an investment pot to drip-feed your cash through to the markets. The drip-feeding feature taps into an investing principle known as pound cost averaging. By contributing smaller amounts on a regular basis, you buy into the markets during the various ups-and-downs meaning you’re less exposed to short-term market movements.
- Protecting your balance from market movements ahead of a withdrawal. Market volatility means that the value of your investments can go up and down. If you intend to withdraw your investments because you need them for an upcoming life event, like a house purchase, you can move them to cash to help prevent the value from fluctuating ahead of your withdrawal.
Things to consider
- A cash pot is not a cash ISA and isn’t intended to be used for long-term savings. If you do not use your cash-only pot for its intended use, we may take action under our Terms and Conditions to stop providing you with services or freeze your portfolio.
- Cash-only pots aren't part of your investment portfolio. Therefore, as the money in your cash-only pot is not invested, there are no management fees charged on cash pots nor do we pay you interest on the cash in them.
- Any contributions you make to your cash-only pot within your stocks and shares ISA or LISA will contribute towards your tax-free allowance. If you then choose to invest this money, it will remain ISA-wrapped and will not affect your tax-free allowance.
- It’s not possible to have a cash-only pot for either our JISA or our Personal Pension.
Income balance pots
If you open a pot and choose to invest for income, we will automatically create a cash pot to hold any income which is waiting to be paid out to you. This will be paid out on a future payday, the exact schedule will depend on whether you have income smoothing switched on or off. While it’s waiting to be paid out, it will be earning a variable interest rate.
Cash in your Self-Managed account
Whilst it is possible to hold cash within a Self-Managed General Investment Account (GIA) or Self-Managed Stocks and Shares ISA, any cash balance should generally be held only to facilitate investing (for example, to purchase stocks).
We do not pay interest on cash held in your Self-Managed account or on transitory cash and unallocated cash in your Self-Managed account. If you hold money as cash and don’t invest it, the value of your money may be eroded over time (for example, by inflation), and you may be able to obtain a better return elsewhere, such as in a savings account or other interest-bearing account. It is your responsibility to decide whether holding cash in this account is appropriate for you.
Things to consider:
- Cash held in a Self-Managed account isn’t intended to be used for long-term savings.
- If you don’t use the cash you hold in your Self-Managed account for its intended use, we may contact you to invite you to withdraw that cash under the Terms and Conditions.
- There are no fees charged on cash in your Self-Managed account.
- Cash held in a Self-Managed ISA is not a cash ISA.
- Any contributions you make to your Self-Managed Stocks and Shares ISA will contribute towards your tax-free allowance. If you then choose to invest this money, it will remain ISA-wrapped and won’t affect your tax-free allowance.
As with all investing, your capital is at risk. The value of your portfolio can go down or up and you may get back less than you invest. Tax rules vary by individual status and may change.