The DIY Investor

chapter 4

The Dealing Account

The Dealing Account, sometimes known as a general investment account (GIA) or funds and shares account, is where the DIY investor holds assets that aren’t held within a SIPP or ISA. This can be because you have put all you want or are able into your SIPP and ISA, or because you are investing in asset classes not allowed in these tax wrappers.

History

Without Dealing Accounts there would be virtually no DIY investors. Developed from the online brokers that emerged with the growth of the internet in the late 1990s, the history of the DIY investor is bound up in the history of the Dealing Account.

In the days before the internet and electronic trading, anyone wanting to buy shares had to phone up a stockbroker ...