Fidelity International is urging the over-50s, to take advantage of the new ISA allocation, coming into effect on 6 October.

The investment management firm believes that this significant change, the first one in more than ten years, should be exploited by the older generation in order to protect a combined total of £63 billion from the taxman next month.

Twenty-one million people in Britain will be able to benefit from this new allowance which could see investors ready to invest either an extra £3,000 in a Stocks and Shares ISA or just £1,500 in a cash version.

Figures show that a majority of people will utilise the tax-free account to invest in equities, while 35 per cent will only consider cash ISAs.

Rob Fisher, head of UK personal investments at Fidelity International, says, 'As the credit crunch starts to ease, we are now burdened with the tax crunch. Rising taxes means every saver and investor in the country needs to optimise tax efficiency of their money now more than ever.

'The good news is that the Government is increasing the amount you can shelter in that most flexible product - the humble ISA - by a whopping 42 per cent. Encouragingly, almost 80 per cent of eligible Fidelity investors have already said that they will make use of the increased limit, but we should all be taking note and maximising our ISAs as soon as we can!'