Information released by the investment management firm revealed that the last application for a 2014/15 ISA was completed at 11:54pm on 4 April – just six minutes before the tax year ended.

The findings also indicate that up to 40 per cent of investors only mobilise in the last three months of a tax year – a large proportion of this total in the last two weeks.

“It is human nature to leave things until the last minute – and the eleventh-hour stampede of applications for ISAs and pensions has become an annual custom,” says Jason Hollands of Tilney Bestinvest. “Some even make these important long-term investments on the evening of the Easter Sunday Bank Holiday. The emergence of online investing, by making the process easier than the old days of paper application forms and cheques, seems to have almost encouraged investing late in the day.”

However, the figures also highlight that ‘early bird’ investors reap significant benefits. The firm’s data shows that in 14 of the last 20 years (April to end of March), the FTSE All Share Index delivered a positive return, meaning the earlier you invest in the new tax year, the better.

This conclusion is supported by separate research also released today by Nutmeg, demonstrating that consumers investing a lump sum into their ISA allowance at the start of a tax year benefit from a whole year of compound returns, which are considerably higher than if they were to invest at the end of a tax year, or ‘drip feed’ throughout.

“Investing earlier in the tax year means your hard earned cash is put to work for longer,” Hollands continues. “The new tax year is also a good time to take stock of your existing investment strategy. Rebalancing your portfolio and weeding out underachievers should help you identify where you should be targeting any new investments, so they will compliment your overall strategy.”

Nick Hungerford of Nutmeg believes that those fortunate enough to have sufficient savings “should take advantage of the new tax year’s allowance straight away, then leave the investments to accumulate.”

Nutmeg’s calculations show if a consumer invested £10,000 in a medium-risk portfolio for each of the past 10 years – on day one instead of at the last-minute – they could have accrued more than £8,000 in additional returns.

“An amount invested in April, has 11 months longer invested with more time to take advantage of the ebbs and flows of the stock market,” Hungerford continues. “Another key benefit is that investing from the off ignores daily market fluctuations, meaning you stick to a plan and potentially reach your long-term goals faster.”