I see having some in an alternative pot as extra compared to my pension is useful to diversify and reduce risk of changes to the pension system which are highly likely by the time I retire. I contribute to my employer pension the full amount but recognise that it’s probably not enough, so have had a private pension (SIPP) and recently started the LISA, and interested in moving the LISA to Freetrade (and also opening a SIPP with Freetrade too).
From a consumer perspective, sounds like a good thing. The more account types and variety the more consumer needs addressed. Haven’t really looked into LISA’s myself but from the thread - I may not need it or require it - however others might.
From a freetrade investor standpoint - FT holding more long term cash assets and retaining customers for 30+ years a great thing and should be welcomed.
I dont know for a fact but I would imagine a lot of people using Freetrade are generally younger people who would be looking to buy a house.
I think LISA is the best way at the moment to save for a house deposit and think Freetrade should look at products like this
The pension benefits of a LISA is another ballpark and not one I personally will be going down
It can only be used by first time buyers and I would imagine most first time buyers are not looking at >450K houses
It would be very inadvisable to use a stocks & shares LISA for a house deposit. You do not want to be risking your deposit on a short term investment in the stock market, which could crash at any moment.
Those looking to save for a house deposit should use a cash LISA. Over a period of < 3 years, both the pitiful interest offered by cash LISAs and typical investment gains in a volatile market are likely to both be dwarfed by the government bonus, so can be considered irrelevant.
That depends how quickly you expect to have the house deposit. I bet most under 20 years olds don’t expect to have enough in the next 3 years or so. many people will take 10 years to save enough
Yes, obviously it will depend on circumstances. But considering the typical case:
The average price first-time buyers are paying is £204,669. For a 10% deposit you’re looking at about £20k.
If you save the max (£4k) in to a LISA every year, you’ll have more than enough after 4 years.
If you can’t afford the max per year, there’s no way you could afford the mortgage anyway.
4 years is still too short a timeline to risk on the stock market.
Is there any chance the LISA will be added to your product roadmap?
If so, what would be any potential timeline on this - could it be before this FY year end??
Thanks - would love to move my LISA to here, I want to choose my own investments without paying extortionate incumbent platform fees or having robo’s do it for me!
It can be done, I had mine open for 2 years, closed at around +10%
Certainly it can be done, and most people would get lucky in a bull market. But it isn’t advisable, and there’s a big risk.
Happy that you came out ahead
Believe me, me too!
Nationwide did some research that estimated the average time was 8 years for someone to raise a deposit
I would suggest (though obviously a risk) that the benefits of 8 years of Stocks and shares will be higher than a very very poor LISA interest rate
Though I do accept your point that the main contribution is from the goverment bonus
Source How long does it take to save up a deposit? | Bankrate UK
I thought a deposit would be 10%, but looks like it’s more likely to be 20 or 25%. For 20%, 8 years of max LISA is enough (for most people, following my back-of-napkin math above) with 0% interest or 0% gains.
8 years in the stock market at 7% average annual gains would get you £14,890 in gains. For comparison, the best cash LISA at 1.1% gets you £2,032 in interest. So you’re potentially £12,858 better off.
Personally I don’t think an extra £13k is worth the risk of having much less than the needed £40k when you need to buy your house. Other people will have different risk appetites. But I still would ever recommend this to a stranger.
Of course you could start in 100% equities and shift over to 100% bonds or cash (within the S&S LISA) or something over the course of the 8 years. So maybe you’d be something like £7k better off, if you got lucky? A gamble for the advanced investor perhaps.
kind of hard to say no to free money
any chance of lisas this tax year?
or even in the next few years?
Was there an answer to whether Lifetime ISA’s would be on the Freetrade roadmap anytime soon??
Lifetimes ISAs aren’t on our roadmap at the moment so we’re unlikely to launch them within the next 12 months. We’ll share any updates here if our plans change
Kinda surprised at the the relatively low interest in LISAs
Yeah the government has said the take up of them has been less than they expected.
To be honest I cant really see why it is low. If you are saving for a deposit I think 25% is as good as you can get
Obviously I don’t know the difficulties/requirements in offering this product - just seems it might be a bit of a missed opportunity
If you’re looking that long term, then you’re probably angling at using it for retirement, given the withdrawal penalty. Try comparing pension and LISA in that case.