Lifetime ISAs guide

jonny_k wrote: »

Heya guys, I've signed up to the Skipton lifetime ISA and hope to add in 4K by April. I've noticed it says 'From 2018/19 tax year the government will pay the bonus based on the contributions you have made each month.' Does that mean in order to get the full 1k next tax year you'd have to put in 4k as soon as the 2018/19 tax year starts? I had hoped to put the 4k in around March 2019.

No, it means that, unlike this tax year, when bonuses will only be paid after the end of the year, it'll add the 25% bonus on each contribution the month after it's paid in, which can be lump sums at the beginning or end of the year, or regular amounts during the year, or any other permutation totalling no more than £4K over the year.

Buckets86 wrote: »

Hello all,


I put a v small deposit into a Nutmeg Stocks & Shares LISA earlier in the year (when there was no cash option), with the intention of transferring in my Help to Buy ISA in March 2018. Now I've noticed (in the main LISA guide) that Nutmeg doesn't accept transfers (yet). Given that there also seems to be a risk with transferring into the Skipton Cash LISA, what do you think is the best thing for me to do now? Transfer my small deposit into a Skipton LISA? Or wait and see if Nutmeg starts allowing transfers?


Hope that makes sense!
Thanks

Personally I've got a Skipton LISA and am planning to transfer in during March 2018. I can't see them stopping accepting H2B ISA transfers but can always open another that does allow transfers if it comes to it at the time and close the Skipton one (opening a new Skipton one next tax year if need be).

Bear in mind that whichever you choose, you can't pay/transfer into 2 LISAs in the same tax year, so if you open a Skipton one you'll need to transfer in or close the Nutmeg LISA to the Skipton LISA.

matty_544 wrote: »

Would the bonus on this HTB amount at 25% be £1050 on top of the possible max 32K if u hold the LISA from 18 -50 yr olds so the very max u can get is £33050??

Yes, the bonus would apply to transferred pre-17/18 HTB funds so you could indeed get £33,050 if you happened to be born between 7 April 1998 and 1 December 1999 (to be old enough to have opened a HTB in December 2015 but young enough to make 32 years of contributions to a LISA between 6 April 2017 and 50th birthday), and made all the necessary payments on optimal dates....

It's still not the absolute maximum though, because the interest earned on the HTB between December 2015 and April 2017 also qualifies for the LISA bonus once transferred, so if you're really determined to calculate the theoretical maximum for some reason then you'd need to factor that in too!

matty_544 wrote: »

Regarding the next tax yr in April 18, ive read ppl will pay in April 18 another 4k to recieve the 25% 1k bonus the following month. Why not wait until the end of that tax yr say mar 19 to deposit the other 4k, cant see the rate increasing from 0.5% compared to saving the 4k elsewhere during that tax yr.

Different strokes for different folks - some will want to buy their first property during 2018/19 for example, but if you're saving in a cash LISA beyond the end of 2018/19 then yes, you can earn better interest elsewhere (assuming nothing significantly better than the Skipton one turns up) and top up the LISA at the end of the year.