Paying into HTB & Lifetime ISA's

Britnall7700

Hi all,

I currently have a HTB ISA, i'm paying in £200 a month and my plan is to maximise this and then use the ISA to purchase a house as a first time buyer and claim the 25% bonus. I am in no hurry to purchase and very unlikely to purchase in the next three years.

If I open a Lifetime ISA next year when they open can I continue to pay into the HTB ISA as well as pay into the Lifetime ISA?

I would want to use the Lifetime ISA as retirement money and withdraw after turning 60 to claim the 25% bonus. Current rules say that you can't pay in after aged 50, so as a 30 year old I can only pay in for 20 years so I would "only" get a maximum £20,000 bonus as opposed to the maximum £32,000 bonus.

From what I can see, the £6,400 I would be putting in annually until the HTB ISA is maxxed out from a bonus perspective is well below any ISA limits.

nb0825

I suggest you read this and this

Britnall7700

Thank you; I have, and did before I created this topic of discussion.

It's unclear if I can have both a Lifetime ISA and a HTB ISA and pay into them both monthly.

It's also unclear if the above is possible, if I can claim the bonus on both.

greenglide

Section 1.15 of the first link seems to cover both points.

You can have both but you cannot use the Government bonus from both schemes - it is one or the other.

Britnall7700

Thank you Greenglide. I have looked up that section however bullet point one of section 1.15 contracticts what you say.

For example, if an individual holds a Help to Buy: ISA and a Lifetime ISA they may:

Use their Help to Buy: ISA with its government bonus to purchase their first home, and save their Lifetime ISA with its government bonus for retirement

I think I have my answer, which is that you can have both a Lifetime ISA and a HTB ISA and claim both bonuses.

greenglide

What I meant was that you can't use the government bonus for buying a first home from both schemes.

I have real doubts as to the value of the LISA for retirement saving - a "proper" pension does have real advantages. Having said that I havent looked into the LISA in any depth because I dont qualify.

Britnall7700

No that's okay. My intentions were the HTB ISA and it's bonus for the house purchase (£12k from me & £3k from the government) and the Lifetime ISA and it's bonus for part of my retirement plans.

Understandably I could get more of a bonus for a house purchase by using a Lifetime ISA (as it can exceed the £12k savings / £3k bonus limit) but I have to look to my retirement too. Likewise i'm not sure on the best way to go. I'm a little late to the savings game for various reasons but I appreciate the replies

sazzy04

If I open a LISA and use it for buying my first home, can I open another one in the future to save for retirement?

Ed-1

sazzy04 wrote: »

If I open a LISA and use it for buying my first home, can I open another one in the future to save for retirement?

You can keep the same LISA. You don't close it (like the H2B ISA) to use the bonus.

bowlhead99

Ed-1 wrote: »

You can keep the same LISA. You don't close it (like the H2B ISA) to use the bonus.

You *can*, but you would probably want to transfer any remaining balance to a new one, or close it and open a new one, because the one you use while saving for a property deposit is probably going to be cash deposit / savings based, whereas the one you should use for building up your wealth for retirement would be investment fund based, assuming you don't want to lose your retirement money to inflation.

Brauenite

From what I've read, a traditional pension is the better primary retirement option due to the employer contributions etc, however having a stocks & shares LISA isn't a bad idea as a secondary option.