Is the EQi LISA a good choice?

TheCramboMan

Hi all,

I've been looking recently into transferring from a HTB ISA to a LISA and have been reading the MoneySavingExpert guide. I was about ready to commit to AJ Bell but found EQi which self advertises as the lowest account fees (0.2% annually, capped at £40).  Further to this, it mentions that these fees are waived for the first two quarters and even better that for holders of other accounts these fees are waived. Since this provider wasn't listed on the guide, am I missing something?.  I'm rather a newbie to investing so any help in highlighting any large differences between AJ Bell and EQi will be greatly appreciated (also, I don't quite understand when they say "As this account is free, there is no offsetting for trades made in your Lifetime ISA"). I can see that the fund dealing fees are free and the share dealing fees sit between AJ Bell and Hargreaves, perhaps the flat fee for the dividend reinvestment is bad though? Or the range of investment options are much more limited? Also, do you think it's possible to open a cash ISA with them purely for obtaining the free LISA? 

Personally I'm looking for a cheap platform to DIY some funds for 5-10 years to save for a house (i'm 23 now). I guess as a cheeky additional question, do you have to use all your funds in the account when using it towards a home, or can it remain open with some funds to work towards retirement also?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Albermarle

Eqi are new to me so I had a very quick look at their  ISA
Limited range of funds ( 30?)
£70 pa charge 
0.3% ongoing charge 
AJ Bell have choice of thousands of investments and a charge of 0.25% 

TheCramboMan

Albermarle said:

Eqi are new to me so I had a very quick look at their  ISA
Limited range of funds ( 30?)
£70 pa charge 
0.3% ongoing charge 
AJ Bell have choice of thousands of investments and a charge of 0.25% 

Thanks for getting back to me, are we looking at the same account? 
https://eqi.co.uk/info/lifetime-isa/pricing
Cheers

bowlhead99

TheCramboMan said

Personally I'm looking for a cheap platform to DIY some funds for 5-10 years to save for a house (i'm 23 now). I guess as a cheeky additional question, do you have to use all your funds in the account when using it towards a home, or can it remain open with some funds to work towards retirement also?

There's no requirement to close a LISA account when you take money out of it. You can keep it running. Or, even if you did want to use nearly all the funds in the account to put towards the property, you could just open another LISA, perhaps with a different provider instead, depending on who's competitive at the time, to continue with your retirement investment. By that time you might be a high rate taxpayer and prefer to focus your retirement funding through a pension for potentially higher tax relief.

But generally don't worry, a withdrawal doesn't need to be all or nothing.