LISA covid

2006eyo

Sorry if asking in wrong place.  Have posted in 2 different forums. 

I have had a mortgage offer accepted and onto the  conveyancing part instructed searches etc (FTB and never knew solicitors where slower then death) basically just waiting for my solicitor to ask for my funds to be released from my Moneybox LISA.  I heard from this point it can take upto 3 weeks for funds to arrive with solicitors is this correct ? Or worst case.    Also with this new covid Strain  my LISA is basically going to tank this week.   We lost 1.78% on Friday  alone with more expected on monday.  

My question is is it worth just starting the withdrawal now. Or has the horse already bolted as it takes upto 21 days for the shares to be sold.  So may aswell ride whatever storm

Is going to arrive.     Looking if back at vanguard when covid started there was basically a 20% drop and a v shape recovery.   But as It’s fairly soon (4weeks maybe)  the solicitor will be asking for money it means There’s a chance I will be selling on whatever the dip is. 

TIA

grumiofoundation

As you are finding having your deposit in a stocks and shares is very risky. The common suggestion on this forum is not to have money you would need within the next few years invested at all. 

Are you able to get moneybox to sell and hold as cash if you are worried about it dropping further? 

Worried_fool

You may as well start the withdrawal process now...

Market timing is impossible: stocks may sink like stones on Monday, or they may rise as investors decide that the new variant will cause only limited damage and snap up some bargain shares. No-one knows which (personally I expect a rise, but I am usually wrong...).

You want to have your deposit available when needed for the purchase. You are unlikely to lose a significant amount by delaying the sale for a few days, while a delay to your purchase could be a major hassle for all concerned, and expensive.

dunstonh

Generally speaking, you should look to move equities to cash or near cash around 3 years before you need to draw it out.   So, seeing you have left it really late, you should do that now.

Malthusian

Also with this new covid Strain  my LISA is basically going to tank this week.   We lost 1.78% on Friday  alone with more expected on monday. 

That's not "tanking". That's the market going back to where it was in the dark fearful plague-ridden days of three weeks ago.

If your mortgage offer had been accepted at the beginning of November, when your investments were (probably) worth around the same as they are now, would you put off cashing in the ISA in case they went up a bit more?

Nobody knows what the market will do today. If they did they would have taken that into account when they were trading shares on Friday and the market would have already fallen to wherever.

jimjames

2006eyo said:

 Also with this new covid Strain  my LISA is basically going to tank this week.   We lost 1.78% on Friday  alone with more expected on monday.  

TIA

More expected? FTSE is up over 1% this morning so you're already pretty much neutral.

You should definitely be selling to cash if you are near to needing the money. If a real crash happened then it would impact your value.

Alexland

If the money is needed soon you don't have a suitable investment timescale to ride out the ups and downs of the market so you would need to check with Moneybox on if it is possible to uninvest the money while leaving it in the LISA account wrapper. If not then at the very least reduce the risk to control the volatility. There probably isn't enough time to complete a transfer to a Cash LISA.

In terms of withdrawal you would need to talk to your solicitor who may be reluctant to action the change until later in their process as it starts the clock on the 90 days to complete the purchase. There is a process to return the money back into the LISA that they could follow but they might charge you for their extra time if this happens.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/conveyancers-first-time-residential-purchase-with-a-lifetime-isa#if-the-purchase-failed-or-isnt-completed-within-90-days