Martin Lewis: A warning for all wannabee first-time buyers or even those years away from buying

She should open a help to buy account with £1 at least. This is to preserve her ability to use that HTB account later if she buys a property. It's quite likely that putting in the maximum £1,200 first month then maximum £200 a month will be a good choice because it's likely that she will buy a property and benefit from the bonus sometime. No penalty for withdrawing if that turns out not to apply.

She's not yet 18 so is ineligible for a lifetime ISA for a while.

Beyond that, we don't know the amount of money, when she might want to spend it or how accepting she is of the ups and downs of investments so what can sensibly written is limited.