Our customer, Dan Barker (29), got an extra £11,000 towards his first home using his OneFamily Lifetime ISA.
Please note: This case study is not financial advice. If you’re not sure what’s best for your circumstances, it’s best to speak to someone you trust to give you financial advice.
Dan’s lifetime ISA success story
Dan’s mum encouraged him to open a lifetime ISA to take advantage of the 25% government bonus.
Every time he paid into his LISA, the government did too. He had the option of putting in up to £4,000 a year, which would have given him £1,000 extra money towards his first-home deposit each year!
With the combination of the lifetime ISA bonus and increases in investment returns*, Dan got an extra £11,000 on top of the money he paid in himself.
The LISA is a great product which has helped me buy the type of home I want sooner than I would’ve otherwise been able to.
How a lifetime ISA boosted Dan’s deposit fund
Dan invested in his OneFamily Lifetime ISA for six years before getting the keys to a flat in Bristol.
He put in £21,050 of his own money in total, receiving over £5,000 in bonus money from the government.
Combined with investment returns*, he ended up with an extra £11,450 – taking his total lifetime ISA pot to £32,500.
I bought by myself which can make it really difficult to afford, but the extra money I received by investing into a LISA made it possible.
It wouldn’t have happened otherwise, or I would’ve had to buy a property that required a lot more work or wouldn’t have been able to get the location I’ve got.
The extra bonus and growth allowed me to get exactly what I want.
Staying focused on his first-home goal
Dan, an engineer, was able to invest in his lifetime ISA partly because he moved back in with his parents. This allowed him to save on rent and bills, leaving him with almost £1,000 to put into savings each month.
Of course, this option isn’t available to everyone. But saving on living costs, combined with the LISA bonus, meant Dan was able to afford the home he wanted – and get on the property ladder sooner.
Dan’s goal was to save £30,000 for his deposit, so that he could buy a home costing around £300,000. His lifetime ISA helped him exceed this target.
Get up to £1,000 extra towards your first home deposit every year with a OneFamily Lifetime ISA
A place to call his own
Dan’s new flat needed a fair amount of work and renovation when he first got the keys, but the extra money his lifetime ISA provided meant he could hold back some money from other savings accounts for the work needed.
At the moment it’s a bit of an empty shell, but it’s all freshly painted and ready to add furniture into.
There have been lots of high and lows with renovating that I didn’t anticipate, so it’s nice to have the extra support of the LISA which has freed up some of my other savings to help with unexpected expenses.
Are lifetime ISAs worth it?
Dan certainly thinks so. And so do the 56,900 people across the UK who used a lifetime ISA towards their first-home deposit in the 2023/24 tax year.
I’m a big advocate of lifetime ISAs and for ISAs in general.
I think it’s something we aren’t taught about in school, or at least I wasn’t anyway. It should be taught more in schools.
The LISA is a great product which has helped me buy the type of home I want sooner than I would’ve otherwise been able to.
Important information about lifetime ISAs
- *Investment returns aren't guaranteed and past performance is not a reliable indicator of what might happen in the future.
- Lifetime ISAs are designed to help people save for a first-home deposit or save extra for retirement.
- If you don't use your lifetime ISA the way the government intended, you may have to pay a 25% government withdrawal charge. You can find a full list of rules in our lifetime ISA rules guide.
- OneFamily's Lifetime ISA is a stocks and shares lifetime ISA, so the value is likely to go up and down over time. This is normal for this type on investment, but it means there is a risk you could get back less than you put in if you withdraw at a time when the value is lower.
Open a OneFamily Lifetime ISA
Our Lifetime ISA comes with a 25% government bonus, worth up to £1,000 a year!
Our Lifetime ISA invests in stocks and shares, so the value is likely to go up and down over time. This is normal for this type on investment, but it means there is a risk you could get back less than you put in if you withdraw at a time when the value is lower.
