Amelia Hewison

We got the keys to our first home in November 2024, it’s a three-bedroom terraced stone house with a big garden and a driveway for two cars. My partner, Connor, and I bought it together and we split everything 50/50. It cost £252,500 and together we managed to put down a deposit of £25,250.

I had a Child Trust Fund with OneFamily and I knew I wanted to buy a property eventually, so transferring the savings into a lifetime ISA felt like the right choice. My Child Trust Fund had about £2,000 in when I turned 18 and was able to access the money. I took out around £800 to buy an iPad to help me study at college, and put the rest straight into my lifetime ISA.

While I was studying at university, I added to it whenever I could, usually at the end of each term as I was also working part-time. When I withdrew the money, it was worth about £12,000. My lifetime ISA was invested in stocks and shares, so I ended up with around £600 extra from that investment growth, as well as the government bonus, so it worked out well for me.

Having that lump sum in my Child Trust Fund shaped how I think about money. Being responsible for it as soon as I turned 18 made me take the time to consider what I was going to do with it, and how it could benefit me most in the long-term. It helped me learn how to plan for the future and gave me a head start on saving for a deposit. Transferring it into a lifetime ISA pushed me in the right direction with saving.

I always recommend lifetime ISAs to friends and family, there’s no way I’d have been able to buy a house without the 25% government bonus, at least not by now. Connor’s savings were in a Help to Buy ISA, but the house was about £2,500 over the Help to Buy property limit, so he couldn’t use the bonus. He had to withdraw the money without it, which wasn’t ideal, but we made it work in the end. Whereas my lifetime ISA covered my half quite easily.

I think Gen Z faces a lot of barriers when it comes to big milestones like buying a house or starting a family. While I was saving, I lived in shared student houses where bills were split between several people. But once I moved into our new home and started paying a mortgage and covering all the bills as a couple, I realised how hard it is to plan for anything beyond that. The cost of living is high, and it’s a lot to manage.

But despite all that, I’m loving our new house. It’s a quiet area, and the thick stone walls make it feel really peaceful. I’ve been repainting, sanding walls and putting up panelling. It’s so nice to have our own space.