Erin Hadley

My mum helped me open my lifetime ISA a couple of weeks after I turned 18. I’d had a child trust fund account which my family had been adding to for years. When I was able to access the money, my mum said it was a good idea to put it into a LISA. I didn’t know much about them at the time, but now I’m glad I have one and have managed to get the free bonus.

Because I had the money from the child trust fund, I’ve been able to put lump sums into my LISA and max it out for the last two years. I’ve also used some of the savings from the child trust fund to enjoy myself. My friend and I went travelling around Italy last year and visited Rome and Venice. Then, earlier this year, I had a holiday in Sunny Beach, Bulgaria.

At the moment I’m a student so I don’t have much money to save, which is why it’s been useful to have the lump sums of money to put aside for when I need it after I finish university. I’m now in my second year and live with five friends in a student house. I think talking about money is a bit of a taboo amongst younger people. At this age, you don’t want to be thinking about the big wide world, you just want to enjoy what you’ve currently got going on – it’s almost like ignorant bliss.

But if we did start talking about it, I’d say that I think LISAs are a really good investment in your future. I like to think I’m financially responsible and it’s good to have a sum of money to put away that you can’t touch, rather than having it sat in your bank account which is tempting to take money out of. Of course, it’s nice to have money to spend on things like clothes but it’s also good to have some to put towards the future.

I’m planning on buying a property after I finish university. Ideally, I’d like to stay in Manchester, but it just depends on where I can get a job within the NHS. I wanted to get into nursing because my Nana had dementia and that inspired me to do it. I enjoy being on placement and I’ve worked across several departments already, but I’d really like to go into A&E. I have also thought about living abroad for a little while, and if I did that I would continue saving and buy when I come back to the UK.

I’ll look at buying after I finish studying to become a nurse. It’s difficult to look into the future and know exactly what type of property I’ll want and where I’ll want to be, but it’s good to know when the time comes, I will have some savings there.