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<\/p>\nMartin Lewis has urged anyone under the age of 39 who does not already have a Lifetime ISA to open one immediately by depositing as little as \u00a31.<\/p>\n
The money-saving expert issued the advice after Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed plans to consult on the future of Lifetime ISAs in her recent Budget.<\/p>\n
The Government said the consultation will explore whether the Lifetime ISA should be replaced with a new savings product.<\/p>\n
He said opening an account now could protect people\u2019s eligibility if the scheme is closed to new applicants.<\/p>\n
He said even a minimal deposit would secure access to the Lifetime ISA framework should changes be introduced.<\/p>\n
The advice was shared during The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on ITV1 earlier this month.<\/p>\n
Mr Lewis was responding to a viewer in his early 30s who already owned a property and questioned whether it was worth continuing with a Lifetime ISA.<\/p>\n
Lifetime ISAs are available to people aged between 18 and 39.<\/p>\n
They allow savers to put money into a tax-free account either towards buying a first home or for later life.<\/p>\n
The Government adds a 25 per cent bonus to contributions, up to an annual limit.<\/p>\n
Martin Lewis urges under-39s to open Lifetime ISA now with \u00a31 deposit<\/p>\n
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Funds can be used to purchase a first home or accessed later as a retirement pot.<\/p>\n
Money withdrawn for retirement purposes becomes available once the saver reaches the age of 50.<\/p>\n
Mr Lewis said the uncertainty created by the consultation meant younger savers should act now.<\/p>\n
“I think what I’d say to you is we’re in a limbo stage.”<\/p>\n
He believed it would be unlikely for the Government to remove the bonus from those who already hold a Lifetime ISA.<\/p>\n
The most severe outcome would likely be restrictions on future contributions or new applicants.<\/p>\n
The MoneySavingExpert said: “So, what I would say, funny I’ve just thought of this as I’m talking now, what I’d say to anybody of this age, even if you’ve bought a house and you haven’t got a Lifetime ISA, put \u00a31 in one now, just in case they do close it down and later you wanted to use it for retirement”.<\/p>\n
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Rachel Reeves confirmed a consultation on the Lisa will take place in January<\/p>\n
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He said opening an account would preserve access to the product if rules change.<\/p>\n
Mr Lewis added that he expects existing account holders to be protected.<\/p>\n
He said: “But my guess is they’ll keep it open for people like you who’ve opened one, but not allow anybody new to have the same situation that you’ve got”.<\/p>\n
However, he advised caution when it comes to contributing larger sums, and that people may want to wait until the consultation concludes before committing significant savings.<\/p>\n
“But I’d probably, and the Chancellor would hate me saying it, I’d sort of be in limbo at the moment and wait and see what happens in that consultation before I put too much more money in, because we don’t know where we’re going”.<\/p>\n
Lifetime ISAs have faced criticism since their introduction.<\/p>\n
Concerns have been raised about withdrawal penalties for those who access funds for reasons outside the scheme rules.<\/p>\n
Critics have also argued that the property price cap has failed to keep pace with rising house prices.<\/p>\n
Despite this, the product has been widely used by first-time buyers and those without access to workplace pensions.<\/p>\n
Carol Knight, chief executive of the Investing and Saving Alliance, said the Government should proceed carefully.<\/p>\n
Ms Knight urged ministers not to rush into scrapping the Lifetime ISA.<\/p>\n
She said: “This is a moment for sensible reform of the Lifetime ISA, not a rush to scrap it”.<\/p>\n
The scheme has played an important role in helping people save.<\/p>\n
The Lifetime ISAs have supported first-time buyers building deposits, and provided a straightforward retirement savings option, particularly for the self-employed, and said that any replacement must protect existing savers.<\/p>\n
“As the Government consults on a new ISA for homebuyers, it must protect the strengths of the LISA and give clarity and fair treatment to existing savers – not dismantle a product that is already delivering for those trying to save for both a first home and later life.”<\/p>\n
The Treasury has not yet confirmed when the consultation will conclude.<\/p>\n
Ministers have said further details will be set out following the consultation process.<\/p>\n
For now, Mr Lewis said younger savers should consider opening a Lifetime ISA to preserve their options.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Martin Lewis has urged anyone under the age of 39 who does not already have a Lifetime ISA…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337316,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,4176,1085,2897,2222,50,4174,4175,3668,2331,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-337315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-isa","tag-martin-lewis","tag-money","tag-news","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance","tag-savings","tag-sgg","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337315"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337315\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}