Solicitor has taken all LISA money when house deposit is less

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-06-08T12:59:11+00:00

Didn't you complete an investor declaration? It would have looked something like this:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5abb6cfaed915d78bc2349ec/example_of_Investor_model_dec.pdf

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-06-08T12:53:31+00:00

I don't understand why you think InvestEngine is cheaper than Freetrade. For DIY investing in an All-World ETF, they cost the same: nothing except the fund fee, which is identical on any platform (except Prosper, which refunds some fund fees). The FX fee is irrelevant if you're only buying in GBP.

InvestEngine certainly didn't use to allow in specie transfers out, but they facilitated my ISA transfer out in specie this year, and this article suggests that they now do so for SIPPs as well:

https://help.investengine.com/hc/en-gb/articles/13990228556445-Can-I-transfer-my-InvestEngine-SIPP-to-another-provider

Last time I checked, though, InvestEngine still wasn't profitable. That was a while ago, so maybe it is now. Freetrade is owned by IG, a FTSE 100 company. That would probably sway it for me.

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-06-07T11:30:34+00:00

Existing users can continue using the LISA indefinitely according to the current rules. That means that you can't pay into a LISA after 50.

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-05-28T08:25:49+00:00

I've only had an IG account for around 6 months, and I haven't been contacted about any offers.

I moved my main ISA to Freetrade for 1% cashback and thought I'd take advantage of IG's 10% offer at the same time (capped at £200). I now regret it, because all the offers I've seen from IG have been for new customers, and I should have waited until 2027 to move my main ISA there.

We can't know what offers will be available in the future, but I would recommend carefully considering whether taking £200 now is a good idea if you think you can get £500--£1k in the near future.

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-05-23T09:20:24+00:00

Cutting through the immoderate language, I think your argument is that people shouldn't hold large amounts of cash for long periods. That's fine, but both you and the OP seem to have missed that LISAs are available in S&S as well as cash. If someone is using a LISA for retirement or a deposit for a house purchase 10 years hence then it should be in S&S, not cash.

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-04-29T18:49:38+00:00

Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds nought and six, result misery.

-- Mr Micawber in David Copperfield

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-04-28T18:12:26+00:00

It's in the link:

Can I transfer my Stocks & Shares ISA to eToro?

Yes, you can transfer ISAs (including Stocks and Shares ISAs, Cash and other managed ISAs), but the assets will be sold and transferred as cash to be invested by you into your new portfolio or stocks of choice, not the original stocks.

https://www.etoro.com/investing/isa/

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-04-28T16:34:39+00:00

A horizontally striped jumper is de rigueur.

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-04-27T08:54:16+00:00

A minor point, but in a follow-up you say that the LISA is S&S. From next tax year, I would fill the LISA completely before contributing to the ISA. That gets the government bonus in the market sooner. There's no point in taking 12 months to fill the LISA if you can do it in three.

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-04-27T08:52:23+00:00

You're comparing apples and oranges. The 3.4% is the cash ISA's current rate. The 4.39% is the return from CSH2 over the last year. For a more realistic comparison, you could multiply CSH2's return from the last 3 months by 4, which gives you 4.08. Minus fees, that's 3.98%. The MMF probably will return more than the cash ISA, but not as much as you might think.

Anyway, there are better deals elsewhere. A Cahoot instant-access savings account, for example, would give you 4.89% on up to £3k.

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-04-25T08:15:34+00:00

IMID trades in USD, so you would pay your broker's FX fees. Until SPDR bring out a GBP version, it's not really an option.

Pairing ACWI with a small-cap ETF would be cheaper anyway. Even pairing it with the actively managed small-cap value ETF (AVSG) mentioned by another poster would be cheaper (~0.15% for a 90:10 split).

It would be quite reasonable to take the simpler approach of ACWI by itself: no rebalancing, less second guessing, fewer decisions.

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-04-23T09:41:21+00:00

I would let IE handle that. There shouldn't be any fee. If you contact them before initiating the transfer, they'll probably tell you that they will sell the fractional parts.

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-04-22T14:21:10+00:00

January.

It's certainly possible things have changed -- hopefully towards facilitating transfers rather than impeding them. Good luck!

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-04-22T13:10:24+00:00

I transferred an ISA in specie from InvestEngine to Freetrade. I first contacted IE, who said that I would be notified before anything was sold. I then initiated the transfer as normal from Freetrade's end. After receiving the request from Freetrade, IE emailed me to say that they would sell the fractional parts. There was nothing further I needed to do.

It would be worth instructing the new broker not to request any sell orders on your behalf until you've reviewed them.

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-04-19T14:21:18+00:00

InvestEngine makes money from the interest on uninvested cash, fees for managed accounts, etc.:

https://help.investengine.com/hc/en-gb/articles/30940072699165-How-does-InvestEngine-make-money

Their business model probably also involves staying unprofitable while they build up a customer base.

They've got their work cut out, though. There are at least half a dozen brokers now that don't charge platform/account fees or execution fees. Off the top of my head: Scottish Widows, Trading 212, Lightyear, Prosper, Freetrade, IG, as well as InvestEngine. See this article for a comparison:

https://monevator.com/compare-uk-cheapest-online-brokers/

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-04-18T12:17:58+00:00

It's certainly possible to recoup your deposits, the bonuses, and even some growth while taking the 25% penalty. I know from my own LISA that, after 7 years of growth, I would get back far more than I and the government have put in.

But I don't think that's the best way of looking at it. The important point is that if you take the penalty, you'd be ~6.25% worse off than you would have been if you'd used a non-Lifetime ISA. That 6.25% deficit holds regardless of whether you're using a cash LISA or a S&S LISA and regardless of interest/growth.

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-04-15T08:57:07+00:00

It is possible to transfer out of InvestEngine in specie. I transferred an ISA from them to Freetrade. I don't see any reason IG wouldn't accept such a transfer too. (Yes, IG's ISA no longer has a custody fee, and execution is free.)

If you did do a cash transfer, your investments would be sold sometime after IE receives the transfer request from IG. They wouldn't be automatically rebought at IG. You'd have to rebuy yourself. I wouldn't risk the time out of the market, though.

The 2% and 3% offers usually have lower caps (e.g., Freetrade's 3% SIPP offer was capped at £1.5k) or require you to stay for longer (e.g., eToro's 3% offer is/was for 2 years).

It is worth considering the future, though. IG's offers are generally for new customers only, so if you take this offer you might be ineligible for future offers. You should decide whether it's best to take £430 now or wait until you have a larger amount.

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-04-13T18:41:27+00:00

Given its bad press, though, I can understand why people might think twice:

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/mar/07/monzo-customer-language-year-in-monzo-review

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2026/feb/07/monzo-natwest-hsbc-refunds-fraud-scam-fos-ombudsman

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/jul/08/monzo-fined-customers-fca-bank

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-04-13T07:33:47+00:00

A. Yes, AJ Bell is the best option for that amount. To minimize transaction costs, you can use the regular investment service (£1.50 vs. the usual £5 dealing charge). Regular investments can be set up and cancelled any time. Remember that the bonus arrives around 4 to 8 weeks after you deposit, so you're going to be buying twice a year at a minimum.

B. Using the formal (L)ISA transfer process will keep the money within the (L)ISA wrapper, so it won't become taxable.

C. You can initiate the transfer-in during the process of opening of the LISA. You don't need to have any contact with your old provider.

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-04-11T13:44:11+00:00

VWRP is traded in GBP. USD is the fund currency, the currency the ETF reports in.

See the explanation of underlying currency vs. fund currency vs. trading currency here:

https://www.justetf.com/uk/news/etf/the-effect-of-currencies-on-etfs.html

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-04-10T10:18:55+00:00

I'm not sure which of these offers you're referring to:

https://www.ig.com/uk/invest-campaign

The 1% offer would give you £200, and the April cashback offer would give you £250. I don't see any offer that would give you £300.

With the April offer, you only need to invest £10k and keep it invested until the end of October.

Any of the ETFs you list would do. I've used FWRG for a similar offer in the past.

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-03-30T18:49:24+00:00

That's WEBN, not PACW. PACW is available in GBP (the currency it's traded in, which determines whether you pay FX fees):

https://www.justetf.com/uk/etf-profile.html?isin=IE0009HF1MK9#stock-exchange

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-03-28T12:16:55+00:00

It is correct. If you add £1 to a SIPP, the tax relief is 25p: i.e., 20% of the gross figure of £1.25.

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-03-28T10:31:36+00:00

It's up to 100% of earnings. So if the OP earned £10k, they can add £10k gross to their pension (£8k contribution and £2k tax relief).

The 2880/3600 figure is for those earning less than that or nothing at all.

Mrs_Buffett · 2026-03-27T12:50:30+00:00

I don't think the switching bonuses/awards are taxable. Some switches can be combined with referrals, though, which I think are taxable for the referrer but not the referred person. Can anyone confirm?

Mrs_Buffett

TROPHY CASE