Transferring into a Lifetime ISA

Save more for your first home or retirement

You can transfer a Lifetime, Help to Buy, Stocks and shares or Cash ISA to an AJ Bell Lifetime ISA. It’s free to open an account, and we won’t charge you anything to transfer in.

Transferring is easy. First, you’ll need to open a Lifetime ISA - but only if you’re aged between 18 and 39. You can save up to £4,000 a year (until you turn 50), tax-free and topped up with the 25% government bonus. If you already have an account open with another Lifetime ISA provider, you can transfer it to us up to age 50.

  • Why transfer into our LISA?

  • A government bonus of 25%

  • Transfers for over 40s

  • Great investment ideas whether you're after a little help, or a lot, including AJ Bell passive funds and our Favourite funds list

  • A wide range of investments including funds, shares, investment trusts, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), bonds and gilts

  • Free to open, low dealing and custody charges

  • Manage your account anywhere with our iOS and Android apps

Important information: A Lifetime ISA is not for everyone. If you withdraw money before age 60, other than to purchase your first home, you’ll pay a government withdrawal charge of 25%. This may mean you get back less from your LISA than you paid in. Also, if you choose to save in a Lifetime ISA instead of enrolling in, or contributing to, your workplace pension scheme, you’ll miss out on the benefit of your employer’s contributions to that scheme, and your current and future entitlement to means tested benefits may be affected. Finally, remember that how you’re taxed depends on your circumstances, and Lifetime ISA and tax rules could change. Read more on Lifetime ISA risks and the key features document.

What accounts can you transfer?

Transfer a Help to Buy ISA

You can transfer your Help to Buy ISA into a Lifetime ISA and give yourself a helping hand getting onto the housing ladder.

There are several reasons why this might make sense. For one thing, although you can save into a Help to Buy ISA and a Lifetime ISA at the same time, you can only use one account to buy your first home. So it can pay to consolidate.

For another thing, a Lifetime ISA lets you save more than a Help to Buy ISA (up to £4,000 a year). That opens up the possibility of a larger government boost to your savings. And while all Help to Buy ISAs are cash only, an AJ Bell Lifetime ISA lets you invest – and potentially make your money work even harder.

You can choose to transfer all, or just some, of your Help to Buy ISA into a Lifetime ISA – as long as you don't transfer more than your £4,000 annual LISA allowance during a single tax year. If you've already paid into your LISA this tax year, you can only transfer the amount that remains of your £4,000 allowance.

Money you've paid into your Help to Buy ISA during this tax year has already been counted towards your overall £20,000 ISA allowance. So transferring it to your Lifetime ISA won't use up any more of this allowance.

Case study: Paul transfers his Help to Buy ISA to a Lifetime ISA

Paul has been saving into a Lifetime ISA. This tax year, he hasn’t paid into it at all – meaning his remaining LISA allowance is the full £4,000. He also has a Help to Buy ISA worth £6,000, which he also hasn’t paid anything into this tax year. But because his Help to Buy ISA is worth more than £4,000, he won’t be able to transfer the full amount into his Lifetime ISA. He’ll need to make a partial transfer of £4,000, then transfer the remaining £2,000 in the next tax year.

The partial transfer of £4,000 will use up his entire annual LISA allowance, but not affect his overall ISA allowance.

Do you hold a Child Trust Fund for your child? Once they turn 18, they can transfer it into a Lifetime ISA to help them save for their first home, or for retirement.

You can learn more on our matured Child Trust Fund transfer page.

What else do you need to consider when transferring in?

  • The AJ Bell Lifetime ISA has been designed for investing in shares and funds. Investments don’t offer the same security as cash and can fall in value – meaning you could get back less than you invest.

  • You can only open an AJ Bell Lifetime ISA if you are aged between 18 and 39 - or transfer it under age 50.

  • A Lifetime ISA must be funded for 12 months before you can use it to buy your first home.

  • Unlike other types of ISA where you can withdraw some or all of your cash at any time, there are restrictions on withdrawing cash from a Lifetime ISA.

  • You’ll need to fund your account in the same tax year you open it – otherwise we’ll need to close it. So if you intend to fund your LISA by transferring in, it’ll need to complete before then end of the tax year.

Transfer into our Lifetime ISA View our LISA charges

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