Top Junior ISAs guide: discussion

[MSE Dan]

This is the discussion area for the

Top Junior ISAs

Please click reply to discuss

[jamesd]

It is not true that those born between 1 Sep 2002 and 2 Jan 2011 are ineligible for JISAs. They are only ineligible if they have a CTF. The article seems to incorrectly assume that all born between those years qualified for a CTF and had one opened.

The article also makes it more complicated than it needs to be - there's a simple rule: "children who don't have a CTF".

Those ineligible for a CTF were most likely not UK residents at the time.

[MSE Dan]

Thanks jamesd - I have clarified this in the guide

[Ported]

The top JISA I have found is 3.4% (fixed 1 year) at the Bank of Cyprus - PROVIDED you are an existing customer - it's a 'Loyalty' rate. Normal rate is 2.90%.

[supermonkey]

Can't see these being well used for the reasons noted in the article. Also, child trust funds were worth opening even if you didn't plan on paying anything in due to the £250 vouchers provided (I think there's even another £250 voucher when the the child reaches a certain age if they still honour this)

[imillett1982]

Do you need to open 2 accounts? i.e. a normal junior ISA and a junior shares ISA or do they come as one package from the same bank/BS?

[MSE Dan]

They will be separate products, but I'm sure banks will try and sell you both, if you choose to split the yearly allowance between cash and shares

[AirlieBird]

Originally Posted by jamesd

It is not true that those born between 1 Sep 2002 and 2 Jan 2011 are ineligible for JISAs. They are only ineligible if they have a CTF. The article seems to incorrectly assume that all born between those years qualified for a CTF and had one opened.

Is it possible NOT to have a CTF if you born between those dates? All children born between those dates were eligible for a CTF voucher. If the parent didn't invest the voucher, HRMC did on their behalf.

[oramgepekoe]

According to their website, Nationwide's Smart Junior ISA 3% can only be set up for under 16's. I've phoned Nationwide to check that this is so. They can't give me a good reason why it's not available to 16 and 17 year olds.

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/savings/...mp=Intcmp_0891

[MrGumby]

There are various incentives on offer, e.g. Jump (Witan) is offering a £25 John Lewis voucher for a £250 lump sum or £50 monthly/quarterly DD in a cash or investment ISA.

With an investment ISA, however, you have to take fees into account. Jump charges an annual management fee of £30 + vat p.a. which would tend to wipe out any gains on smaller investments.

By contrast, Hargreaves Lansdown offers no gifts but charges no fees either (on funds and cash, that is - 0.5% p.a. on other investments). Actually, it isn't quite that simple, but that's the gist of it.

The HL offer seems preferable, unless I'm missing something.

This is clearly a big subject that needs careful thought before buying, at least before buying a Junior investment ISA.

[MrGumby]

Originally Posted by oramgepekoe

According to their website, Nationwide's Smart Junior ISA 3% can only be set up for under 16's. I've phoned Nationwide to check that this is so. They can't give me a good reason why it's not available to 16 and 17 year olds.

Nationwide seems far from alone in this policy.

[oramgepekoe]

Originally Posted by MrGumby

Nationwide seems far from alone in this policy.

Who else have you found who are only allowing under 16s?

[oramgepekoe]

Originally Posted by MrGumby

There are various incentives on offer, e.g. Jump (Witan) is offering a £25 John Lewis voucher for a £250 lump sum or £50 monthly/quarterly DD in a cash or investment ISA.

With an investment ISA, however, you have to take fees into account. Jump charges an annual management fee of £30 + vat p.a. which would tend to wipe out any gains on smaller investments.

By contrast, Hargreaves Lansdown offers no gifts but charges no fees either (on funds and cash, that is - 0.5% p.a. on other investments). Actually, it isn't quite that simple, but that's the gist of it.

The HL offer seems preferable, unless I'm missing something.

This is clearly a big subject that needs careful thought before buying, at least before buying a Junior investment ISA.

You also need to consider what product the Junior investment ISA converts into at age 18 and the ongoing fees once converted.

[MrGumby]

Originally Posted by oramgepekoe

Who else have you found who are only allowing under 16s?

I've seen several but can't remember them all. Here's one (see the answer to "Can anyone open a Junior ISA?")
http://www.familyinvestments.co.uk/j...nior-isa-faqs/

[highwayfive]

The Jump Savings (Witan) offer is here - and is only running until the 31st December. I seem to remember that the government invested your CTF Voucher for you if you hadn't done so with the first year so there will not be very many people born within the time frame that don't have the accounts. Hopefully you will soon be able to switch your Child Trust Fund to a Junior ISA. There is an article about this in today's telegraph.

[Fabius]

Originally Posted by MrGumby

Nationwide seems far from alone in this policy.

I don't think it's a policy. As 16 and 17 year olds can open standard cash ISAs already I expect that this is a rule, although I'll admit that I haven't checked.

Otherwise they'd get two years of both allowances.

[MrGumby]

Originally Posted by Fabius

I don't think it's a policy. As 16 and 17 year olds can open standard cash ISAs already I expect that this is a rule, although I'll admit that I haven't checked.

Otherwise they'd get two years of both allowances.

What you say is logical but some providers, at least, seem to be accepting 17-year-olds. I just started a fictitious application on the Hargreaves Lansdown website. Nothing there says they won't accept a 17-year-old and their system was happy to go ahead when I gave DoB 13/10/1994.

[Ark Welder]

Originally Posted by Ported

The top JISA I have found is 3.4% (fixed 1 year) at the Bank of Cyprus - PROVIDED you are an existing customer - it's a 'Loyalty' rate. Normal rate is 2.90%.

Also note that the Bank of Cyprus UK does not fall within FSCS, it comes under the Cypriot Deposit Protection Scheme: Section 8 at http://www.bankofcyprus.co.uk/Legal/

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Some of the following articles from the FT may be of interest (although a free registration might be needed to be able to read all of them): http://www.ft.com/investment/isas

[caelshorn]

Hi all,
my daughter was born in August and I want to set up a regular saving for her. However, I already manage both my and my husbands accounts, which I'm starting to struggle with - I won't have the time & energy to manage hers as well. By "manage" I mean taking a good 1-year deal and tarting the money around every year. I read an article that SIPPs are a good investment for kids. I quite like the idea of the money being available once they reach 50, rather than 18 But I've just had a look at the SIPP article on here and it seems like a lot of work. Any advice on what would be a sensible low-maintenance investment with decent returns?
Many thanks!

[westy22]

Otherwise they'd get two years of both allowances.

I'm sure that I've read somewhere that this is a valid loophole and 16-18 year olds can benefit from having both a JISA and an adult ISA in the same year. I suspect that if this is true HMRC will waste little time in closing the loophole!