Use your child - best child savings account

MrMoore

I was thinking of having my solar panels put in my 3 yr old child's name and pay the tax free income into my sons Little Rock account at the Northern Rock BS so that he can have the interest income also tax free, but EON said he can't be the owner, however I as the owner can nominate him to have the interest income off it. Will he be allowed the full tax allowance on it of around £7,000? Why can't he own it at age three?

Can he be the owner of a property if I give it to my three year old son so that he can receive the rent off it tax free up to £7,000?

Lindsay-Lou

Hi,

I've done a search on this thread for what i should do with my daughters money that's just been moved into the save4it account. i came up with the suggestion of the Halifax Guaranteed Reserve account. is this still the best option for her money?

thanks for the advice

Warden

I have £8k in an ISA which I have saved for my son but now wish to reclaim the ISA for my own.

I would like to transfer all of the amount into an account/s for him but would like advice on where I should transfer the money and how I go about doing that?

cocojimbo

Hello
I'm a long time reader, first time poster, so apologies for any forum faux pas.....

My wife and I recently gave birth to our first child and have received lots of kind gifts of cash from friends and relatives. We would like to put this into some kind of savings account/investment, but are unsure what the best deal for us would be.

Ideally it would be for irregular amounts (birthdays mostly I guess), but we could set up a small regular payment if this yields much better results.
We would not be touching these savings for a number of years as it would be cash pot for them when they are older (probably until they are going to Uni).

From what i've read it looks like a variable rate of interest would be better, but beyond that I am pretty clueless.

My wife and I currently bank with Nat West so if we can't find an alternative we'll most likely open a savings account there.

Any pointers/tips that people can share?

Many thanks in advance.

Jim

Jhon_2

Hi
You can try this commercebank.com/personal/saving/investment-savings-account I found it great

cocojimbo

Jhon wrote: »

Hi
You can try this commercebank.com/personal/saving/investment-savings-account I found it great

Thanks John - that seems to be an american bank dealing in dollars which I'd rather avoid to keep things simple.

Any other suggestions?

Reaper

You can skip the suggestion above as it's a US account.

cocojimbo wrote: »

My wife and I recently gave birth to our first child and have received lots of kind gifts of cash from friends and relatives. We would like to put this into some kind of savings account/investment

There have been many posts on this in the past. So with a bit of cutting and pasting your options are...

1) Add it to their CTFs if they have them, or Junior ISAs when they come out later in the year
2) Put it in the parent's ISAs to hand out at a future date if you have not used up your limits.
3) Put it in a children's savings account. But keep an eye on it and be ready to keep switching as rates drop.
4) I would favour investing most of the money rather than putting it in savings accounts as investments ought to do better over the long term. The two standard options are:
A Designated Account - owned by the parent but just earmaked as being the child's money. As such withdraws can be made at any time for any reason and need not even benefit the child. The downside is it is taxed as being the parents money.
A Bare Trust - the money belongs to the child and is taxed as being theirs. 2 or more "Trustees" operate the account on behalf of the child.
Baille Gifford and F&C are two examples I often give.

Froggitt

Harpenden BS have an account that kids cant touch until theyre 18, and they pay reasonable interest consistently so you dont need to chop and change all the time.

Or as above a Bare trust.....Hargreaves Lansdowne do this and you can choose the funds of your choice.

Reaper

Froggitt wrote: »

Or as above a Bare trust.....Hargreaves Lansdowne do this and you can choose the funds of your choice.

Are you sure they do this? On their FAQ page I can see they do Designated accounts:

Can I open a Vantage Fund Account on behalf of a child?

Yes. It is possible to designate a Fund Account so that the investments are held on a child's behalf until they reach the age of 18. The application form has an account designation box where you would need to give the child's initials.

However all they say for trusts is:

Is it possible to open a Vantage Fund Account in the name of a Trust?

Yes it is. We would require a certified copy of the Trust Document with the accompanying Vantage Fund Account application form and, if not in the Trust Document itself, a list of names and addresses of all authorised trustees and beneficiaries.

That suggests they won't set up the trust for you, which is a right pain if so. Setting one up yourself in advance would mean using a solicitor. I'd stick to ones that do it all for you for free.

Froggitt

They sent me a leaflet last week, full of forms. One was a Bare Trust form, that you fill in, and file away.....you dont send it to them. You then open the account either online or by phone. Simples.