Investing irrecular amounts for a child but retaining control until age 21

squirrelz

Hi,

Have done a bit of searching but not found anything so far that quite matches what I'm after.

I want to put away irregular amounts of money for my son, but want to be able to retain control of it until he reaches 21. I basically don't want him to be reach 18 and blow it all on a motorbike, hoping that once he's 21 he'll have sufficient maturity to appreciate it.

How do I achieve this, is the simplest way to keep the money in my name and make arrangements in my will in case I should pop my clogs in the mean time, or is there a way of putting it in his name, but holding it in trust until 21 - all I've read suggests that he could challenge this as soon as he's 18.

Thanks in anticipation
Rich

dunstonh

use an invesmtent trust or unit trust held under designation to the child.

- all I've read suggests that he could challenge this as soon as he's 18.

that is not correct. That only applies to trusts where there 18 is specified or certain types of product that may have that as their defined age.

squirrelz

Thanks for the reply, I'm thinking that the most sensible/easiest way of handling it then, is to put away money into a savings account, then once a year moving it into an investment account.

Would be easy if it was a fixed amount, but it'll be a percentage of whatever overtime I earn, so varies greatly.

Reaper

The one I'm using allows lumps sums to be added starting from £100. (by the way although the page I link to says it runs to age 18 actually you can specify any later date you want).

Each company varies, others will have higher or lower minimums. Have a shop around.