Best regular long term saving for children?

NorthernTony

Hi all,

I am looking at setting up a long term saving account for my two children to help them once 18 (currently age 9 and 6). I can put £50 each away for them each month and I am happy that this money may be 'locked away' hence, it cannot be drawn on straight away.

What is the advice from the collective experiance within here? Should I just open a normal savings account, should I do something else?

Grateful for any advice.

DiggerUK

Tony,
Long term for kids then NSI is best at moment. Long term you should go for their currently suspended Index Linked, short term build up a pot in Premium Bonds and transfer as soon as the IL becomes available.
As you will have gone through all the ID checks for the PB's, you will be well positioned to get in ahead of the rush for IL when they are reissued. All are tax free as well.
Best of fortune.

http://www.nsandi.com/

opinions4u

Some sort of investment linked bare trust might be right here. I think the time periods are long enough to justify moving away from banks and building societies and in to equities.

Alliance Trust offer a First Steps account which offers access to their 'fund supermarket'.

I'd be tempted to save £50 a month in a Halifax Kids Regular Saver paying 6% interest and then moving it to Alliance Trust annually on maturity.

If in doubt track down an IFA at www.unbiased.co.uk.

(While I can see the sense in Digger's Index Linked Savings Certificate suggestion, the average return on Premium Bonds is 1.5%pa. I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole).

Darth_chaffinch

opinions4u- thanks for the info, Halifax looks good but what happens if th op (who is in the same boat as me) doesn't want their child to get hold of the cash at 16? Can we just move the cash out before they're 16 into some other savings/investment account? I'm looking at 22 years before giving them this cash.

jonnyb

I'm in a similar situation, with a 2 year old and 2 week old.

Have done Halifax regular savers for the first one, but want to change the plan now.

I'm looking to open a self select stocks and shares ISA in my wife's name, then do a regular investment of around £100 per month. As it's in my wife's name, the kids won't be able to get their hands on it util I decide.

I already have my own s&s isa with selftrade.

If you are not comfortable picking your own shares then some sort of fund might be better for you.
I'm planning to invest in relatively safe stocks to start with, like centrica, tesco, aviva, etc.

opinions4u

Darth_chaffinch wrote: »

opinions4u- thanks for the info, Halifax looks good but what happens if th op (who is in the same boat as me) doesn't want their child to get hold of the cash at 16? Can we just move the cash out before they're 16 into some other savings/investment account? I'm looking at 22 years before giving them this cash.

If you operate Halifax accounts as trustee for the child you have discretion over when the funds revert to the child.

Bare trusts would revert to the child at age 18 whether you like it or not!

JCB2020

I created a Bare Trust for my grandchildren with Hargreaves & Lansdowne
Pay in £100 per month to each
Their Vantage account allows me to select funds and mange account online
Given the timescales involved, they cant get at it until 18, the markets seem a better option to me