Grandchildren's futures

Robisere · 20 June 2012 at 4:38PM

In 2007, my wife and I invested £3,00 each in an Aviva plan for our 4 grandchildren, which has now bottomed out at some £2,600.

Oldest is 19 in January and was taking a gap year before going to UNI to study Computer Networking & Security, having obtained outstanding exam results despite having Asperger's. Now he has decided to get practical experience with a job in his chosen field (already has offers) and study via the OU. He has taken the money, opened an account and is also earning a little while he waits to start employment, by building and maintaining websites and Systems. I have no doubt that he will use the money sensibly to help him work and learn, which is exactly the aim we had in mind when we began.

His cousin is 15, very confident and knows exactly what she wants to do and where she wants to be. Her 13 year old brother is not at all academic, he began with some learning difficulties but is beginning to blossom educationally in Maths and Science and will probably be a "hands on" guy like granddad and dad. Their cousin is almost 7 and shows every sign of being very intelligent, like her 18 year old brother.

We have surrndered the Aviva money and are now awaiting the cheque (around £7,900) which we would like to place safely in, say, a Junior ISA or similar. As the ages of the remaining children mean that some will have shorter periods than others before they become 18, does anyone have suggestions as to the best way to provide for each of them as they reach that age? We do not intend to invest in any stocks & shares again, we lost quite a lot in the crash ourselves and have moved our small pile to Mutuals.