Child with Savings over 50K

MrsBkids

Hi there Very lovely (and rich!) inlaws gave us £50K when each of the kids were born to invest.

This has now grown to nearly 65K and I want to know the best and safest place to put this (in their names as children)- I don't mind locking away for up to 5 years at a time as kids still young. I don't really want it spread about so one investment option only really. What would you do? Struggling to find a decent interest rate above 2.5% in a safe place. Please help

MrsBkids

children are aged 10 and 7

Paul_DNAP

There are a lot of savings guides to best rates on this site, but for high street banking saving accounts then 2.5% is about the best. You could start moving it over into Junior ISA products, they have slightly better rates but are limited in how much you can put in per year (off top of my head it's just over £4k, there is a guide to them on here too.)
You'll need to define what eventual purpose the money is for. Is it a medium/short term thing for them to spend away at university or is it a long term financial stability investment?
Here's a mad idea - how about starting their retirement planning? You could start moving it into a pension plan for them. That has the benefit of locking it until they are 55, so they don't blow it on a motorbike when they get it at 18. Also, with the portability of pension plans they can continue to build it with contributions for life.
If it were me, I'd split it between them getting about half when they're 18 for house/car etc. and about half put away long-term for retirement planning.

jimjames

If it's been given to invest then bank accounts don't really fulfil that requirement. It's also far less hassle to leave invested than to have to chase bank account rates all the time and over the long term should easily beat bank savings.

xylophone

The money was an absolute gift from the grandparents to the children?

Presumably the money is currently held by you on bare trust for each child.

Each of them has a CTF? If so, you might transfer to JISA - this could enable over £8000 to be shifted into an investment environment in the current year.

https://www.skintedmintedmum.co.uk/minted-blog/how-to-transfer-a-child-trust-fund-ctf-to-jisa-with-a-double-scoop-of-tax-allowance.html

You might move to a cash JISA first for simplicity and then perhaps here

https://www.vanguardinvestor.co.uk/investing-explained/transfer-an-account?intcmpgn=becomeavanguardinvestor_learnabouttransfers_link

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=monevator+vanguard+lifestrategy&oq=monevator+vangiard&aqs=chrome.2.69i57j0l5.9610j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

You could move more into the JISA in future years. And it is possible to hold both cash and Investments in the JISA.

https://www.gov.uk/child-trust-funds

https://www.gov.uk/junior-individual-savings-accounts

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/saving/article-1583863/Best-savings-rates-Junior-Isas-children-s-accounts.html

The rates on cash JISAs are higher than on standard child accounts except the regular savers.