pension starter

trikimiki

Hi
please be gentle as im new to all this
I was wanting to start a pension for both of my kids as they are at the ages where they know better,my son is 25 and temp unemployed and my daughter is 21 and into 3rd year nursing at university
does anyone know if i could start a pension for them and pay contributions myself
thanks for any advice Mik

dunstonh

does anyone know if i could start a pension for them and pay contributions myself

Technically yes but as they are adults and you are no longer their legal guardian, they would need to open the pensions. Not you. You can pay as a third party payer.

OldMusicGuy

If your daughter is studying nursing and plans to go into the NHS, be aware that she will have access to one of the best pension schemes there is as part of her employment. I would not do anything for her until she has finished uni and decided what to do.

Your son may be more problematic, especially if he doesn't have a career in mind. Ideally he should get a job and see what pension is on offer there. Usual guidance would be to make whatever contributions are necessary to get the maximum benefit from employer contributions. If the employer contributions aren't that good then adding to that would be the way to go.

You do realise that "starting a pension" means you will have to choose a pension provider and then make investment choices about how the funds are invested (or choose a pension provider that offers a limited number of investment choices). Do you have the knowledge to do that? Will your kids be able to do that and manage the pension online? Like like dunstonh said, you cannot open a pension for them, so they would have to set it all up, although I guess they could give you the online passwords to manage it for them.

Why not consider putting the money in a LISA? I assume they are not maxing their LISA contributions at present. That is more straightforward than setting up a pension.

trikimiki

Thanks so much for the advice
I think the LISA route is probably the best option as my youngsters don't or can't see the benefits of any kind of investment even for the future
Mik

JoeCrystal

trikimiki wrote: »

Thanks so much for the advice
I think the LISA route is probably the best option as my youngsters don't or can't see the benefits of any kind of investment even for the future
Mik

I personally wouldn't bother. They are adults now and it is their decisions. As you said, they should have known better by now.

thickasabrick

You quite rightly point out they are adults and can make their own decisions.
Not that I expect my children to take advice from their father. Especially about finance, as I've spent the last six years digging myself out of a debt hole.

Nevertheless, now that I'm over that particular episode in my life I have offered to contribute the minimum monthly amount to a Stocks and Shares ISA for each of my children for the next year. Phrased in the term of "birthday present".

I've kept it simple and small sums, £100 per month each which purchases 2 units of the Vanguard FTSE All-World High Dividend Yield UCITS ETF (VHYL).

The Vanguard ISA has the concept of "linked accounts", you can give someone permission to view your account, so they can see what I'm investing in and vice versa.

This is an exercise to encourage my "children" to embrace investing.

This is in addition to me constantly warning them about how easy it is to be seduced by credit until your income is consumed servicing it !

Also keep harping on about the simple path to wealth. You never know, some of it may sink in.
https://jlcollinsnh.com/2011/06/08/how-i-failed-my-daughter-and-a-simple-path-to-wealth/

JoeCrystal wrote: »

I personally wouldn't bother. They are adults now and it is their decisions. As you said, they should have known better by now.