Childs Nest Egg

Unamused56

Hi All,

After some opinions on what I should do with some money I have been saving for my 5 year old given all the on-goings in the world currently.

I contribute £100 a month to the pot and it is in my own name as I would like to maintain control of it as I see fit but most likely at the moment it will be gifted on an 18th or 21st birthday. So it has 12 to 15 years before the money is required.

At the moment I have circa £500 (incl £100 bonus) in an Orbis S&S ISA (Global Equity) which has taken a slight hit of recent (£465 as of yesterday). Then I will also have about £2,500 from a First Direct Regular Saver which is due to mature inside the next 3 weeks.

I am not too concerned about the Orbis money, I will leave that to ride. But the £2,500 and subsequent £100 contributions I am not sure where best to put once the account matures. 

Given that it has 12+ years to make itself work am I best putting it in a S&S ISA wrapper as I do begrudge the pitiful savers rates currently on offer. I myself have some money in the Vanguard Lifestrategy 80, would this be a sensible option? Or do I chuck it into my lowly Marcus account until more certain times?

Are there any other options or funds that any one can recommend?

As I said it is more for opinion as I appreciate there is no fundamental right answer but it would be nice to have input from other savers to hopefully focus my decision.

Thanks,
Unamused

cloud_dog

You are unlikely to get many responses to this type of question because it is all about personal preferences and personal risk levels, which only you can answer.

I can only speak from my own experience.  We Opened a S&S JISA (was called a CTF originally), and deposited money in to it early on.  This investment is obviously in the child's name and they will become responsible for it at age 18.  When the investments it got to a certain size we stopped contributing in to the JISA (obviously it continues to grow).  We also added monies in to one of our own investment accounts "for the benefit of our child", so we can choose how we use it or if we simply gift it when appropriate.  In addition over the last year or so we have started adding money in to a savings account in our child name.  The idea (hopefully) is that we can convince them to retain the S&S investments, and ideally move that in to a Lifetime ISA, whilst they can enjoy or make use of the cash savings.  A bit of a stick and carrot.

Unamused56

Thanks for the reply cloud_dog. Yeah the lack of response was expected. Was perhaps hoping someone would come out with something I hadn't considered. Like the stick and carrot idea but will consider that further down the line.

Pondering more since my post I think I will go down the fund route as it is what I would do with my own money I don't need for 10+ years. So just need to decide on the fund. Lifestrategy 100 or 80 is where my mind is currently.

Thanks,
Unamused

Zorillo

I dont have anything much to add that you haven't already considered. I am also a follower of the cloud-dog approach, currently the boys money is in VLS100 (they are 3), I will make a judgement on when I think the fund is large enough to switch to cash savings ahead of their maturity (which may or may not be 18) and I am very much hoping to be able to persuade them to leave the investment invested well into early adulthood.