Saving for children

delboy42

Hi all
Im starting 2021 with a plan to start investing for my children. I save £150 pm but want to put this in an ISA. I have a financial adviser who has said he can do this for me, the problem is it appears the percentage in commission the will take seems to be very high. My question is do i really need to do this through them? it looks like they are just going to put it in a fund and keep an eye on it. Surely i can open an ISA with Fidelity or similar and pay less for doing it. Im just not confident as its all new to me.

Any advice would be really appreciated.
Thanks
James 

csgohan4

Your paying someone with the experience and expertise to do it. Especially as you don't feel confident. 

It would be false economy to not pay and choose the wrong fund and lose money over the FA fees

Are they independent? Define 'very high' please

If your willing to do some leg work and research what it means to invest and research and find your own strategy, then do so, but it will be alot of reading and learning and not for the faint hearted. The Monevator website is a good start to passive investing. 

There are hundreds of funds out there, which one are you going to choose? it is not that easy is it? Choosing today's winners on morning star may be tomorrow's losers. 

Choose the wrong fund and you lose it all, Such as Woodford

kinger101

You'll need to decide between your own ISA or JISA.  If you go for the latter, the ISA becomes the property of the child at 18, and they can spend it on whatever they want.  

You don't mention the age of your children, but if they've got another decade before they're 18, I'd go with a world index tracker.  I'm using the Fidelity Index World Fund (Acc) in a JISA, but there are plenty of similar options available.  

ChilliBob

You can have some of the isa in cash and some in stocks and shares, and I believe you can switch from one to the other. How about you put just a bit into the shares side of things and see if you feel comfortable, then, move over the rest if you do. With the sort of time horizons (assuming your child is quite young) if you do it slow yo start it probably doesn't make much difference when they turn 18.

thegentleway

You don't really need to do it through them. In the same way you don't really need to take your car to the mechanic. You can save money if you know what you are doing. Investing for young children is fairly straight forward, open a JISA and stick the money in a low cost index fund. They have a long horizon so can heavy on the equities. I'm using Liontrust Sustainable Future Managed Growth because ethics/sustainability is important to me.

delboy42

Thank you all for your replies!
The charges 3.5% of investment (£75 for each Daughter) and ongoing charges and costs estimated at 2% 
Each Daughter will have an Isa so each Isa will have these charges, add them both together seems like a large chunk  to me as the funds will have to perform at least 5% for them to cover costs of the charges 

jimjames

delboy42 said:

Thank you all for your replies!
The charges 3.5% of investment (£75 for each Daughter) and ongoing charges and costs estimated at 2% 
Each Daughter will have an Isa so each Isa will have these charges, add them both together seems like a large chunk  to me as the funds will have to perform at least 5% for them to cover costs of the charges 

It is a large chunk and it's very easy to setup and manage yourself. Plenty of ideas on here so I agree with your original suggestion about doing it yourself

delboy42

Thanks
Im so confused at what to do as there is so much to choose from

xylophone

Each Daughter will have an Isa so each Isa will have these charges, 

Each daughter will have a JISA?

Consider Fidelity  https://www.fidelity.co.uk/junior-isa/

and read

https://monevator.com/low-cost-index-trackers/

https://monevator.com/low-cost-index-trackers/

which might help.

thegentleway

delboy42 said:

Thanks
Im so confused at what to do as there is so much to choose from

The choice is overwhelming. Take a bit of time to do a bit of research? or ask your IFA to pick a fund for you for a one off fee?