Where best for modest, regular investments for my children (seven, 12)

[LucyWildeGru]

I'm a single mother only just making ends meet but hoping to turn things around so my children fare better than I currently am.

If I can put aside £50-100 a month for them both between now and whenever they might be able to get themselves a home, what do you suggest I do for them, please?

Thank you in advance.

Junior ISA. There are various providers, recently Hargreaves Lansdown have reduced fees. Fidelity have low fees. Vanguard has low fees. Check the monthly minimums, they should be quite low.

Thanks so much, I really appreciate your time.

Look at the Halifax saver accounts for children too - they have a high interest one that you save into monthly & then each year it moves the bulk over to a lower interest easy access account. That way you can access the money if absolutely necessary. You could then look at moving chunks over into JISAs, a pension or premium bonds depending on your appetite for risk, how much you have, what you'd prefer them to have access to etc.
if the JISA is in your child's name they can access the money at 18.
Premium Bonds obviously give you the chance of winning money but devalue over time.
A pension is good as earlier you start the more it builds up, but the money is locked away.

Fidelity is free for u18. I've got JISA and JSIPP with them for DS. Fund and transaction charges still apply.

I would save in your own name, then gift that money to your children when they are ready to use it sensibly, e.g. for a house deposit, uni costs etc.

Savings accounts, ISAs and premium bonds in your children's names will become theirs once they turn 18. If I had been gifted money age 18 I wouldn't have used it as wisely as I would age 25 or 30. It would be a shame if you saved for years and then it wasn't used wisely.

If you aren't using your own yearly ISA allowance already, I would read up on stocks and shares ISAs, and save here with a plan to gifting the money to your children when they are adults.

I have a small child's isa for them when they turn 18 but also saving into a stocks and shares isa in my name so I can use it for uni fees etc

Keeping some in a good savings account is good

but if you want to grow their wealth and try and keep up with inflation you can invest a little in stocks and shares. Something like the S&P 500 index which is linked to the largest companies

you can invest through a broker like hargreaves landsdown

thars what we do for our kids - £100 per month

We put money into a JISA, and were lucky that when DD turned 18 she asked for financial advice (she's moving it over to a LISA as quickly as she can) and only took a small amount as "spends" for uni. However, it is high risk in that the cash can only be accessed by the DC, and there are some horror stories here about kids going off the rails.

On the other hand, we went through a bit of a financial rough patch a few years ago, and if the money had been in my name, I probably would have raided the fund. It's not only 18-year-olds who give in to financial temptation!

This is excellent advice.

If it is intended to buy a house how about a LISA?

There added incentive to leave the money in until either purchase of a house or retirement so a bit less risk of them blowing it on beer at 18.

Not so good if you might want it to be used for a first car or uni accomodation or something though.