Investments for your childs future?

[notasausage]

We are looking for something other than a regular bank account or Child trust fund (ie something that we hold jointly with our DD) to save for our DD's future. Probably looking for it to have around £10 000 or more in it in about 20 years time - enough for a wedding, deposit on a flat, car, uni fees or similar. I have no idea where to start or what I might be looking for. Insurance policy?

Anyone got any ideas.

Hiya,

I had no idea where to start with these things but i found a great site that explains things simply. It's called www.investment-advice-online.com and its in language i can understand!!!

hope this helps

mumadoo
Do you work for the company by any chance?

You have posted on multiple threads today about how wonderful it is...

It's all a bit obvious IMHO.

Did you know that advertisers have to pay a fee?

actually Whippet no i don't.

I had just used it recently and found it really useful and so I thought I would post it on the investment threads where I thought it might be helpful to others.

Nice to know there's are trusting nature amongst fellow Mums though.... perhaps you should spend more time caring for your children than taking on a self appointed vetting role for new mums on mumsnet

So as a new poster you felt the need to post the link to this website on 13 (many old) threads all within the 'Investment' topic?

No other posts.
No other topics.

Sorry. Don't buy it.

How dare I? well, I've been on here 10 years, and have seen it all before I'm afraid.

(P.S. Crap site anyway folks - I did check!)

you despicable woman

I never said i felt the need, merely that i wanted to try and help out. And investing is something I had done recently and so something I decided to post in relation to!

Just because you have been on here for 10 years does not give you the right to be rude. I wouldn't take it upon myself to trawl through your posts and try and discredit you.

I hope the other mothers can see through your distasteful and unhelpful comments. I'm sure with your long track record you must have a reputation on this site for being an annoying busy body.

Cyber bullying is something, as a mother, I feel we should be trying to prevent, but here you are making me feel like a second class user of this site!

Ok people, so while I hold the coats for Whippet and mumadoo can anyone else offer some suggestions??

Hi Notasausage
Sorry about that cross-fire
Yours was one of the threads that was genuinely 'live' as opposed to 'resurrected' by Mumadoo, so I feel duty bound to try to get it going for you again!

Here's my two-penneth on the subject:

A couple of questions, as I wasn't quite clear from your OP:

• do you want it to be in DD's name?
• will you be keeping it 'secret' until she is 21 or something?
• are you willing to invest in stocks and shares (with the associated risk, or are you interested in sticking to low-risk cash saving type products?)

A lot of people feed a monthly amount into a 12 month Regular Saver (best rates at the moment are about 6% with the Halifx) then at the end of every year (when the rate drops to something pathetic) they transfer the lump sum into a fixed rate bond - perhaps 2-3 year ones (which I think may pay up to about 4%/5).
Many accounts can be opened in trust for a child. If you've paid in the original money, then they can earn £100 of interest before they (you!) are taxed on it.

If you don't have one already (for each of yourselves) then an alternative would be to open an ISA (Cash or Stocks & Shares) and hold it in your name, but mentally 'designate' it for DD in the future. You can pay up to £5,100 a year in from April this year, so this would easily fit in with your future plans. The advantage is that ISAs are tax free, so there's not worry about declaring interest. You would probably need to check what rate you are getting every 12 months or so though, and be willing to swap it to another bank/building society to keep it at one of the best rates, as they tend to quietly reduce the rates over time on the variable rate ones.

MoneySavingExpert and MoneyExtra websites often have discussions about this sort of thing.

HTH

I've been looking at cash ISA rates recently and the best seems to be the Santander Direct at 3%.
Whippet - am I right in thinking that children can't have ISAs in their own names ?

Judy - yes - I think the best instant access ones at the moment are about 3%, with rates up to 4% or more if you can fix for up to 4-5 years (which I don't think is really being recommended much at the moment, as the general consensus seems to be that rates will go up in the next 3 years?)

I'm pretty sure you have to be 16 to open an ISA in your own name, and I don't think they can be opened 'in trust' for a child (but worth checking that).

I've also got to sort out our kids' investments, as we've been paying into a building society on a monthly basis since they were born, and they now both have lump sums which generate the maximum £100 interest (from money given by parents) so we need a different strategy!

I think National Savings and Investments (NS&I) may be worth a look too, as they often have Limited Issue Fixed Rate Bonds which are reasonable rates and tax free.

DH & I both have our own ISAs, so we can't do that for the kids.

Have you seen this ? I got the forms a few weeks ago but as we don't live near a branch I have to send the DCs ID with the applications and I haven't got round to it yet. I know its a 4 year fix but its a pretty good rate.
I'll have a look at the NS&I, thanks

DC have some money from grandparents, we've done the same as Whippet mentions, I'm looking into National Savings bonds now as I can't find any good savings deals at the moment and I don't want to put it into the stock market although may reconsider that in a couple of years if the volatility of the markets calms down.

Judy that looks interesting, I will have to have another look.

Whippet, I've had the halifax monthly saver thanks to moneysavingexpert and am about to do another one. Was just fishing to see if anyone did anything more unusual.

Thanks for the help.

Whippet- could I please alert your attention to page 5 of the news review in todays sunday times. The article about mumsnet is something you most definately need to give your attention to. that is all.