Saving for child

[craftycottontail]

Hello

Just wondered what others do about saving for their children...

Our baby is 2 weeks old so we're hunting around for the best accounts, but we don't want the money just to be handed to him when he's 16/18.

We're planning to save around £50 a month with a view to helping him buy his first house when he needs to. We'll top this up as and when we can, or with birthday money etc from relatives.

What's the best way to save in his name for money that will be his, but not hand it to him until he needs it? He's an angelic newborn now but we don't want to run the risk of him turning out to be a junkie at 18 and not being able to handle the responsibility!

Thanks

Hello, we opened up an ISA account for our baby that way any money in there should earn interest. We put money in there as and when we have it. If I'm right in remembering, we can withdraw some of it at any time (give the bank notice) but he can't touch it until he is 18. You don't have to tell your son about it and then that way when the time comes , you can see whether or not he will be responsible with it. Im pretty sure you can withdraw it (being his parent and you were the one who opened the account).

From what I know, a junior ISA in his name means they can access it whenthey are 18.

We are saving a little amonth, in a normal savings account.

Thinking of investing in a stocks and shares isa though, in parents name.

I've got a Halifax Regular Kids Saver that pays 6% interest (but you have to transfer the money out every year and start from 0 again).
I'll probably withdraw all of the money in her accounts before she turns 18 and put it in an account of my own/my DH's name and give it to DD when she is ready to buy a house/get married/go to uni.
She won't be made aware of the money - which is also in case we have more children and need to split the amount in their savings accounts equally.

Thanks for replies. I'd wondered about withdrawing the money just before it's transferred to his name - is this allowed? Was worried it might be seen as fraudulent as could be seen as just using the child's name to earn a higher rate of interest?

We won't be telling him about the account... I think when he's old enough to think about how to spend birthday money etc we'll start talking about how it's good to save at least part of it. Maybe set up a separate account where we can teach him how to keep an eye on the balance and let him have a sense of achievement as he sees it grow.

Gently how have you found Halifax? We've had a bad experience with their customer service for credit cards but it's the best rate out there at the moment.

We also had bad customer service from Halifax... We went with the next best savings account which was West Bromich Building Society at 4.6% for 1 year regular saver. Once the first year is up can switch if there's a better deal then. Set up in our sons name but we can manage / withdraw at any time (for this account to qualify for the rate have to save £10-100 per month and no withdrawal for 12 months!

We are the same as you... Don't want him to automatically get the money at 18... Who knows how sensible they will be at that age!!!

grr just lost a long message!
Basically, Halifax have been fine as there's just a regular standing order going out and no real interaction with them. They wrote to me about having to transfer funds into a Halifax account in the child's name, I went to local branch and opened one and that's about it. You can just withdraw the money from the new account immediately. I will reinvest mine into the 6% up to the max of 100 per month as we only put about 40 in currently. You can also change the amount of the s/o every month and I found this useful as put in extra money for birthday and Christmas months.

Off topic, but First Direct do a 6% adult regular saver, max 3600 per year, 300 per month. You have to be a First Direct customer though. Now they do have fab customer service! I've just opened one of these as my own savings are nil - it's a sad state of affairs when a 14mo has more money than her parents!