saving for a teenager's future - what sort of account?

[MrsShrek3]

only looking at around £100/month, basically so he'll be in a position to get a (basic) car with only a bit to pay when he's 18ish, or whatever else he might need to the tune of 6k or so. No idea what kind of account would be best or where anyone doing this already?

If your DS didn't qualify for the Child Trust Fund scheme and 18 is still a few years away, you could consider one of the Junior Stocks and Shares ISAs. I have one running for my DS (13yo). If you'd rather have zero risk there are also Junior Cash ISAs which mostly offer better interest rates than ordinary savings accounts. Comparison site link

you angel. thank you!
he was born in 2001 so missed out on the child trust fund. his two younger sibs have them
I wanted to keep this money separate from his basic saving account (might sound weird) because it's for different purpose and I am not going to tell him it's there til much nearer the time we want to use it.

My DS (12) has a Junior Isa with Lloyd's - any money contributed/saved is protected until his 18th birthday by which time he will have a nice little nest-egg to spend on booze no doubt

you can get relatively high rates on this kind of saving, although of course with the small amounts and high inflation it still isn't worth very much.

ISAs could be good, but check for rates again, especially given that your son probably doesn't earn enough to pay tax. Hence a normal account can be set up with an R85 form so you get all the interest.

google for 'regular saver' accounts, and be prepared to move the account each year when the rates crash.

there is faint hope that savings rates will improve this year.

he's 12 so we're looking at potentially saving around 6k for him by the time he's 18. even by the end I can't imagine the interest amounting to a lot, but we need to keep pace with inflation tbh

you can't do that at the moment with any savings account available in the UK. We can only hope that the situation changes.

true inflation is not 2.1% unless you eat flat screen TVs. :-(

If you've got £100 to invest/save each month over the next 6 years you could split it £50 each stocks and shares ISA/cash ISA... spread the risk rather than relying purely on interest rates increasing.

hadn't thpught of that either. You're good at this, Cogi (is it your profession, by any chance? ) thanks again

pmsl at eat flatscreen tvs - what?

sorry, a little obscure... government figures say inflation is only 2.1%. You, me and everyone else who buys food, petrol and pays bills knows that it is a lot higher. The statistics include the price of electronic gadgets, which do often drop in price.

as most of us don't buy gadgets every month our 'personal inflation' is a lot higher than the figures would have you believe. But if we could live on a diet of TVs, it wouldn't be.

I have a Halifax Regular Saver in my daughter's name - you can deposit a maximum of £100 a month and it is 6% interest - tax free as it is in the child's name. We then transfer the balance to their cash ISA which is about 3% IIRC.

What about Children's Bonds through NS&I?

I think it is/was 2.5%

Gently - saw this on MSE but do you need to be a Halifax current account customer?

No, I don't think so.
We only had our mortgage with them when we opened it, but I don't think it was a prerequisite to get the account.

(I also have an 'adult' 6% saver with First Direct and you do need one of their current accounts to have that monthly saver (max £3600 per year.)

Just checked on Halifax website and it doesn't mention being an existing customer www.halifax.co.uk/savings/accounts/branch-accounts/#kidsregularsaver

Not my profession I'm just very careful with the brass

fantastic you're all very well informed tightarses like me