Best Stocks & Shares Junior ISA

[icebubbles]

Really grateful for some advice as MSE doesn't cover S&S. Looking to open a S&S ISA for DC who is 5. It would be a £9000 lump sum to start and then around £1500 a year. Can anyone advise a good provider or place to start please? Thanks so much

I have our 3 with Hargreaves lansdown and have been pleased with them although all I’ve done is set them up and invest a small lump each into a single fund. They have basically no charges on JISAs so the account isn’t losing anything at all to fees.

Following

I've got our kids with Nutmeg. Doing really well.

I changed from HL as it wasn't doing too well, but has increased 15% at Nutmeg. I liked that you put in what risks etc you are open to and they open the portfolio.

We use Vanguard and have it all in a low fee global equity tracker.

We are the same. I can only put in £25 a month to each for last 10/8 years respectively. Stunned that they now have nearly 40% more money each than if the £25 had been saved in a jam jar.

Thank you so much! I'll look into everything suggested

@icebubbles if you go with nutmeg I have a refer a friend link, which would benefit us both .

We would like to consider an ISA but we’re so worried that DS could access it all at 18 and fritter it away! Is there anything you can do to prevent that or is it just a risk you have to take?

We’re with Hargreaves Lansdown. My son's got both the S&S ISA and a SIPP. I self select stocks, and the rest is split between various funds which I choose. The ISA is currently up 64% since inception, and all the dividends are reinvested. Obviously he’ll be able to access in theory once he’s 18, but since it’s managed online and a letter would come, I guess there’s ways round that.

I think when they are 18 we will have a discussion about what happens with it . I'm not handing ££££ to an 18 year old .

I think I'd probably agree to giving them a sum but the rest will need to used for driving lessons/cars etc .

If the money is invested in a JISA in their name then it is theirs, legally, once they turn 18. You will no longer have any control over it or right to dictate what they spend it on. The ISA provider will write to them directly, before they are 18, to tell them about what is in the account and to give them control over it. I suppose you could monitor and open their post but that is illegal!

I save into an ISA for my kids because it is the most tax efficient thing to do but it is definitely a risk.

@VarioPerfect I understand that but , and when they are 18 we will be able to have a sensible conversation about . Handing over ££££ to 18 year without having a conversation about it what they intend to do with it isn't very sensible . I wouldn't demand they do anything particular with it .
We are very much a family where we talk through any big decisions . They will also inherit from us , a lot of money , so again we will have trustees that ensure that they are able to make sensible decisions .

I think maybe you don’t really understand - if it’s in a JISA you won’t be “handing anything over” - it just automatically becomes their money. The ISA provider will lock you out of their account so you will no longer be able to access it, manage it or contribute to it.

You can have all the conversations you like but it’s their money and if they want to spend it all on drugs you will not be able to stop them.

If this isn’t the level of control you would like then a JISA is not for you!

This is why we're limiting what we're putting into the JISAs. I know exactly what I would have done with a big sum of money at 18.

We're putting more into their JSIPPs - partly because we can build up a bigger sum there, which will serve as the nucleus for a good conversation about financial planning when they're old enough but without the risk of blowing it all on a stupid car, but also because a pension which is on its way to being funded will hopefully alleviate a drain on their income when they're start work and are presumably paying off student loans and trying to get established.

The only other way is to put the money into an ISA in your own name. That way the money still belongs to you, it still grows tax free (and you can put more in every year than you can in a Junior ISA) and you can choose when to give the money to your DS.

Hi again, how have people chosen which Nutmeg investment style to go with?

Whilst having a JSIPP is a great idea it is a long wait to access at their retirement. But I do understand parental concerns regarding JISA access at 18. Luckily mine have been sensible (to date). I explained the investments chosen when they were around 16 and despite 2 of them now having access they’re enjoying watching them grow. My eldest is hoping to use hers for a house deposit in a year or so.
Theirs are with Vanguard and a good while before they turned 18 the investment company wrote to me asking for their email & postal address to set up a password etc ready for when they turn 18. Most seem to suggest they transfer to an adult isa on their 18th birthday and do this for them automatically and retain their current S&S investments.

@icebubbles ahh I don’t know much about Nutmeg but I don’t think you can choose the actual investments but something like low, medium, high risk. Can you see what they are tracking? Something like S&P 500 would be ok.

Or any global tracker?