Let's talk saving and investments for your children with Columbia Threadneedle Investments - you could win £300 NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

We have been asked by the team at Columbia Threadneedle Investments to find out your views and experience on saving and investing on behalf of your children.

They say "At Columbia Threadneedle Investments, our priority is the investment success of our customers. As a firm trusted with managing our customers' money, we understand that investors have different goals and aspirations and only by truly understanding these can we deliver a great service to you and your family.

With a busy family life we understand that saving and investing may not be top of your list of things to do. Whether you currently invest or not, we would like to find out your views and experiences of saving and investing on behalf of your children".

So please share on this thread your views and experience of investing for your children: is this something you do, if so what sort of savings and investments do you make? Is this something other members of your family do for your children? If you don't save or invest at present, do you think this is something you'd consider in the future?

Add your comment to this thread, and you'll be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher for the store of their choice (from a list).

thanks and good luck
NB: a JISA (Junior Individual Savings Account) is a tax-efficient way of saving for children - you don’t pay tax on the interest you earn or any capital gains you make. The money is the child’s to spend as they will when they turn 18 (it can’t be accessed before then). JISAs were introduced in 2011 to replace Child Trust Funds (CTFs)

Standard Insight T&Cs apply

same as investing for an adult; spread risk and look for lower charges. Clue; entry fees of 5% and OCFs of 1.5% are not lower charges.

remember that investing risks losing the lot, but after years of pitiful savings rates it is the only way to have a realistic chance of beating inflation. Investing for a baby should, with luck, produce quite a decent sum when it is 18.

I worry about their future what with university fees, house deposit and what not. I felt our generation has been burdened with high house prices, student loan, and the possibility of no state pension provision. My parents helped me with a house deposit, so I'm already one of the lucky ones. I wanted to save for their futures and I'm putting £150 aside a month for the two of them. But that's all I can afford and I don't think it's enough. We can't save anymore though. It is put in DH and my ISA in a UK all shares index fund. It's mixed with our other longer term savings.

I can't afford to save much for my dd at the moment but all her b day money and Xmas money goes in a children's savings account (she's not 2 yet do she doesn't need or want the money!). Her grandad also pays a bit in monthly and we pay in when we can. I hope we'll be able to do more in the future

We have been saving £75 a month each for the DCs in all-share tracker funds since they were babies, which have grown steadily to quite sizeable sums. We've also been overpaying the mortgage so by the time they leave home we'll have paid it off and have a good chunk of spare cash each month to help them out.

I haven't been in a position to be able to save for DD, but the equity in my house has increased significantly, so I would hope to be able to help her get on the property ladder when needed (my mother helped me with the deposit and I'd expect to do the same for DD).

We saved any large money presents into a building society account until the interest rates went so low, then I transferred it into premium bonds. He's actually wonfar more over the years than average rates. At the moment DS doesn't know how much he has, but is sensible at present so I am hoping it will still be there to help with university living costs.

I wouldn't do anything gambly if I had more than one child; the result could be too unfair if one gets a big win.

We put aside £20 per month for each DC would like more but bills come first.

What we do is encourage saving and awareness of money from them as it's very easy for a child to expect a plastic card to pay for everything now and not to think about actually paying the bill

They will have a small amount saved for them but what will be more important will be their ability to budget, save and live within their means

Mine have a long term investment savings thing that we dont top up so much now they are teens and want money ALl. THE TIME

they have a Santander cashpoint card account that they use day to day

Youngest got one of those trust fund things, we never ever ever do anything with. What a waste of tax payers money that was

We only save small sums for DS who is 1. So he has an account for birthday gifts etc. I would rather save in my name at the moment as I don't pay tax anyway and I can decide when and how much to give DS. There's no point in saving for a deposit or uni fees if they get it at 18 and decide to spend it on a car and a holiday.

I have savings accounts for each of my DC, any money given for birthday/christmas has been put in there (although as they get older they get the option to spend it if they want). Unfirtunately I can't afford to save as much when on maternity leave but I changed my mortgage to lower rate so I can overpay so I know when DC are thinking about uni/houses I won't have a mortgage so will be able to help. Planning is almost as good as savings (I keep telling myself that anyway!)

We have JISAs for all of the dc, invested in funds because they'll hopefully have a long time to ride out any bumps. They get a regular amount paid in there, and birthday/Christmas money gets put into regular savings accounts, which they are allowed to access but generally only ask to fairly significant things.

I would love to save regularly for my DDs but am not currently in the position to. If they get birthday money or Christmas money we tend to put half onto their accounts but it's not large amounts.

I save £100 a month for DD in an ISA in my name. I wouldn't use a JISA as I want to be in charge of what it is eventually spent on. No one else saves for her but she did get some premium bonds when she was born - no wins yet though!

I'd rather save up in my own account for something specific for the kids - university fees, car/driving lessons or whatever - than set their own savings account up.

I really want to set up saving accounts in the children's names, that the grandparents can add to if they want, to give them a chunk of money for the future e.g. to help with education or setting up home etc.. But I'm put off by the fact that they would be able to access the money at 18 years old. I hope my children will grow up to be sensible, but i have no way of knowing if they will be up to the responsibility at 18. They could blow all our carefully money on something stupid. So our only option is to save money in our own savings accounts in our own names - or as one building society advised, open an ISA for them, but keep it a secret!

We save money each month in an account. I do worry about how much they will need in terms of uni (if they go), housing etc. It's much harder now I think. I am also saving generally for us but I am sure some of that will go to the DC when they are older if needed. I am not telling them that now though and they are too young to understand anyway.

WE do save money every month for the DCs and have done so since they were born, but not sure it will amount to enough to be helpful really

At the moment, I put a little bit of money away each month in a bank account for my daughter. I'm doing this so when she hits 18 she has a bit of money for her education, a car or a house deposit. I just want to feel that there is something there for her...just in case.
A bit of money each week you won't miss but can amount to a lot. :)

We're lucky that various family members have given our DC enough over the years for a house deposit. We have some put aside to help them with driving lessons too. Both DC have p/time jobs, which we have encouraged to make sure that they don't just rely on the generosity of others. I think it's important that children are taught to think about finance from an early age.

Ds is only 12 weeks old. I will be looking to open s savings account for him in coming weeks.
We won't be able to afford to save a lot initially, but hope that will increase over the years. Our priorities will be getting the highest return with the lowest risk.

Family pay into his Child Trust Fund on Birthdays and at Christmas (he was one of the last to get money from the government for this) and they have bought him Premium Bonds so we are keeping our fingers crossed he wins a big prize with them one day!

We have a child trust fund for one child & a JISA for the other. Now I don't work we can't pay in regularly but hopefully we'll step this up again in future.

I've saved all their birthday money over the years (eldest is 9). So far there'll be enough for driving lessons. At this early point they're both quite chuffed that they know they can start learning at 17, they know I've squirrelled it away for them.

We don't put away each month, my parents do for our children, we intend to add to this when it is needed to buy them a car.

We opened CTF in the days they were around, and put the child benefit straight in so we didn't miss it. For the youngest we opened an ISA, and aim to transfer an equivalent amount in to make the total the same.

In real terms how much difference this will make when they reach 18 is arguable, given the cost of tuition fees, but I can't save for some and not for others.

Not sure what I would do if my first was born now.

I agree with the poster who said it is about risk - I aim for lower risk, but that's just my preference.