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

Don't have much spare money to put by but when there is some in going into a Children's saving account

We opened up a JISA for each of our 3 DSs and each month put £30 in plus cash at birthdays and Christmas. It's nice to see that pot of money for each of them is growing steadily and it means that on their 18th birthday they will have a nice sum of money to buy a car, go travelling, help with uni, whatever they want!

I have 9 children and have the awkward situation that child #3,4,5,6 & 7 all have Child Trust funds from the Government, but child #1,2,8 & 9 do not. Unfortunately this is very unfair but I am not in a position to make this all even for everyone. I did save up the majority of birthday money for the eldest 4 in a regular savings account, but last year the children converted their accounts to ones that had a cash withdrawl card. I will applaud them that they chose very carefully what to spend their money on (child #1 & 2 bought themselves a laptop to help with their homework) but the money has now all gone (it wasn't a huge amount) and this is what worries me though, that if I was to make a big sacrifice and try to save some money up each month for all of them, then there is nothing to stop them spending the lot quickly once the account is handed over to them at 18.
So for now I'm going to continue to save their birthday money but I'm saving some money each month myself so that when they get older and need important things like driving lessons or help setting up a home then I will be able to help them out with the costs myself and I will then know what it gets spent on! I will continue to educate them with earning their pocket money and when they are old enough I will encourage them to get a Saturday job and save.

I wish I could afford to save Nd invest for my children, as it worries me greatly! We barely make ends meet right now and just do not have any additional money at the end of the month. My parents have invested in a property for me and my son, which is wonderful and I will be eternally grateful, but it does make me feel sad that I cannot do the same. If things miraculously turned around for us financially then investing and saving would be my top priority!

Start from birth by putting a small amount away each month and then as they get older encourage them to do the same. It all adds up!!

We were lucky to pay off our mortgage 10 years ago and have since saved what our mortgage payments would have been. Sadly this year we lost mum and me and my sister have inherited the family home. We are now in the position of being able to pay my sister off by getting a very small loan and we will be signing our other home to our son. What a start in life to be given your very own home and we are proud at being able to offer our son a fantastic start in life

it's not a priority

I don't have a savings account in her name because I worry about a 18 or young 30 something year old having access to that money incase they don't make smart choices. Instead I save in my own accounts. Pick intend to help with driving lessons ect but it is mainly to help with a deposit on a house.

We try to open an ISA each year as an ongoing fund

I do not have any spare cash to be able to put any money away each month however, my mum kindly does and I think they have a reasonable amount of savings each from her. I aim to add to this as and if that becomes possible but wages are quite low for part time work and bills are high (including food bills). I would welcome a savings account for my children that I could put very small amounts of money into as and when it became avaiable during the month.

my two boys have a child trust fund but they stopped that when i had my little girl so opened a savings account for her. i put away all their child benefit so they can make use of it when needed :)

Sadly its not something we can afford to do, but all of his birthday and Christmas money goes into his bank account xx

growing up, my parents had me a post office savings account. not sure it gleamed much in interest. my little one has a JISA. it's really important to start the process early.

I save regularly for them and expect them to learn the same. I remember when I got my Natwest piggy banks as a child and it was a great learning experience!

When our son was born in 2007 he received a lump sum from the government scheme that was then running so we put this is a cild trust fund and add £20.00 per month via direct debit. When our daughter was born in 2011 the government scheme was not running so to be fair we are simply adding and extra £20.00 per month to our sons fund and when he is old enough we will split it and invest separately in ISA's until they need a house deposit.

We also have stakeholder pensions for each of them which we only put £5.00 each per month in but they can take it over when they are working and it will be a nice start to their pension funds.

we use the £81 we get each month from the government and £19 to put into an ISA which she can't touch till shes 18, Halifax are giving us 6% a year interest as my husband has an ISA with them also. We have also open her a bank account so when people give her money for her birthday or xmas we put it in their so when shes old enough she will learn how to manage her money.

I have also open a bond for my niece which is £250 when she turns 18 but could be more depending on how it grows in the next 15 years.

I'm keen on being tax-efficient (and as other people have said, keeping charges down), but I'm not keen on a blanket policy of locking money away until children are 18 and then making it entirely available to them.

My concern is that there may be very justifiable reasons that they would like money before that age (one is raising money for a choir tour of Europe for example, and I'm happy to contribute to that), and it's not impossible that the children would have grown up less financially responsible than they in fact have!

is this something you do, if so what sort of savings and investments do you make?

We started an ISA with the children's initial government payout and we add a little to each account every month to build it up.

Is this something other members of your family do for your children?

Grandparents have added to them in the past yes. But not regularly.

If you don't save or invest at present, do you think this is something you'd consider in the future?

N/A

Regards
Lucy

We put regular money away monthly for DS as soon as we are paid - that way, it just goes in to his savings and we don't have to worry about it at the end of the month. We have a high (relative!!) interest rate regular saver we use but look for best rates annually & would move savings for better rates

He also has premium bonds from his grandparents

We save each month for the kids in bonds. Not a huge amount, but there should be enough for driving lessons or a RTW ticket or deposit on a rental flat when they're older. Would love to increase it.

We're investing in their education instead of savings... it isn't easy and we are lucky to be able to afford that, but we couldn't afford both the education and the savings

We have a JSA with Charles Stanley Direct. A lot of reading and shopping around by my DH to find the best rate.

I don't save for my child at the moment, but I am planning to start in the New Year.
Junior ISAs will be my first port of call to research, I think!

We shop around for the best deal. It sometimes doesn't have to be the ones which are marketed as children's accounts. I have a stocks and shares Isa in my name which is "earmarked" for my kids. I remember the opposite happening when I was a child - I had a load of different saving accounts in my name with the building socs with my dad's money in them. They all qualified for demutualisation shares whilst that was going on in the 80s and 90s. Did for me and all my siblings and that was our university money.

Thanks for all the comments - winner of the £300 voucher is MrsLittner