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

My husband and I started saving for our daughter Daphne when she was born, she is three years old now and we save most of any monetary gifts that she gets for Christmas and birthdays. We also save £5 a week out of our joint account as a direct debit for her savings. We put most of the savings in an ISA but we annually withdraw some of her savings to buy premium bonds in her name also. My parents saved for me all through my childhood so I had money to buy my first car and to put towards a deposit; I want to make it so that Daphne has choices when she is an adult and that these choices are not dictated by her lack of money.

I had some shares when I left work and as these are doing quite well I reinvest the dividend each year, so hopefully they will be a nice nest egg for my children.

I think saving for your children is beneficial (if you can afford to). We put a small amount away each month in a children's cash ISA and have been surprised how fast the amounts add up.

We put their birthday and Christmas money into their accounts, but do not tend to add to it. We hope to save for them under our names so that we can give money when we want to help them out as adults.

Mine have a Savings account, we add when we can and add money gifts they get

We haven't managed much in the way of savings until recently. We've tried to ensure our children get the best education and preparation for a working life, aiming being financially independent after university. As such, we've invested in our children. They have their own junior accounts which they can access, and have a small amount of pocket money a month. We put money in their accounts for them to pay for their phones, too. The older one has two jobs and manages to run a motorbike. I bought this and she is paying me back a little each week by paying for getting herself to work, and for any other maintenence work. I see this as an investment much more than putting savings aside, as she is learning to live within her means and to budget, and save up short term for bigger items or experiences she wants to buy.

We have a pension. We have a mortgage and this has been our biggest investment. My husband's job will provide grants towards university fees, and when they go to university we should be in a better position for putting some money aside for our children to set up on their own, when the time comes.

I really do worry about my sons financial future, with university fees, house prices and deposits, learning to drive, first car etc etc etc. We currently save a regular£200 amounts for him, and then add the odd lump sum in as and when we can. I still feel this isn't enough though. He was lucky to get a CTF, and we invested it in what we felt was the best share tracker at the time, as he has two savings accounts with hard cash in. It has gained very little, but hopefully all this will come together in the long term.

I think it's a great idea but wish all childrens savings schemes matured when the child turned 21 so they'll be finishing university, rather than at 18 where they could blow it all at uni!

Both our sons have bank accounts which Grandparents pay into, we also pay into it so that they will have a nice amount to put towards their future when they are older. We have also opened one for our god daughter which we pay into at christmas and her birthday which we will give to her on her 18th Birthday.

We always save up our loose change and it soon saves up to a lot of money we then put it into a savings account

We have Junior ISA's and put away £25 a month for each child

we always put away every month for the kids as you never now whats around the corrner

Thanks god mine worked out really fine. It was hard work but well worthed it.

I worry how my daughter will get on housing ladder so have started saving for her. It's also tax efficient for me.

We have recently just opened savings accounts in our names for each of the children. We cannot afford much at all at the moment but I hope in the future we will be able to afford more than £10 a month. The idea is that the accounts will not be touched until they need the money for something we deem worthy (ie towards a house deposit or similar). They are only 2.7 and 8 months so a long way off. I am happy to keep the money in my name so they don't blow it on a holiday when they hit 18. My ds1 does have a junior isa which my inlaws insisted we open for him so they could pay into it. I think they made a few payments in the first year of his life but nothing for a long time. I am a bit annoyed at this because I just wanted a normal account for him but they insisted. Oh well.

Always encouraged savings and have lead by example - a lot has rubbed off on the children but the girls do still to tend to fashion shop as if it was going out of fashion !!

I pay in at least £50 per each month in to my daughters saving account
I am happy to receive statements every 3 months with the funds in the account and any added interest, The interest is actually quite good
I do worry about what the money will be spent on I am going to make sure my daughter is aware of what is important in life and values money
I remember receiving my savings when I was a young teenager and I really did waste it! I regret that until this day because my family saved that funds for me!
I have learnt my lesson for sure
I don't stress about not being able to afford more than £50 a month because at the end of the day if my daughter really wants something she will have to learn to go and get it :)

Investing is a little worrisome when you come from a back ground of living hand to mouth and has never been a natural part of your own growing up. However, I was so determined to try and offer different for my boys, we took out a small plan that allows us to save with a final terminal bonus hopefully giving them a little start into adulthood that I would only have ever dreamed of having. I think it is important to teach our children life lessons, especially financial to give them the head start I didnt have.

I have been saving my sons birthday/Christmas money in a safe at home, I've looked at getting him an account but it all seems too complicated and I don't know which one to opt for. There is so much jargon I simply don't understand. It's something I've been meaning to get sorted for a long while now but one of those things I just haven't got around to doing.

I split from my sons father when he was 6 months old, we agreed to pay money into a trust fund each month but that fell by the wayside on his part and I can no longer do it as I don't receive much in child support from him now that he lives overseas. I worry alot about how my son will manage when he is older as I will not have the funds to help him in the same way my family have done with me, I also don't own my own home and by the time he is old enough it will be almost impossible to buy a house, I worry about the implications for him and can only pray I win a nice fat sum on the lottery!!

We just missed out on the child trust fund for my DS, so any money he receives for Birthday's/Christmas etc goes into a saving account. We have also set the same up for my DD. I pay in a little to each each month to keep the account open, and it also means over time, they will each have a little bit of money to help them out in the future.

My son has a ctf, however, my ex set this up and insisted it was a cash not shares one, and as a result has a pitiful interest rate, so I don't pay in to it. Instead I have money in shares for a large company that I used to work for. It is in my name but I got the tax relief when paying into it. Technically my savings, but ear marked as a uni/car/house fund for my son.
He also has an instant access savings account that pocket money and gift money goes into. Pays pretty much no interest but good for teaching about money that he is allowed to spend.

I've been putting money away each month in an isa since their birth

being honest I havent saved for my children life is hard enough living week to week . Yes I sometimes feel guilty but they have clean clothes food in there bellys and love which I refuse to feel guilty for.

All our DCs have savings accounts which we paid into when they were young and now they deposit.