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

Whatever we have spare at the end of every month (which is sometimes nothing!) we put into our two daughter's savings account. We think it's important to give them something when they are older to give them a helping hand.

I have put away £200 a month since my daughter was born she is almost 14 adn pleased to say she is very sensible with any money she gets, she hands it straight back and asks me to add to her savings, she is very ambitious and its important to her to save the money because she wants to go to uni, i wish i could say she gets her ambition to save from me but she doesnt !

I set up a direct debit for the same day my mortgage comes out along with the other bills so i dont really notice it! Its only £20 a month since the month she was born but its already at £1600 with interest so it helps!!

She will get access to it when she is 7 or 18

I haven't made any provision for savings yet but plan to do so in the future.

I just wish that the junior ISAs converted to something with a decent return when the child turns 18. Our son was 18 last week and we now have the hassle of finding somewhere to move his money to as the default one it has converted to is rubbish.

Unfortunately, I know nothing about this sort of thing

We opened a savings account for each of our children when they were born and people kindly gave money at Christenings which went in and every Christmas or birthday they now invest half the money they are given and spend the other half.
Each of them know they have this account and love watching the balance increase.

I saved money for mine every month, this enabled the eldest to go and travel after University, so I totally agree with a small amount being put away! :)

Each year we put some money into the boy's bank account which will help him when he is older

We are not wealthy, no big salaries, no big pensions and will not be in a position to ever give DS a leg up. So we have consciously saved what we could. Early cash gifts when he was born were put into NS&I child bonds , and renewed when they matured. Other dribs and drabs in child ISAs. It adds up and if you start early you do notice the interest. Halifax and the Child Bonds are the accounts that have caught my eye. Not an expert but I look at the Savings tables in the back of the Saturday Guardian.

I am currently putting money into a pension for them so hopefully when they are older they won't have to worry too much, I hope it will really help them out. They also have saving accounts which my sister, brother and mother in law pay £5 per month into plus any birthday, Christmas, Easter and Chinese New Year money. I think they will have quite a tidy amount which I hope will help towards a car or a house in the future.

My husband deals with the investments. I like the low risk option, I save money away every month.

I'm not yet saving for the children as childcare costs mean we don"t have much wriggle room. When it comes to it I will set money aside in my bank account for the children rather than stick it in a JISA, that way I can choose how I help them rather than see it frittered by a free-spending 18 year old.

we have done £10 a month for 1st year then £20 a month for 2nd year then £30 a month for 3rd year and so on, so that you are increasing by £10 each year, this way it adds up and you don't notice the increase, but overall if you can do this up to the ages of 18 or 21 it will really add up. have just put in ordinary ISA account as don't want to tie in or obligate just incase financial situation changes.

I put money away monthly for both of my children into a Junior ISA but they also have a bank account which I put birthday money etc into. Saving for your childrens future is very important to give them a helping hand when they reach 18.

We were based in Germany when my DD was born and I asked my mother to set up 2 accounts for both my children. There was paperwork that both I had to sign and provide to ensure that I was a guarantor on the paperwork. We regularly sent money to my mother, including money for their christenings, birthday and Xmas from my in laws side - only to discover 12 years down the line she has wiped out their accounts - and said bank can do nothing as there is no proof that I was ever on the accounts (turns out she set it up just as her name) and that actually - because they are under 18.....it is NOT their money and they have no rights over the adults name on the account.

What do I think of investing for kids? I did for years and the banking system has let down my children and left them penniless.....so I now have nothing to give them on their 18th

We have a trust fund for each of our Children where we save £20 a month each. It's not a lot but it's adding up. I'm hoping that by the time they're eighteen they will have a fair amount to help get them on their way. We are also considering opening an ISA for them both.

I don't invest any money.

We're saving a small amount weekly for our son so they'll have cash for the future

I wish we could afford to invest and save but it's just not feasible at the moment. We are still paying off the debts we incurred as a result of applying for visas and UK citizenship for myself and I became a citizen over 4 years ago! My father, who lives in North Carolina, puts lots of different things away for our future, which I will pass down to my son, such as an extensive American coin collection.

We have a direct debit set up for just £20 a month to top up his Child trust fund. It is mounting up & will hopefully go towards University costs.

It's important to invest for your child's future to save for their education. There are tax free investments out there that are risk free, if you don't want to put your savings at risk invest in a child's cash ISA

I have a separate fund - aptly labelled the bank of mum and dad. This is for whatever it is needed for. I would not want to tie that money up into any bonds or Isa etc as you never know what is round the corner and I like the thought of an immediate access safety net.

hi i can only save a small amount every month but it all adds up

I'd love to save for our little ones but money is so tight atm, it's just not feasible.
Because we're not financially secure just yet I won't be tying any money up in accounts I can't access, so will stick with their saving accounts which are linked to mine for the time being.