Bare Trust

The flexible way to invest for kids

Create a trust for your child or grandchild from the comfort of your home for just £99.

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As with all investing, your money is at risk.

Written by expert trust and estate planning lawyers, at a fraction of the cost.

What’s a Bare Trust?

A Bare Trust is one of the most flexible ways to invest for children whilst keeping the money in their name.

Benefits

Can be created through our app in under 10 minutes

Trust can be created by anyone - not just parents

Access the money before the kid turns 18 provided it’s for their benefit (school fees, music lessons etc.)

Unlike a Junior ISA, the money doesn’t automatically get transferred to the child when they reach 18 (but you will have to tell them the fund exists)

Use the child’s capital gains tax allowance (£12,300 for 22/23 tax year)

No maximum contribution limits - it could be a great way to continue investing tax efficiently if you’ve maxed out their JISA

Any money you put in will become exempt from Inheritance Tax if you survive seven years after the money was gifted.

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Don’t forget that what you’re taxed depends on the current rules and your own personal situation, that can change in the future.

Create a Bare Trust in 4 easy steps

Answer a few simple questions

Download our app, create an account and tell us about yourself, the child you’re investing for and why you’re investing for them. This will give us all the information we need to create the trust.

Select your investments

Select your investments and themes. This is what the money that you put inside the trust will be used to buy. You can read more about the investments you can select here.

Sign the agreement

A Bare Trust is a legally binding agreement so before it’s created you’ll need to read over and agree to the term. You’ll then be able to download the trust agreement for your records.

Fund your trust

Make your first payment and set up a regular payment plan - if you want. Any money in there will fall under the specific provisions of the trust. Don’t worry - we’ll send you a guide to walk you through everything you need to know.

£99

incl. VAT

Includes;

A legally binding Bare Trust agreement created just for you
Access to the account for the parent of the child
Tailored assistance when registering the trust with HMRC
No restrictions - invest as much or as little as you like

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5 things to know

Anyone can open a Bare Trust

Parents, Godparents, Grandparents - whoever. Anybody who’s interested in investing for your child’s future can open a Bare Trust providing your child is under 18 years old.

The investments inside the Bare Trust are held by the person who opened the account (i.e. the trustee) for the future benefit of the child (i.e. the beneficiary).

There’s no maximum allowance

There are no limits on how much you can put into a Bare Trust each year.

Which means you can get started by topping it up with as little as £10 or as much as you like. Nice.

You can withdraw the money before 18

Yes, that’s right, the money can be withdrawn before your child turns 18.

But you can’t use the money for you. The terms of the Trust mean the money can only be used for things that benefit the child (e.g. school fees, music lessons, sports camps etc.).

You also decide when they get the money after 18

Unlike a JISA, a Bare Trust gives you flexibility on the transfer of your pot of money.

On top of this, the money doesn’t automatically get transferred to the child when they reach 18 (but you will have to tell them about the fund.

However, they can ask you for the funds at any point after their 18th birthday and don’t have to wait for the date you’d planned to give it to them. So make sure you let them know early on how you’re hoping they use the money.

It’s not tax-free but it’s tax efficient

While a Bare Trust isn’t tax free, it does use your child’s tax allowances. That means you can make £12,300 capital gains (profit when you sell the investments) every year without paying any capital gains tax. Cha-ching!

Remember, how much you’re taxed depends on your own personal situation, and that can change in the future.

Questions? Let's chat

We’re available 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday except for bank holidays.

Chat to the team

Peace of mind with Nosso

We’re transparent

No hidden fees. No complicated pricing. We charge a flat “platform fee” of 0.50% to manage your investments. There’s then an additional 0.25%-0.30%, depending on what investments you pick (paid to BlackRock). That’s an annual fee of around £8 if you invest £1,000 with us.

Learn more about our pricing

We’re reliable

Up to £85,000 of your money may also covered by the UK Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) should WealthKernel (our Principal Firm) become insolvent.

Learn about our investments with BlackRock

We’re parents, not cowboys

We like to keep things in the family. We’re an app built by parents for parents. So, we understand your niggles and your ambitions when it comes to your little ones. And we understand just how priceless peace of mind is. Happy days.

Meet the team

Frequently asked questions

Helpful articles to read when considering a Bare Trust

Finance

An introduction to Bare Trusts

What is a Bare Trust? How do Bare Trusts work? The difference between Junior ISA and Bare Trust. Learn how to open a Bare Trust.

Family

How much do private schools really cost?

There are currently 630,000 children in independent school (also know as private schools) — just under 7% of the total number of school children in the UK. For the parents of these children, school fees represent one of the largest expenses in their life. We trawled through the websites of all UK HMC schools (a professional association of the world's leading independent schools) to find out exactly how high those fees are.

Finance

Is a junior ISA really the best way to save for your child?

There’s something that I’ve always found a little bit hard to get comfortable with when thinking about saving for Z (my daughter). I’m comfortable with the money being in her name, but locking it up till she’s 18...