Locking it up or keeping it flexible

By this stage you’ve hopefully read about the importance of having goals & timeframes when it comes to your finances and you may have also made a decision on whose name you want the money in and whether you want to invest or save it.

One of the final things to think about before diving in and selecting a product is the type of access you want to the money. If your goal is unlikely to happen before the child is 18 and you’ve decided to set money aside in your child’s name then you have an option to make.

Certain children’s products lock the money up giving you no access to the funds until the child turns 18. Before deciding on which approach to take here’s a few things to help you understand the differences between the two approaches.

Advantages of locking up the money

• Tend to offer better interest rates (if locked up in cash based products)
• Likely to be more tax efficient than easy access products

Advantages of retaining flexibility

• Can dip into it for one-off costs that come up (still need to be for the child’s benefit if it’s in their name)
• Allow you have more control over when the money is used
• No upper limit for the amount you can invest in a given tax year

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Disclaimer:

When investing, your capital is at risk and may be going up as well as down which means you may be left with less than your initial investment. This article should not be read as personal financial advice.  Individual investors should make their own decisions or seek independent advice. Past performance isn’t an indicator of future performance. Please note that tax treatment depends on the individual circumstances or each client and may be subject to changes in the future.