We all want the best for our kids. Many HL clients certainly do – parents trust HL with over £2bn of their children’s investments and over 198,000 kids have an HL Junior ISA (JISA).
But where do they invest it and why?
To find out, we spoke to some of our HL colleagues about how they’re investing their own children’s Junior ISAs.
It’s always interesting to see what others are getting up to. But please don’t consider these as investment ideas, or personal recommendations. None of this is personal advice. All investments can rise and fall in value, so you could get back less than you invest. If you’re not sure what’s right for you or your child, ask for financial advice.
These HL colleagues aren’t investment experts and don’t work in our professional research teams.
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Maike Currie, Head of Content, Marketing team
"Investing for two children, and managing this fairly, can often leave parents facing a number of challenges. Do you pick the same investments for both children? How do you make up for the shortfall one child may face due to their market timing not being as favourable as the other?
Ultimately, it comes down to personal preference.
I’ve chosen different investments for my two children, while ensuring both are well diversified across different regions and asset classes.
The oldest holds the Rathbone Global Opportunities Fund, a Wealth Shortlist fund, managed by seasoned investor James Thomson among her holdings. While the youngest has a slice in the Fidelity Index World Fund, another Wealth Shortlist fund, with diversification across different regions and the competitive price tag of a tracker fund.
The Rathbone fund has exposure to smaller companies, which come with a greater likelihood of growth over the long term but are higher risk. The fund also has some exposure to emerging markets, which also adds risk. Ultimately, the aim is for the capital in their JISAs to grow until they reach age 18.
I hope that holding different investments will make for some interesting discussions, and healthy investment-related sibling rivalry, when they’re older.
The most important bit? It gets the whole family talking about investing."
Tom Nall, Head of Investment, Proposition team
"This year we’re trying to give our children an appreciation of the ‘8th wonder of the world’ – compound investment returns. As they’re only four and six years-old, the beauty is we have time on our side!
They have JISAs with a monthly direct debit into an HL Ready-Made Investment, the HL Adventurous Managed fund. We wanted something simple, with the comfort of experts managing our money through all the changes global politics throw at us.
It’s great to show them how their JISA is doing on the HL mobile app, and see the next monthly update. Our next lesson is ‘deferred gratification’…"
Ryan Kenny, Retirement and Advice Manager, Marketing team
"I have a JISA for my daughter.
We save into it each month, as does her great grandad. Although it’s a small amount, with nearly an 18-year time horizon, I know it has the potential to grow into a good nest egg for her.
She has enough toys and books that have been passed to us from friends and relatives, so I often ask for birthday donations to her JISA instead. As she has plenty of time to ride the ups and downs of investing, I’ve chosen a global equity fund which is very growth focused.
When she turns 18, the choice will be hers about what to do with it. But I’m hoping she’ll continue investing and eventually use it for something sensible, like a deposit for a first flat, or towards higher education costs – if that’s the path she wants to take."
Looking for expert investment ideas?
For expert investment ideas for your children, explore our research team’s latest Junior ISA investment inspiration.
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