Top Junior ISAs guide: discussion

A question about : Top Junior ISAs guide: discussion

It is not true that those born between 1 Sep 2002 and 2 Jan 2011 are ineligible for JISAs. They are only ineligible if they have a CTF. The article seems to incorrectly assume that all born between those years qualified for a CTF and had one opened.

The article also makes it more complicated than it needs to be - there's a simple rule: children who don't have a CTF.

Those ineligible for a CTF were most likely not UK residents at the time.

Best answers:

• It is not true that those born between 1 Sep 2002 and 2 Jan 2011 are ineligible for JISAs. They are only ineligible if they have a CTF. The article seems to incorrectly assume that all born between those years qualified for a CTF and had one opened.
  The article also makes it more complicated than it needs to be - there's a simple rule: "children who don't have a CTF".
  Those ineligible for a CTF were most likely not UK residents at the time.
• Thanks jamesd - I have clarified this in the guide
• The top JISA I have found is 3.4% (fixed 1 year) at the Bank of Cyprus - PROVIDED you are an existing customer - it's a 'Loyalty' rate. Normal rate is 2.90%.
• Can't see these being well used for the reasons noted in the article. Also, child trust funds were worth opening even if you didn't plan on paying anything in due to the Ј250 vouchers provided (I think there's even another Ј250 voucher when the the child reaches a certain age if they still honour this)
• Do you need to open 2 accounts? i.e. a normal junior ISA and a junior shares ISA or do they come as one package from the same bank/BS?
• They will be separate products, but I'm sure banks will try and sell you both, if you choose to split the yearly allowance between cash and shares
• According to their website, Nationwide's Smart Junior ISA 3% can only be set up for under 16's. I've phoned Nationwide to check that this is so. They can't give me a good reason why it's not available to 16 and 17 year olds.
  https://www.nationwide.co.uk/savings/...mp=Intcmp_0891
• There are various incentives on offer, e.g. Jump (Witan) is offering a Ј25 John Lewis voucher for a Ј250 lump sum or Ј50 monthly/quarterly DD in a cash or investment ISA.
  With an investment ISA, however, you have to take fees into account. Jump charges an annual management fee of Ј30 + vat p.a. which would tend to wipe out any gains on smaller investments.
  By contrast, Hargreaves Lansdown offers no gifts but charges no fees either (on funds and cash, that is - 0.5% p.a. on other investments). Actually, it isn't quite that simple, but that's the gist of it.
  The HL offer seems preferable, unless I'm missing something.
  This is clearly a big subject that needs careful thought before buying, at least before buying a Junior investment ISA.
• The Jump Savings (Witan) offer is here - and is only running until the 31st December. I seem to remember that the government invested your CTF Voucher for you if you hadn't done so with the first year so there will not be very many people born within the time frame that don't have the accounts. Hopefully you will soon be able to switch your Child Trust Fund to a Junior ISA. There is an article about this in today's telegraph.
• Hi all,
  my daughter was born in August and I want to set up a regular saving for her. However, I already manage both my and my husbands accounts, which I'm starting to struggle with - I won't have the time & energy to manage hers as well. By "manage" I mean taking a good 1-year deal and tarting the money around every year. I read an article that SIPPs are a good investment for kids. I quite like the idea of the money being available once they reach 50, rather than 18 But I've just had a look at the SIPP article on here and it seems like a lot of work. Any advice on what would be a sensible low-maintenance investment with decent returns?
  Many thanks!