any financial advisers or people good with money?

[Elwood]

Hi people, i'm looking for some advice.

I've got 2 brothers who are both toddlers.

I'm looking to save up for them for when they are older. I dont want to commit myself to payments per week or month or whatever. Needs to be some sort of plan I can make lump payments when I choose.

Though I guess if there was something that I make small payments every month, but can top it up with larger one off payments whenever I want, that would be good too.

They both have savings accounts with halifax bank in their own names, I know I could just deposit money there whenever I want to, but I am sure there must be far better ways to get a lot better long term return on the money, as it wont need touched for say 15 years.

I have searched google etc but there are so many different things and I cant really tell whats good and whats not.

Would it be a good idea to just pay monies into their bank accounts till there was a decent amount in it, then take proper advise on how to continue saving?

thanks

[Conkers]

use this voucher

When you've found someone near to you at unbiased.co.uk.

Even if you do end up paying a small fee for an IFA.. it could save you shitloads.

[Elwood]

thanks mate will have a look into it, need to talk over with my mum and dad too as i'm sure there are tax implications if we are both saving for them

cheers

[MajorFU]

tbh m8 i would recommend premium bonds

by a few and they may win a prize or 2, if not they still got the dosh

the more u buy the more chance they have of winning

thats what my grandad does for his Great Grandchildren

right now interest rates are so low that its just not worth putting it in an account for that kind of term. Should they rise u can always cash in the bonds and open the best account at the time

[Macca_uk]

For very long term stuff you can open a stakeholder pension for em, you can pay into it (minimum of £20 per payment) and they can take it over when they reach 16 (good head start but benefits cannot be taken until min age 50).

Also most decent IFA's run off a fee, I find IFA's who work off commission are money grabbin bastards! who dont give good advice.

if you need to locate an IFA in your area try this site http://www.sofa.org/

Mac

[Oracus]

I work for HSBC, and going off their accounts, the things we could do would be to open up:

High Interest Savings accounts in your or their names, but as above the interest rate even on these accounts isn't all that great - Up to £5,000 1.36% net.
Putting lump sums into bonds - drawback here is that the min balance is £5000, but interest rate is better if you dont want access to the money for up to 3 years - 2.87%

Best option is the ISA allowance you have personally if you are not already using it. £3000 tax free, and the interest rate in an ISA with us is 3.06% from the off, and rises further with higher balances. Or a stocks&shares ISA, which has a personal limit of upto £7000 a year, but of course is linked to the stock market, not interest based. ISAs are only available for over 16yr olds, so it'd have to be done in your name, and you can only have one active ISA per tax year. Still the best option without investing the money in other ways.

If the amounts you are talking about are in excess of the ISA limits, PM me and I'll have a word with one of the Financial Planning Managers to see what other options would be available for you.

Os

[Elwood]

Thanks for the advise guys

tbh m8 i would recommend premium bonds

by a few and they may win a prize or 2, if not they still got the dosh

the more u buy the more chance they have of winning

thats what my grandad does for his Great Grandchildren

right now interest rates are so low that its just not worth putting it in an account for that kind of term. Should they rise u can always cash in the bonds and open the best account at the time

I had thought about this, but the interest rate is only 2.15% so thought that was a bit low. Of course theres the chance of hitting a big prize with these so maybe worth a gamble. Also these would fit in well with the way I want to save, as no commitments to monthly payments etc and could be bought when I wanted, and in amounts I wanted.

For very long term stuff you can open a stakeholder pension for em, you can pay into it (minimum of £20 per payment) and they can take it over when they reach 16 (good head start but benefits cannot be taken until min age 50).

Also most decent IFA's run off a fee, I find IFA's who work off commission are money grabbin bastards! who dont give good advice.

if you need to locate an IFA in your area try this site http://www.sofa.org/

Mac

Mm, interested in that for myself actually, but not for the kids. Want it to be flexible enough to be used for college/uni/car etc if needed.

I work for HSBC, and going off their accounts, the things we could do would be to open up:

High Interest Savings accounts in your or their names, but as above the interest rate even on these accounts isn't all that great - Up to £5,000 1.36% net.
Putting lump sums into bonds - drawback here is that the min balance is £5000, but interest rate is better if you dont want access to the money for up to 3 years - 2.87%

Best option is the ISA allowance you have personally if you are not already using it. £3000 tax free, and the interest rate in an ISA with us is 3.06% from the off, and rises further with higher balances. Or a stocks&shares ISA, which has a personal limit of upto £7000 a year, but of course is linked to the stock market, not interest based. ISAs are only available for over 16yr olds, so it'd have to be done in your name, and you can only have one active ISA per tax year. Still the best option without investing the money in other ways.

If the amounts you are talking about are in excess of the ISA limits, PM me and I'll have a word with one of the Financial Planning Managers to see what other options would be available for you.

Os

hi mate I havent used any isa allowance. The amount I want to save will be under £7k a year.

I assume over the time period I want to invest a stocks & shares Isa is the way to go? Can I open one with £1000 lump sum and avoid any monthly payments? (or keep them low at least)

cheers!

btw i was thinking about IFA's, just how "independant" are they? I was thinking they would have specific products to try and push on me