University savings fund

locky76

My wife and I have an eight month old baby boy adn would like to set up a university savings account for him.
We would be looking at putting aside maybe €20 each per week and at the end of each year investing this in some long term savings account which would keep us ahead of inflation.
By the time the young fella would be going to colege we would have the equivalent of €30k+ in todays money put aside, this should take some of th sting of college away.
My question to you is where would you recommend we put our money, we want a bullet proof option which will keep us ahead of inflation.

Atlantic Dawn

Here's a compound interest calculator which should help calculate how much you need to be putting away http://www.moneychimp.com/calculator/compound_interest_calculator.htm
*bare in mind this doesn't take account of DIRT.

You will likely find it difficult to find a good rate of return above 2 or 3% for saving €20 a month. If you had a lump sum built up you could get good rates on a term deposit so best option might be to put the €1020 each year in a term deposit over 10 years, you should get a return of 4-5% on this. Perhaps the best option is save the €20 a month in a savings account and at the end of the year stick the balance in a 10 year fixed term deposit account.

Rabodirect offer 4.1% over 10 years on sums of €500 plus.
http://www.rabodirect.ie/term-deposits/default.aspx

locky76

Cheers at AD, our idea is to put €20 each aside and invest the accumulated €2080 at the end of every year so this should tie in nicely with what you suggest below.

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Here's a compound interest calculator which should help calculate how much you need to be putting away http://www.moneychimp.com/calculator/compound_interest_calculator.htm
*bare in mind this doesn't take account of DIRT.

You will likely find it difficult to find a good rate of return above 2 or 3% for saving €20 a month. If you had a lump sum built up you could get good rates on a term deposit so best option might be to put the €1020 each year in a term deposit over 10 years, you should get a return of 4-5% on this. Perhaps the best option is save the €20 a month in a savings account and at the end of the year stick the balance in a 10 year fixed term deposit account.

Rabodirect offer 4.1% over 10 years on sums of €500 plus.
http://www.rabodirect.ie/term-deposits/default.aspx

Frank Grimes Jr

You could set up a high interest, currently 4%, regular savings account and then withdraw the funds annually and purchase a An Post Savings Certificate, 21% return after 5.5 years tax free. Then reinvest in the Savings Certs again or whatever offers the best rate at the time.

Askaboutmoney.com have a frequently updated Savings Best Buys thread on their forum.

An alternative is investing in a mutual fund, preferably in conjunction with something secure like the An Post Certs. I'd imagine there are quite a few similar to this Eagle Star offering. You'd want to be fully informed of fees, allocation rate and monthly and annual charges before signing up. No point taking the risk on a bigger return if the company is rifling your pockets at the same time - I've been to that party