What to do with Children's allowance?

My son is almost 1 now and so far I'm just throwing the monthly child benefit into a savings account. Ideally, I'd love to never touch that money and keep it until he is 18 so I can give him a good start in life.

I'm sure you all know that savings accounts in Ireland offer you practically nothing in terms of interest.

Any ideas how I could grow it over the years? Or anybody able to share what they do/did?

NIMAN

Put ours into State Savings. Probably about the best interest rates you're going to get, without taking some more risk.

https://www.statesavings.ie/saving-ideas/saving-for-your-childs-education

moshea

Its the only money that I save via an actual investment product. The fact that (like you) I plan on leaving it untouched for a long time, and will be paying in small amounts over the duration, make me much more comfortable than i'd naturally be with my "normal" savings.

I go via irish life, as they have a product that allows me to sign up without talking to a human, and I can top up on my phone each month the childrens allowance lands, and there's a little questionaire that purports to match your risk appetite with the correct fund.

i've no particular opinion on the merit of their investment products versus competitors etc, and quite honestly went with them due to brand, and ease of use.

https://www.irishlife.ie/investments/smart-invest/

-M.

Henry Ford III

As always get proper advice. It won't be free btw.

Doodah7

Most banks have an account specifically geared for children.

https://www.moneyguideireland.com/savings-accounts-for-children.html

Open one and then transfer the money every month. Simple!

Q&A

If you're good with money and have outstanding debt then loan it to yourself. Put it towards any debt you have. When that's cleared start paying him back. You'll both be better off in the long run. The interest you'll save on any borrowings will likely out way anything you'll earn on deposit.

Umiq88

Just my approach but if you have a mortgage you should be putting (within reason) any spare money you have into it. My aim is to have mortgage complete a year before first kid starts college. You will receive next to no interest on any savings account. Meanwhile you are paying out 2-3% per year on whatever capital is owed.

I understand the mentality of putting it away for them but it makes no financial sense. Work out how much the interest on your mortgage is actually costing you then work out if you add CB against capital how much time and money you can save.

Still Clueless

We put ours into the mortgage as often as we could ensuring the overpayment was offset against the outstanding debt. A couple of times we couldn't as it was used for general living expenses - I took extended unpaid mat leave when no.2 came along and later I took a career break as high creche fees and a long commute meant it didn't make sense to work.

Once they were back at school and I was back at work we lashed the CA back into the mortgage. In approx. 8 years we have reduced the mortgage debt by almost 31k more than our original schedule for an outlay of just over 26.5k.

In the last 3 years of secondary for each we will redirect the CA towards savings for uni fees/other and after yr 1 of college for the eldest we will be mortgage free. We will then put the value of the mortgage payments aside to build up a lump sum to help them on their chosen path/apartment deposit/traveling etc.