I think for smaller amounts you can consider
Finpension invest
Or
Neon invest
Ok, but what do you think about the fund that Finpension offer (finpension global 100)?
I can’t find something like global quality factor (as in 3a pillar)
I think it’s fine.
But you can choose different allocation too. FP allows you to choose different funds just like 3a
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Dear all
I have started investing via IBs. I see that many of you invest for children separately. My idea was that I invest everything myself and later, when it is time, I just share some portion with the kid. Could someone please explain the idea behind investing for kids? Are there some distinctive advantages?
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Not in Switzerland, there are absolutely no schemes such as tax-advantaged accounts specifically for children.
Hi guys, haven’t been around for some time.
I do have separate accounts for my kids, although they’re in my name. They do get regular payments from their grand-parents, which I manage on behalf on them.
There’s (obviously?) no written agreement between my my in-laws, respectively own parents and me, but a general understanding on how and when that money should be used. For simplicity, let’s call it college-fund.
When the kids are older, maybe they also earn some own money, early, or want to save their pocket money and want me to handle it, at first.
Strictly legally speaking, I’m not even sure who that money and investments gains belongs to right now. To me, it’s my kids’.
So in that case, having a separate account is not only mental accounting, it’s at least just accounting, quite literally, actually, to separate those assets from mine.
Tax-wise, as other said, it makes no difference for small kids. I overheard from colleagues, for example from Germany that there’s some tax specific allowance for returns in the kids’ name, but that’s not the case here. All the assets and income are part of my tax return, anyway.
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As stated by @Dr.PI and @Brndete: no financial advantages.
But – at a certain age – maybe potential educational advantages?
I opened a brokerage account for my son – then close to age 15 – right around the last time when the world was going to finally end (in March 2020). Headlines in media and social “media” were only doom and gloom with amplified effects on a teenager.
I told him though that this too would pass, and put my money (to be his money at age 18) where my mouth was:
We put the money into VOO ($1000) and VXUS ($700) as well as BND ($90) and BNDX ($60) to see how those assets would develop over time. I gave him regular updates and he’s always been interested.
He’s also seen his saved money in a bank savings account receiving almost no interest over that period as well as inflation surging at the same time, chipping away at his buying power.*
Kind of a rare lesson, but I’m “thankful” he was able to experience this at an early age.
For his money invested in real assets: from inception in April 2020 he has seen his investment in VOO returning 115%, VXUS 63%, BND -5.7%, and BNDX -1.2%.
From a equity versus bonds perspective it’s mostly the lesson I hoped would materialize (even admittedly the returns are somewhat due to the timing of these investments).
Next up (or maybe happening as we speak) is the lesson of global diversification, in particular US versus non-US … 
* Before you laugh this away: it's a different thing if you're a kid and the consumer staple stuff (soft drinks, junk food that you want at that age) you buy with your own very limited money suddenly costs 5% or 10% more, compared to yours truly, Goofy Sr, who only read about inflation in Switzerland in the newspaper, hardly ever looks at the price of items he shops, never even asks for receipts for his grocery shopping (let alone checks them) and perhaps only noticed restaurant meal prices going up, but this not taking any kind of real toll on the merciless inflow of dividends coming in and ever slightly increasing every year. Anyway, I digress ...
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Bogle would be extra proud, though you didn’t exactly shell out did you? 
I got 10 BRK.B shares in the first week of Jan last year for my kids, and am adding to it with divvies, then I plan to tell them the basics and ask them to prepare an essay of sorts, giving me info on Berkshire, Buffett, compounding etc before I transfer them to them. My dad had me do math to get me a bag of toy soldiers (how many toy soldiers are in the shop, extrapolated from one bag) and I didn’t appreciate him for it, bet my kids won’t love it either but it’ll be good for them in the long run
Just want to share one anecdote.
Not sure if this applies to everyone but something to think about
One of my friend‘s child had some sort of fund which he got access as he turned 18. having access to significant amount of money led to following (with some sort of rebellion)
- 4 motorbikes
- Not listening to parents
- Don’t want to study as well
- Headache for parents because child doesn’t listen
Important point here was that fund was on child‘s name. So parents couldn’t do anything about this random expenditure because banks only allow child to decide.
So perhaps investing for child is good. But investing on their name might cause some challenges in some cases
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Invest in their character and upbringing. Invest your own funds so that you can give to them when you are ready.
The only reasons I can see when you’d invest in the child’s name are:
- Tax optimization
- Asset protection
Giving a child a ton of money before they are mature enough to deal with it is a recipe for disaster. Even for adults (just look at how lottery winners turn out).
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Bogle would only be proud up until April 2020 but not afterwards when we added a couple times the initial investment sum but in stock picks ...
But I thought I didn't want to derail this thread and left this little detail out on purpose. Although there's probably another lesson in there: unless you can pick stocks -- and time will tell -- just stick with one or two index ETFs and rebalance occasionally.
Since we have rolled out this discussion again: I am thinking about opening investment accounts for children, in their name, with True Wealth. I don’t expect any financial advantages, and I am aware that it will be more expensive than me investing myself.
My goal is different.
Goofy (sorry, I don’t know @Your_Full_Name ) already described one important objective that can be achieved: that children learn about investment and, by extension, the correct attitude towards money and financial literacy, when they are 15-20, not 35.
Another objective that I am thinking to achieve is to allow them to have an investment portfolio set up and running well before they start earning. We know how difficult is it for everyone to come to terms with the idea of investing and to build their investment setup. To have an investment vehicle set up and endorsed by their parents (whatever their opinion about the parents at this stage) is an advantage. They might be able to focus on what is important at this stage financially: learn, earn, and save.
For very early accumulators, contributing is more important than saving on fees and taxes. A robo advisor is good enough for 5-15 years into the professional life.
An important point was raised by @Abs_max : too much money early in life can spoil many things. Well, I don’t think that in a setup I am thinking about the portfolio would grow to 5 numbers before they take over. It should be really a seed of the portfolio, already planted, but needing more time and contributions to grow.
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I would point out that these objectives can be achieved without having an account in their name.
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I maybe haven’t stressed it enough, but the idea is to have a seamless transfer of banking relationship, including a preset investment strategy and automated investment procedure. All one needs to do in the future is send money to a specific bank account.
Well, since the transfer is literally a once in a lifetime task, I don’t put much importance to that element and weight the other factors much more.
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This is not exactly the same situation, but I see certain parallels with a general situation: how to make someone who is not into finance start investing:
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What I mean is that the bank is in your name, not the name of the child. Everything else is done the same. The child would not even know the difference.
True Wealth opens accounts in children’s name, managed by the parents. As far as I could find, this is the only reasonable service doing it.
I prefer to avoid accounts in the child’s name.
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