It is not as interesting as I though, but it is still interesting. The account would cost 3.-/month, so only 36.-/year until your kid is 25 unless the amount on the account is more than 100k.
I agree it would make sense that it’s cumulative, but:
Is this such a bad deal?
That is one basic dinner per year. 
(And as with the regular account - this counts towards transaction fees; so “maintenance” is even less)
Where could you do it for free (and with such options for forex, US ETFs etc.)?
1 Like
Using IB until the 18th of your child for 36 CHF per year will cost you: 648 CHF, it is not a big deal if you compare it to what exist now in Switzerland: robo-advisor, avantis, swiss-broker, bank.
1 Like
My goal was to avoid going through a full account opening process. Also, do you know for a fact that it is possible to open an account in the name of an under-age person?
By the way, I think they have not provided the full information, and their automated e-mail was misinformed, so I’ve again reached out to them with the following info:
In Account Minimums | Interactive Brokers U.K. Limited, it is said:
Point 8 states:
So it is clear that I shouldn’t be charged any maintenance fees for those sub-accounts which are still in my name.
3 Likes
Let us know how this ends. In the meanwhile I’m still waiting for my $ sent to IB through Investart to arrive - it’s 14 calendar days now… I hope this won’t be the standard ! 
Funding my direct IB account normally takes 1 day…
OK, just heard back from customer service. They confirmed that I won’t be paying maintenance fees since they are calculated on the aggregate (number of accounts x 100’000$).
Funding my direct IB account normally takes 1 day…
Yeah, I’ve even been able to fund my IB account on the same day (e.g. making a transfer from Raifeisen at 6 a.m. and having it reach IB mid-morning).
6 Likes
OK! Great news for me once I reach there in a few years - I like this strategy, thanks for letting us know!
Does IB allow us to open an account for a minor?
I do not know, but as other broker, you can be the manager for someone else, so I guess that if you open an IB account for your children where you are the manager of the account, it should be possible?
Nice to read that ended well
1 Like
What did you chose between joint and individual account? I don’t see the difference between the 2 possibilities.
I believe I chose individual, for setup simplicity. In any case, if you’re married with shared rights then in the end everything belongs to both anyway.
I tried to open an individual account for my kid. I was able to open an account, but everything is in my name anf I was not able to change that. I contacted IBKR, and they told me that the minimum age for opening an account with Interactive Brokers is 18 years old. Therefore, they cannot change the account holder’s name. How did you specify the name of your kids for the accounts?
1 Like
I just defined an alias for the account on the web interface. This alias then also shows up in Trader Workstation and in the mobile app, allowing you to filter which account you work with.
Do you know if it’s possible to allow the kid to login to the sub-account only ? Maybe in read only mode ? I guesso no but it would be nice and would allow to involve them more…
And: do you know if you can move shares between the accounts?
I am not sure that this has any legal value. What I mean is that when my kid will be 18, I am worried that I won’t be able to give him the account easily and that I will have to close the account and open a new account in is name. That would kill the tax advantage of the IBKR solution.
I would be interested in that only to show them how the saved money is working for them and provide some additional motivation !
What do you mean by “tax advantage of the IBKR solution” ? Should it not be possible to transfer the account we should sell, transfer the amount and let them rebut (which is of course not ideal but given the low IB transaction costs should not be the end of the world either)
Strangely I don’t have that option in my account… 
I attach a screenshot of what I see.
I’ve just opened a ticket to IB to ask the reason.
I’m sure this has no legal value. It is still your own sub-account, you’re just choosing a text alias for it. That being said, I’m not aware of a better way at the moment to manage my kids accounts in a simpler way. Granted, I’ll have to find the best way to transfer them at some point to my kids, but anyway, until they’re 18, anything they own goes into your tax filings anyway.
1 Like
Not as such. I know you can create other users with specific granular rights (I have created an additional user for my wife for example), but I don’t see a way to limit that user to only interact with a specific sub-account.
That is available once the account is open and approved. This is what I see after going to Transfer Positions/Internal:
1 Like
OK, so this is the response I got from IB (might be useful for someone):
Dear Mr. X, Thanks for contacting Interactive Brokers.
If you do not see the option to"Create New Individual, Joint or IRA Account" in Client Portal, it is because the system detects that there are existing accounts eligible to be linked under the same username and password. You must first link them together before you will be eligible to create a new linked account.
Kind Regards,
IBKR Client Services
So, it has to do with my IS account, which I’m not planning to link… I’ll have to decide what to do with that then…