Hi everyone,
It has been a while that I was looking for an easy solution to invest for my kids (2 and 6 years old). Last week I stumbled on the friends and family advisor account. As a user of Interactive Brokers, this looks very interesting.
Is there any user here of that feature? I would love feedbacks. As I have around 300kCHF on IB, I guess that the accounts for my kids would be free.
I was considering it but finally decided to try Investart so that it’s something completely separated (I might pass the account to one of the kids when they reach appropriate age) and it also has 0 management fees.
I applied yesterday, let’s see how long does it take to have it up and running.
I have set this up for my family last year to save on custody fees as I have quite a large portfolio which covers costs for the other participants (you need 100k * number of participants in the structure so that no one has to pay those fees). This works well to that respect but this is quite cumbersome to setup as the master account takes over trading permissions and needs to be amended to give them back to individual accounts. Setting this up properly is not easy given the user friendliness of IBKR…
I tried to go this route to manage the family finances, however this is extremely cumbersome to set-up as each of the individual accounts need to have specific criterias that allow them to be managed through the F&F account.
As customer service was unable to allocate the accounts I had to give up.
In addition you need to have 100k in each account to avoid the fees.
I understand it that the total assets need to fullfill 100k*x accounts. So you can also have one with 190k and one with 10k and not pay any fees.
This is correct, it does not matter where the money sits the requirement is at account structure level not at individual account level.
I’m thrilled to share that my parents, who have always lived modestly with a limited income, recently made a special request. Aware that I have some invested funds, they asked if I could help them realize their dream of delving into stock investments, inspired by what wealthier individuals are doing. Saying “yes” brought a big smile to my mum’s face, and that moment was truly heartwarming.
Currently, we’re looking at a modest amount (around 2000 CHF), and I’d love to hear your thoughts on choosing the right broker for them. Given my mother’s age (64), ease of tracking is essential. While they don’t plan on actively buying or selling, I anticipate she might check on it more frequently than expected. Therefore, I’m considering a platform with a user-friendly interface. Should I stick with my own strategy using Interactive Brokers (IB) and set up an account for them, or do you have any other recommendations or shared experiences to guide me?
I appreciate any insights or recommendations you can provide. Thanks!
My first reaction: costs are probably much less important than ease of use.
If they already use an e banking solution, perhaps it makes sense to start with the same provider (single login, everything together).
Cost optimization could come later if desired & justified by the amounts.
I would recommend findependent in that case.
The first 2’000 CHF can be, apart from TER, invested without any custody fees (this amount can go up to 3’000 CHF with I code I can provide you with).
The only disadvantage is that you cannot freely select ETFs up to CHF 5’000 invested. So you have to choose one of the ready-made strategies, which have a Swiss home bias.
Apart from that, it’s very easy to open an account and invest with a standing order.
I’m bringing this up because I may find myself in a similar situation very soon.
One of my family members approached me for advice as he has between 100-300k that he would like to invest intelligently to prevent his money being eaten away by inflation.
Knowing this person well, his lack of risk aversion and his lack of financial knowledge, I thought about the options available and came to wonder if it wouldn’t be better for me to manage his money myself. I see that IBKR is indeed proposing this type of solution, but what about taxes and the authorities (for me and for him)? I don’t have any specific training in money management and I’m wondering, since I’m dealing with a family member, if there could be any constraints in managing other people’s money?
Do you have any experience or information on this subject?
I don’t remember where it was discussed, but: the biggest risk that I see is that they will blame you for their losses.
Don’t manage money for friends and family. Rnd of the story.
They will blame everything on you.
As the posters above, friends and family only get advice on where to educate themselves about money but I will never manage their money for them.
You guys are right. I’ll either refer him to IBKR if he wants to optimize as much as possible, or recommend a robot advisor if he thinks it’s easier.
I don’t want to be held responsible for the emotional rollercoaster ride that the ups and downs of the market can create. 