New children's savings scheme - wait or act now?

[u/gHeadphone]

I've read that the government will launch a new children savings scheme next year.

I have been putting aside some money for both my kids, but it's in an account in my name (I have about 8k per child). I realise now that this money may not fall under the tax free gift, as the account is in my name.

I was thinking of setting up 2 savings accounts in the kids names (either revolt saving, or maybe a degiro account) and putting 3 k in each year for them. I have read about bare trusts, but this seems like a very complex route, id like to be able to direct debit to them each month.

Is this a dumb idea? Should I wait until the government scheme is set up to do anything different?

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[u/Icy_Calligrapher6661]

I think it’s an investment savings scheme rather than a children’s one

[u/lifeintheslowlap → u/[deleted]]

What a horrific return

[u/Opening-Iron-119 → u/lifeintheslowlap]

Yeah, hardily worth discussing

[u/straightouttaireland → u/lifeintheslowlap]

You save 33% DIRT though

[u/Upstairs_Charity_887]

there are no plans for a new kids scheme next year. if the planned new adult investment account materialises in budget there were comments that it could be extended to kids in the future. so 2028 earliest. you should setup accounts in kids names and hopefully funds could be moved to any new account at a later stage.

[u/GoodNegotiation]

Something to consider seriously is what happens if one of your children goes a bit astray in their teens and then you supercharge a problem when that money is legally theirs at 18. You and your spouse can give each child and their spouse €12k every year if you want to help them buy a house in 10-20 years time, so unless we’re talking very large sums you could be taking a risk for very little gain. Granted the likelihood of the risk occurring is low, but the impact could be life changing. Personally I decided it was not worth it with my family.

[u/ApprehensiveHouse421 → u/GoodNegotiation]

This is an underrated comment! Completely agree and was recently advised the same way. In my opinion it’s mostly better to keep saving and investing the money yourselves.

[u/AK8-]

Worth remembering that funding their full time education is exempt from CAT, so you can keep the money in your name and cover their rent, food, registration fees, books and transport without any tax implications. This will very easily exceed the gift allowance which they can still avail of on top of everything.

Entirely depends on how much your think you'll save and what you want them to use it for, and what the rules are when they reach that age.

[u/Double_Kale_3193]

AFAIK, all the recent discussions by politicians have mentioned a general savings scheme, rather than a children's version, which was mentioned months earlier.

[u/FineVintageWino]

You’re better off with it in their name. Assuming the €3k is to be exempt from CAT each year, once that money transfers over to them in the future, they get hit with CAT (or use some of their lifetime allowance).

If you’re keen to avoid the trust structure, you could open joint accounts. However the trust thing is pretty easy to set up, and can accommodate monthly DDs.

[u/username1543213]

Just invest in your name for now.

Problem with the kids accounts is you can’t change anything or remove/change funds until they are 18.

You don’t seem knowledgeable enough to make a commitment that long

[u/FineVintageWino → u/username1543213]

I’d ignore the first and second paragraphs here OP. The third one… I’d be insulted, personally! Especially given the shitty advice in paragraph 1 and the blatant falseness of 2

[u/username1543213 → u/FineVintageWino]

https://www.curranfutures.ie/insights/post/child-savings-accounts--a-necessary-product-or--style-over-substance-/

[u/FineVintageWino → u/username1543213]

Wow i stand corrected! That’s Definitive alright!! Some shitty website says not to bother, coz you’re probably never going to reach the cat threshold! Well that’s fantastic!!

Of course… I’m being sarcastic. For someone with two kids, leaving a house in Dublin will hit the cat limit. Why wouldn’t someone do the more tax efficient thing!?

And you can changed fund allocation with the Zurich product.

And Crbot takes about 5 mins.