I’m giving my son a JISA for Christmas (one year late)

Mouthy Money editor Edmund Greaves explains why he prevaricated over starting a Junior ISA (JISA) for his son, but is now hurrying to get one set up.

I used to be a Junior ISA sceptic. Yeah you heard me.

My thinking was this: I don’t fill my annual allowance in my own ISA, so surely I should focus on trying to do something about that first?

Plus, JISAs are cool and all but there’s an element of trusting your child to turn out not to be a reprobate aged 18 and blow the cash you’ve so diligently saved for them.

This feels like a bit of a taboo thing to say, surely our lovely offspring are all little angels etc?

I have however, had a change of heart, dear reader.

It takes a village to raise a child

One of the drawbacks of the JISA is it is beholden on a responsible parent to get one set up. This is something I know for a fact firms such as Scottish Friendly have campaigned tirelessly on to rectify.

More than one in three (36%) of Brits would set up a JISA for a grandchild, niece or nephew if they were allowed to, according to the firm’s own research.

But there are growing tech solutions that help to mitigate some of this. My podcasting co-host Chris Tuite and I were joined by Cem Eyi, co-founder of a JISA app called Beanstalk, on the podcast this week to talk about how his firm is trying to square this issue.

And I have to say, I’m not often persuaded by gadgety fintech solutions, but I think this one might have actually pushed me over the line into becoming a JISA fan.

Beanstalk sets up really easy ways for family and friends to contribute to a JISA. So the responsibility to set up and maintain the account is still a parent, but now we can ask family and friends to put a tenner in his account for his birthday or Christmas.

This has the potential to give a significant boost to his JISA fund beyond what we’re able to contribute on a regular basis.

And importantly it takes some of the jeopardy of sharing cash around out of it. Grandparents can contribute directly and regularly, as can other family or friends. There’s no fuss with having to hand money through a parent.

It really does take a village to raise a child, and this seems like an excellent modern expression of this.

My son is now over one year old, so really I’m starting late for him. I’ve gone all in 100% invested for his allocation in the app. After all, 17 years is a long time to grow him a nice little nest egg.

So happy Christmas Cosmo, here’s hoping I can start you today on a journey to financial freedom in adulthood. My only regret now is I didn’t start it for you sooner.

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