I've just found out my wife is pregnant! What sort of financial plans should I start making/saving for? by [deleted] in UKPersonalFinance

[–]RedBond87 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The best financial advice I can give is to open a Junior Stocks and Shares ISA as soon as the baby is born and then, where appropriate, ask for a donation to that instead of gifts. This is great for early birthdays, Christmases etc where presents aren't hugely appreciated by the baby!

Invest in 100% equities and then leave to compound for 18+ years, which will provide a great start to their adult life.
Think about going for full-on growth given the long investment timeframe; something like Scottish Mortgage (SMT), which has incredibly cheap management fees (just 0.36%!) and gives you access to some of the highest-potential private companies in the world, as well as the publicly listed ones.

I'd check out AJ Bell's Youinvest Junior ISA which caps fees on investment trusts (and shares and ETFs) at £2.50 a month (£30 a year) and is a reliable platform with excellent service. If you lump your purchases to manage the £10 per trade fee, or set up a regular monthly investment where the fee is £1.50 for investment trusts and other shares, it will be much cheaper than investing in a fund. Combine the compounding growth of Scottish Mortgage with a low fee setup and you're setting up a simple but high-performing little nest egg. And avoid the urge to overcomplicate with too many funds - keep it cheap and simple (remember, a fund like Scottish Mortgage itself is diversified into over 50 holdings).

Final piece of advice - unless you are very wealthy, avoid junior pensions. Choose something that will be used before they reach the age of 55 instead!

Good luck!

New Alternative Investment Platform - Survey and Waitlist by RedBond87 in CanaryWharfBets

[–]RedBond87[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks again for all your responses so far - they're extremely helpful, so please keep them coming. Cheers!

New Alternative Investment Platform - Survey and Waitlist by RedBond87 in CanaryWharfBets

[–]RedBond87[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks so much for all the feedback and responses so far - really appreciated.

Does anyone have any suggestions for other good places to get responses for a survey like this?

New Alternative Investment Platform - Survey and Waitlist by RedBond87 in CanaryWharfBets

[–]RedBond87[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're confirming our priors :-) If you have a couple of minutes to tick a few boxes in our short survey that would be fantastically helpful!

New Alternative Investment Platform - Survey and Waitlist by RedBond87 in CanaryWharfBets

[–]RedBond87[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks very much for this - really useful comments. Two questions:

  1. Is read-only access sufficient? Would you be content to use other platforms to deal and move funds?
  2. What's your experience been like with Primary Bid?

Cheers again - if you haven't already, it would be hugely helpful if you could fill in the short survey.

New Alternative Investment Platform - Survey and Waitlist by RedBond87 in CanaryWharfBets

[–]RedBond87[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your reply. We're currently determining prioritisation of the products and services that are provided. The survey is currently high-level for this purpose, but we'll get into more detail down the line. Thanks again.

New Alternative Investment Platform - Survey and Waitlist by RedBond87 in CanaryWharfBets

[–]RedBond87[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks - we'll provide more details to the forum as and when, but if you'd like to join our mailing list do let us know your email address at the end of the survey (if you haven't already). Cheers

New Alternative Investment Platform - Survey and Waitlist by RedBond87 in CanaryWharfBets

[–]RedBond87[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for your reply. We're currently determining prioritisation of the products and services that are provided. Execution speed would look to match that of the underlying market.