Best Way to Save Money for Your Kids in 2026

Choosing the best way to save money for your kids can feel overwhelming. Between Junior ISAs, Junior SIPPs, children’s savings accounts, trusts and premium bonds, the options are numerous and the jargon is dense.

This guide cuts through the noise. It compares every major savings vehicle available to UK parents, guardians and grandparents, explains the tax rules that apply to each and helps you pick the right option for your family’s circumstances and budget.

Whether you set aside £5 a month or £500, the principles are the same. Start early, use tax-efficient wrappers and let compounding do the heavy lifting. The rest is detail, and that is what follows.


Best ways to save money for your kids in 2026

what is junior ISA hero page

Understand what a Junior ISA is, how Cash and Stocks and Shares JISAs work, the 2025/26 £9,000 allowance, who can open a JISA, contribution rules, transfers, and what happens when the child turns 18.

What is a Junior ISA? A guide to JISAs

How-to-choose-an-investment-platform

How do I pick the broker for me? Choosing a broker is a bit like dating: you’ll want to think about what you’re looking for, take your time, and hopefully end up with someone that you can stick with forever. 

How to choose an investment platform

How to analyse and pick biotech stocks

The biotech industry is at the forefront of scientific advancement, with scientists worldwide working on revolutionary products that could transform our lives and generate substantial returns for investors. 

Who is Carl Icahn

Born into humble circumstances in 1936 in Brooklyn, New York, Icahn went on to become one of the most successful investors in the world – and he’s got the bank statements to prove it. 

Who is Carl Icahn?

Thinking about the future- how getting your pension set up right today pays dividends in retirement copy

While it may be decades away, planning for retirement while you’re still young is crucial – and future you will be very grateful.

Thinking about the future: how getting your pension set up right today pays dividends in retirement

Aging-world

Look closely and you’ll spot some grey in the globe’s otherwise lustrous mane of hair. The world’s population is aging rapidly. And as with any other significant shift in society, it will likely have a massive impact on global markets. 

The aging world and your investments

Investing-in-the-insurance-industry

The takeaway: Insurance is the business of risk transfer – and it’s a favourite of successful investors.

Investing in the insurance industry

Invest-like-George-Soros

Most of us have daydreamed about making a billion dollars over the course of our working lives. George Soros managed it in just a single notorious day in 1992

Invest like George Soros and break the BoE

How-to-profit-in-a-bear-market

An investment is said to be in a “bear market” when its value is going down – and specifically when it’s fallen 20% from a recent peak.

How to profit in a bear market

Invest-Like-Ray-Dalio

Born in 1949 in New York City, billionaire investor Ray Dalio is the founder and co-chair of Bridgewater Associates: looking after $160 billion worth of investments, both the world’s largest hedge fund and one of its most successful. 

How To Invest Like Ray Dalio

Ancient-number

In this guide, you’ll learn all about Fibonacci levels, and how you can factor them into your overall strategy.

Can this ancient number sequence improve your portfolio?

Six Ways to Improve your credit

In this Pack, we’ll demystify the world of credit scores, explaining exactly how they’re calculated and how you can improve yours. Stick with us: we’ll get you looking spiffy.

Six ways to improve your credit score

Is It Better To Rent A Home Or Buy One Outright copy

Although we all need a roof over our heads, choosing whether to get that roof through buying or renting can flummox even the brightest minds. Deciding whether to buy a house is probably the biggest financial decision you’ll ever make – so is it right for you?

Is it better to rent a home or buy one outright? 

Everything You Need To Know About Picking The Right Investment Fund

When savers want to invest their hard-earned bees and honey into stocks and bonds and so on but lack the time and/or know-how to do so themselves, they often turn to investment funds. Not only do funds allow you to outsource all the hard work to investment professionals, but they also let you diversify your dough across a variety of different assets – even if you’ve only got a modest sum to start with.

Everything you need to know about picking the right investment fund

Bollinger Bands might be the only indicator you


Getting to grips with technical analysis can seem like hard work. But if you master just one indicator, make it Bollinger bands. 

Bollinger Bands might be the only indicator you’ll ever need

Why you may want to invest in commodities

Finance can be abstract: shares and debt aren’t especially tangible purchases. For those of you that prefer actual things – welcome to commodities!

Bill Ackman: How To Invest Like The Famous Contrarian

“The guy is a major loser”. That’s what Carl Icahn called fellow billionaire investor Bill Ackman in Wall Street’s most famous fight. Few get tempers tetchier than Ackman: his contrarian approach to investing has attracted plenty of enemies. But if you can get past his “sanctimonious” demeanour (Icahn again), there’s a lot to be learned from Bill: you don't become a self-made billionaire without doing something right.

Investing in bitcoin proxies: Alternative ways to access crypto exposure

Bitcoin’s growing popularity has attracted investors looking to diversify their portfolios, but the learning curve, technical details and regulatory uncertainties can be intimidating. 

The hows, whys, and “huh?”s of investing in financial services stocks

In this Pack, though, we won’t just demystify the financial services sector in general – we’ll also show you what to look for when investing in individual financial companies. 

How much should you be investing anyway?

Say you’ve wrestled with the angel of debts, built up a buffer, and identified the slack in your budgetary sack. Nice. But before you start looking at providers or portfolios, you’ll need to have your answer to the investment equation ready. 

Whether you’re keeping your savings in cash, or investing in things like stocks and bonds, your returns can be liable for tax. To reduce the amount of tax you have to pay, you’ll need a tax wrapper.

UK “tax wrappers”: pay less on your profits

Breaking down the investment choices you have once you've built up some savings

If you’ve reached the point where you know you want to invest, rather than just keep your cash in a bank account, you’ll encounter a bewildering number of options. 

Build-balanced-portfolio@2x

You’ve decided that investing is for you, the next step is obviously: what should I buy? But it’s important to understand how your investments interact with each other within your “portfolio”.

How to build a perfectly balanced portfolio

Examine-good-bad-IPO

Initial public offerings (IPOs) drive the financial world giddy. IPOs are where shares in a company are listed on a stock market for the first time, allowing the average investor to buy a piece of their favourite firms.

How To Tell An IPO Blockbuster From An IPO Flop

What’s the difference between gross interest and AER

Gross? AER? What does it all mean? It can be tough to understand the different kinds of interest rates you might encounter as you look for a way to maximise your savings.

What’s the difference between gross interest and AER?

A guide to your personal savings allowance

A guide to help understand your personal savings allowance (PSA). Your PSA is the amount of interest you can earn on your savings before you have to pay tax.

What’s the difference between a cash ISA and a savings account?

Cash ISA vs Saving account

What's the difference between a cash ISA and a savings account? A personal savings allowance vs tax-efficient savings?

4-What-is-Cash-ISA

A cash ISA is a savings account that allows you to save up to £20,000 each tax year and earn interest on your money without paying any UK income tax.

What is a cash ISA and how does it work?

Screening ETFs@1-comp

Decided to invest in stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), but unsure where to start? Well, one solution is investment screening.

Screen For ETFs And Stocks That Suit Your Style

Save invest or trade 1600x1200

You’ve reached an exciting point. Your debts are sorted, your budget is organised, and you’ve picked a tax wrapper. You’re now faced with one of life’s best dilemmas: what should you do with your cash?

Save, invest or trade: the art of deciding what to do with your hard-earned cash

What are IPOs

Initial public offerings (IPOs) drive the financial world giddy: with “beauty contests” and rumours galore, they’re the closest we’ve got to a showbiz event. 

What are IPOs?

Pension drawdown video header - January, 2024

When it's time to withdraw money from your personal pension, you may not have to take a tax-free lump sum all in one go.

WATCH: Withdrawing tax-free cash from your personal pension explained in 100 seconds

ISA and SIPPs header - 18 January, 2024

Using your ISA and SIPP together can offer tax-efficiency benefits when withdrawing cash in retirement.

WATCH: Using ISAs and SIPPs together for greater tax efficiency explained in 90 seconds

Pension withdrawal header - UPDATED

You can start taking money from your SIPP at age 55 (rising to 57 from 2028), though you don’t have to begin withdrawing cash until you are ready to. Once you decide you’re ready to, there are a few options at your disposal. 

How can I withdraw money from my SIPP? 

Pension Jargon header - February, 2024

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering what terms like “crystallisation” or “carry forward” mean, then read on. We’ve compiled some of the most frequent terms you’re likely to come across where pensions are concerned.  

CMC Invest’s jargon busting guide for pensions  

Pension allowance header image - 27 November, 2023

In this article, we’ve explored what your annual allowance is when it comes to pensions, including SIPPs.

Understanding your SIPP allowances

ISA SIPP - green time - header - 30 November, 2023

Stocks & Shares ISAs and SIPPs can be used together – many investors don’t choose between having one or the other and lean on both offerings. The two accounts do have some key differences, however, which could alter how you use them and what contributions you make to each.


Stocks & Shares ISAs vs SIPPs: the key differences 

SIPPs basics header - 27 November, 2023

A Self-invested Personal Pension – or SIPP – is a form of pension that allows you to pick your own investments. 

What is a SIPP and why would I want one? 

Getting started cover image - 28 September, 2023

We’ve put together a few pointers below to help you navigate the app and help you get started. 


Getting started on the CMC Invest app

Female-Investors 1440x700@2x

We take a look at the research to see why women invest less… and give some confidence-boosting advice on getting started.

How female investors are outperforming

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Hospitality entrepreneur, investor and former Dragon, Sarah Willingham, talks about her relationship with money, what she’s teaching her kids and her investment style…

Talking Money: Sarah Willingham

Interest-rates-outlooks-2024 1600x1200

Interest rates, combined with inflation, have been at the forefront of investors’ minds over the past 18 months. Here, we look ahead at what could happen to interest rates in 2024, and what this means for your money.

When will interest rates go down and what does it all mean for my money?

FIRE 1600x1200

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to retire in your 50s or even your 40s? For advocates of the FIRE movement, they’ve turned that dream into reality.

The FIRE movement: everything you need to know about retiring early

Finimize economics article header - 15 January, 2024

There are loads of ways to interpret economics. It’s a field that’s been filled with lively debate from the beginning and there’s no signs of that slowing down anytime soon. 

How to turn old-school economic theories into forward-thinking economic strategies

Factor investing header - 12 January, 2024

When we talk about “factors” we’re referring to characteristics that stocks have. These may impact or indicate the potential return or risk of an investment. 

What is factor investing and how do I get started?

Debt header - 9th January, 2024

Debt can be useful, although it’s also one of the easiest ways to fall into financial trouble. But fear not – in this article, we’ll teach you how to conquer any debt mountain.

How to deal with debt and manage your personal finances

Property investing header image - January, 2024

You don’t have to purchase physical properties to invest in UK real estate. There are ways to gain exposure to this sector requiring less capital – and stress – than buying a house. 

How to invest in UK property without buying a house

Finimize Impact Investing Header - January, 2024

As well as making money, many investors want their investments to have a positive impact on the world – or at the very least, not a negative one. 

Impact Investing: Can you make money by making a difference? 

Behavioural investing header image - 15 December, 2023

A field known as behavioural finance has grown up at the intersection of economics and psychology – and has become an increasingly popular way to demonstrate humans’ irrational actions and how they can feed through to markets.

How behavioural investing can help you outsmart the markets

Contrarian investing header - 13 December, 2023

Contrarians look to find “hidden” opportunities by going against the grain and general market sentiment. This can be difficult – it’s tough to keep your convictions if everyone else is doing something different to you.

Contrarian investing: what it is and how to get started

Investing scams - green header image - 11 December, 2023

This article is all about how to spot dodgy deals. You might think that you're immune from falling for the murkier schemes out there. But don't be so sure.

Don't get fooled: things to watch out for to avoid investment scams

Silver Gold ADJUSTED header - 1 December, 2023

Investing in gold or silver doesn’t mean you have to raid a jewellery store. In this article, we’ll address how you can gain exposure to the metals and look at what typically drives their price. 

How to invest in gold and silver

Mutual funds vs ETFs header - October, 2023

"Mutual funds or ETFs?" is a common question posed by investors looking to build a diversified portfolio. 

How to decide between Mutual Funds or ETFs

Mutual fund strategy header - 12 October, 2023

The names of mutual funds don’t always make it clear what securities the manager will invest in. This information is normally readily available from fund managers, but we’ve compiled some brief descriptions of certain strategies you may come across on your investing journey.

Making sense of active mutual fund strategies 

Finimize Bonds Cover image - 13 November, 2023

Corporate bonds are a great way to diversify your investment portfolio, thanks to their (normally) negative correlation with stocks – but bonds can be confusing.

The ins and outs of investing in corporate bonds

Finimize Article - Interest Rates Header - 27 October, 2023

Interest rates are one of the most fundamental parts of finance and in order to be a good investor – heck, even a mediocre one – you need to understand the effects they have on markets. 

How interest rates influence every investment you make

Finimize News Header - 24 October, 2023

Whether it’s a new regulation set to cripple an industry or a breakthrough product that could send company profits sky-high, you’d expect breaking news to move markets and present investment opportunities aplenty.

How the headlines influence your investments (and when to ignore them)

Flexible Video header - 23 October, 2023

A Flexible Stocks & Shares ISA allows you to deposit, withdraw and redeposit funds in the same tax year without impacting your annual ISA allowance. Want to see how this works? Let us explain it in just 90 seconds...


WATCH: Flexible Stocks & Shares ISAs explained in 90 seconds

Long-term investing header image - 23 October, 2023

Many investors are content to invest for the long term by utilising broad-based passive investment products. But what if you want to try and outperform the wider market by selecting individual stocks to hold for 5+ years? Here are some of the considerations investors often make when looking for long-term investments. 

How to identify good long-term investments

M&A alternative header - October, 2023

Billion-dollar deals shake up the market like nothing else, with traders glued to their screens tracking every movement. But how exactly does one company gobble up another? 

Do mergers and acquisitions help or harm your portfolio?

Finimize Investing Style Header Image - October, 2023

Professional investors often have what’s known as a “style bias”: they tend to favour a certain type of investment over others.

The art of finding your own personal investment style

Learn article - different types of equity investments - header image

The most common form of equity investment is buying shares in well-known public companies. There are, however, a few other equity investments that you may want to familiarise yourself with. 

Equity investments: what are the different types? 

Analysis header - green version - January, 2023

Knowing your way around a firm’s past and present financial statements allows an investor to really understand that company: its hopes, its fears, and its dirty little secrets.

How to analyse financial statements and make sense of a company’s numbers

Invest like Buffett - original imagery

Warren Buffett’s investment strategies are studied by amateur and professional investors around the world – and for good reason.

Learn hub

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