Parents are setting up pension funds for toddlers and babies

Richard and Caitlin Brain from the UK have taken early steps to secure their children's financial future by setting up pension accounts for their toddlers aged 20 months and five months old. This means the eldest will wait until 2082 and the youngest until 2083 to access the funds. Richard, 30, works for an investment firm and believes strongly in the strategy, while Caitlin, 28, is on maternity leave from her local council job, currently earning no income after her statutory maternity pay of £194 a week ended.

Alongside the pensions, the couple established Junior ISA savings accounts, depositing £60 a month per child, which the children can access when they turn 18. They view this dual approach as ideal: ISAs can assist with university fees, business startups, or house deposits, while pensions are designated for much later financial security in life.

Contributing a total of £220 a month to their kids' accounts, alongside £200 into their own private pensions and savings, requires the couple to live more frugally than before. Children's pensions, known as Junior self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs), were launched in the UK in 2001, allowing maximum annual deposits of £2,880 boosted by a £720 government tax relief top-up to total £3,600.

Stock photo for illustration only, not from the actual event

Industry figures indicate rising popularity for Junior SIPPs. Provider Hargreaves Lansdown recorded two and a half times as many account openings in the 12 months leading to April 2026 compared to the previous year, while Fidelity reported figures more than tripling since December 2023. Although children face waiting up to 50 years to touch the money, 15-year-old Hugo Thompson from Manchester, whose finance-working parents maximized his Junior SIPP for a decade, remains unbothered about waiting until age 57.