Childrens allowance

So busy we can't see all the posts.

We went the state savings route. The return's as good as you'll get without risk or tax. It worked out well and we gave the kids the money shortly after each married. They were flabbergasted by the amount at a time when it really was of value to them.

In practical terms State Savings as as damn near risk free as you can get. Of course it may slip below inflation but from a protection of your investment point of view its safe: any perception of risk is academic.

I saw some people who were advised that since the banks were all guaranteed by the government, they were essentially the same risk as government bonds. These people did pretty well by investing in Irish government bonds.

The outcome for state savings would be political rather than financial. No politician is going to burn the savers of Ireland, who are all potential voters. These products were always marketed at pensioners and parents. It wouldn't be a good look for the government to lose their guaranteed savings.

Anyone who is actually wealthy enough to not actually need the Children's Allowance for raising their children has access to proper financial advice about how to invest their cash.

It does, it gives an example of better returns that can be available for the same level of risk.

The Govt guaranteed Irish bank deposits before a lot of them were taken over, it was to forestall a run on the banks.

This was quickly exploited by Michael Fingleton's son who ran an office for Irish Nationwide in London. He pointed out that as Irish Nationwide was now guaranteed by the Irish Govt., deposits in INBS were as secure as Irish Govt bonds. For which INBS got a €50,000 slap on the wrist..

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/irish-nationwide-fined-50-000-over-bank-guarantee-e-mail-1.829754

This thread got a bit off topic.

OP, depends what your time frame is for needing the cash, if it's saving for college (ie more than 10 years), equitiy fund sounds approporiate for a better return than 10% total over 10 years.

All the life companies have funds, Aviva, Zurich etc.

Call a broker and chat through the options. Most will meet for no initial fee (they get paid by the life company if you go ahead with the policy.

Too risky. I did those for 10 and 15 year periods in the past and list on both investments. The OP wants low risk.

Look, you can quote stats all you like but the fact remains that I had one lot for 10 years that had a negative return on surrendering it. Another was after 15 years and I just got my capital investment back. Timing is everything and you can easily get caught out. This was in the 80s and 90s BTW.