Best Junior ISA provider

Clare says:

There's no doubt which provider gets top billing in this product category since Hargreaves Lansdown took the decision to scrap all fees on their Junior ISA last year.

That means you're getting a totally free account with a premium, FTSE-listed company. With over 1 million clients, Hargreaves is the largest investment platform in the UK for private investors, so you're getting peace of mind that your money is in experienced hands.

Hargreaves Lansdown doesn't even charge currency conversion fees if you buy non-UK stocks and funds – something that is really unusual and where you normally find ‘hidden' costs adding up. But not so, here.

Hargreaves Lansdown also accepts transfers from other JISAs, and also from Child Trust Funds (CTFs). Not every provider does accept CTF transfers so it's always worth checking if this is where your funds are coming from.

There's a high standard of customer service, with a phone number that connects you to a UK-based Helpdesk. One thing to be aware of with many newer, low-cost providers, is that you might not have access to phone support and customer service can be less consistent and reliable. You'll also benefit from in-house expertise from the large investment team at Hargreaves Lansdown. There's great educational resources, free insights and investment tips, suggested funds if you're stuck for ideas on how to get the best returns for your investment, and if you're willing to pay, a personal financial advice service too.

With Hargreaves, you can also link up your JISA with other accounts, although the general investment account, standard stocks and shares ISA, self-invested personal pension (SIPP) and Lifetime ISA products aren't ones we recommend as highly, due to comparatively high costs.

If you're choosing a ready-made portfolio, it can be useful to look at past performance. (Although remember that past performance is not a guarantee of future performance.) Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of historical data for Hargreaves' ready-made portfolios due to them only having been around for a couple of years in many cases. The one we can measure over the past 5 years is the Cautious Managed Portfolio. It shows 12.3% returns – a very decent result considering the industry average for ready-made portfolios is 9.9%.

The only downside of using Hargreaves for your JISA, is that you'll need to go through a rather old-school application process, printing off and sending a paper application form. There's no online onboarding with this investing giant, but it's a small price to pay for a free, premium-service JISA.

Fees

• Annual account charges: £0
• Share dealing charges: £0
• Fund dealing charges: £0

Yep, really, nothing to pay!

For any cash you hold within your JISA, you can expect to receive 3.04% – 3.76% interest (depending on the value of your portfolio).

Use this if

You want a fee-free Junior ISA from a premium investment brand with excellent customer service.

Investments

• UK stocks
• US stocks
• Fractional shares
• Bonds and gilts
• Funds
• ETFs
• Trusts
• Commodities
• IPOs
• Ready-made portfolios

Clare says:

If you take Hargreaves Lansdown's fee-free Junior ISA out of the equation, then Interactive Brokers (IBKR) becomes the cheapest provider in our top-rated list.

With remarkably low trading commissions, and currency conversion fees of 0.03%, you normally wouldn't be able to buy and sell international stocks cheaper anywhere else. But as Hargreaves Lansdown scraps FX fees for trades made within its JISAs, they are the cheapest option even with FX fees thrown into the equation.

Unlike Hargreaves, which is a platform for investors, IBKR is a platform for seasoned traders. It's not geared towards investors simply looking for somewhere to buy and hold investments, and there are no ready-made portfolios to default to if you don't want the responsibility for building an investment strategy.

For those who can use the tools, navigate the platforms, and are confident in their trading strategy, IBKR is the full package.

Fees

• Low cost
• Choice of fixed and tiered pricing plans
• No platform fees and low rates of commission
• No account minimum for cash account
• No inactivity fees until 24 months of inactivity
• Lowest FX fees on the market
• After one free withdrawal per month, £7 withdrawal fee is applied

Use this if

You are an experienced trader and want to choose your own investments rather than rely on a ready-made portfolio.

Investments

• CFDs
• Forex
• UK stocks
• US stocks
• European stocks
• Rest of the world stocks
• Fractional shares
• Bonds and gilts
• Funds
• ETFs
• Commodities
• Indices
• Futures
• IPOs

Clare says:

Alongside its standard stocks and Shares ISA, personal pension, Lifetime ISA and general investment account, Moneybox also offers Junior ISAs.

Although it is not the cheapest provider on this list, Moneybox can boast the best performing ready-made portfolios of all the providers we included in our analysis of investment returns. If you'd had you money invested in Moneybox's ‘Adventurous' portfolio over the past five years, you'd currently be enjoying returns of 65.9%. The average Moneybox ready-made portfolio return is 54.2% – way above the industry average of 27.9%.

You won't find a staggering array of assets to fill your portfolio if you don't want a ready-made option: Moneybox only offers US stocks, and 36 funds to choose from. This might suit investors who are starting small (minimum deposit is £1) and not wanting to be overwhelmed by too many decisions. However, beware that £1 subscription fee that kicks in after the first three months – that will take a big bite out of small portfolios.

Fees

• £1 subscription fee after the first 3 months
• 0.45% platform fee
• Annual fund provider costs 0.09% – 0.88%
• 0.45% FX fee for US stocks

Use this if

You want to invest in a ready-made portfolio with strong historical performance. Bear in mind, however, that past performance is no guarantee of future performance.

Investments

• US stocks
• Fractional investing
• Funds
• ETFs
• Ready-made portfolios

Clare says:

Bestinvest was founded in 1986 and is part of Evelyn Partners (previously Tilney Smith & Williamson) so it's a firm with heritage.

It tends to sit in the mid-range when comparing pricing with other providers, but it does have one advantage over other providers that might work for you if you're new to investing and after some advice on your Junior ISA. Unlike other providers, Bestinvest offers a free financial advice service. Advisors can't provider tailored advice so it's not quite a replacement for paid advice, but they can help with understanding the products, investment options and general financial planning tips.

Bestinvest's range of ready-made portfolios are particularly good value and have performed well over the past five years. Please remember, however, that past performance is not a guarantee of future performance.

The platform is slightly old-fashioned-looking but there's a good range of investment options on offer and a reliable, helpful customer service team to help with any issues.

Fees

• For ready-made portfolios / US shares: 0.2% – 0.1% (0.0% on values over £1m)
• For UK shares / other funds: 0.4% on £0 – £250k, fees reduce on a tiered basis to zero on values over £1m
• No dealing fees on US stocks
• FX fees: 0.95%
• Dealing fees: £4.95 per trade
• Minimum deposit £50

Use this if

You want to trade US stocks, or you want to invest in one of Bestinvest's low-cost ready-made Smart Portfolios.

Or, you can make use of the free financial advice offered at Bestinvest.

Investments

• UK stocks
• US stocks
• ETFs
• Commodities
• Indices
• IPOs
• Ready-made portfolios

Clare says:

AJ Bell is one of the UK’s largest and most well-regarded investment platforms, trusted by over half a million customers and listed on the FTSE 250.

While AJ Bell can't compete on fees with Hargreaves Lansdown's free Junior ISA, if you are looking to open a JISA alongside other accounts, AJ Bell could work out cheaper than Hargreaves Lansdown overall. That's because, Hargreaves tends to work out more costly on standard stocks and shares ISAs, SIPPs and for general investment accounts.

AJ Bell is a reliable platform with an reputation for excellent customer service, with a wide range of investment and account options, including its own range of ready-made funds which performed comparatively well over the past five years, coming in with average returns slightly above the industry average.

Note: Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance.

Fees

Shares custody charge: 0.25% (maximum £3.50 per month)
Funds custody charge:

First £0–£250,000 – 0.25%
£250,000-£500,000 – 0.10%
Value over £500,000 – No charge

Dealing fees (shares): £5.00 – £3.50 (if you deal shares 10+ times in the previous month)

Dealing fees (funds): £1.50

Dealing fees (AJ Bell funds): No charge

Use this if

You want all of your investments with one well-respected brand, and want a provider that offers lower costs on other products than Hargreaves Lansdown.

Investments

• UK Shares
• US stocks
• European stocks
• Rest of the world stocks
• Bonds and gilts
• Commodities
• Funds
• Exchange-traded funds
• Ready-made portfolios
• Investment trusts

Clare says:

With interactive investor, you get access to one of the widest ranges of global investments in the UK investment market: more than 40,000 stocks, shares, funds, ETFs and trusts from 17 global stock exchanges.

ii charges via a flat fee structure. That means, proportionally, it can be a pricey place to hold your investments if you have a small portfolio. There are some ranges where ii works out good value for money so if you plan to contribute the annual maximum (or thereabouts) into your child's Junior ISA, the good choice of assets, good customer service, and flat fee structure could work to your advantage. However, those subscription fees and high FX and dealing charges can make this an expensive platform for those with smaller ambitions. You may still feel like this popular and well-regarded platform is a provider you're prepared to pay for though.

Fees

• Subscription fees to access a JISA range from £11.99 – £19.99 per month.
• Dealing fees: £9.99 – £3.99
• FX fees: 1.5% (up to £25k transaction value), with reductions in fees for amounts over £25k.

Use this if

You have, or expect to build, a high-value Junior ISA.

Investments

• UK stocks
• US stocks
• European stocks
• Rest of the world stocks
• Bonds and gilts
• Funds
• ETFs
• Indices
• IPOs
• Ready-made portfolios
• Investment Trusts

Fidelity offers a JISA but, much like Vanguard which also offers a JISA, it does not accept transfers from Child Trust Funds. So this won't be the provider for you if that's what you're looking to do.

However, if you're starting a JISA from scratch, rather than transferring a CTF, then Fidelity provides a Junior ISA without any service fees. You'll get the peace of mind and perks that come with a well-regarded brand and the option of personalised wealth management and financial advice to go alongside it if you're willing to pay the fair rate that Fidelity charges for it.

As Fidelity doesn't charge service fees on junior accounts, you'll just be paying dealing fees (and currency conversion fees if you're trading foreign securities). It's possible to keep dealing fees low if you set up a regular savings plan – just £1.50 per trade. That could make it a very low-cost option, especially if you're only trading UK funds or stocks, albeit not free like Hargreaves Lansdown's product.

Fidelity won’t be right for you if you’re looking for a vast choice of stocks from across the world to invest in, however. There's a great choice of funds from across the market, unlike Vanguard which only sells its own funds. Watch those standard price dealing fees if you're trading stocks too – they can soon add up.

Fees

• Junior accounts do not incur service fees
• Dealing fees: £7.50 (reduced to £1.50 on regular savings plans)
• FX fees: 1% for transactions under $50k (reduced for amounts over)

Use this if

You want to buy funds from a low-cost brand with a strong reputation.

Investments

• UK stocks
• US stocks
• European stocks
• Funds
• ETFs
• Ready-made portfolios