Have you opened a Junior Individual Savings Account (JISA) for your child? If so, it’s a great financial priority to support long-term savings goals for the children in your family. Research has highlighted that women have led the way on opening JISAs every year since 2019, when the data was first analysed.

Despite the gender pay gap, women have surpassed their male counterparts by over 9% when opening these products. Analysis¹ of investment trends in the last five years shows the number of JISAs women have opened is up 128%, compared with an uptick of 101% by men. One fifth of UK women said their highest priority future financial goal is saving for their child or grandchild, with 15% of men ranking this a priority for them. 

The analysis also shows ‘new JISA sales were up in every region of the UK, since 2019, with northern regions of the UK largely leading the charge.’ It was Scotland that led the way, with an increase of 225% in the last five years, followed by the East Midlands and North West, seeing increases of 153% and 117% respectively. However, the amount being saved has reduced over the period, likely due to the pandemic and cost-of-living pressures more recently. 

Commenting on the data, Scottish Friendly’s, Jill Mackay, said “It’s positive to see that parents and guardians are prioritising saving for children as part of their long-term financial goals… Being able to set aside a lot of money may not be an option with day-to-day financial demands as they are. But starting as soon as possible and just putting a little away into a stocks and shares JISA could build to be a substantial amount over time.” 

¹Scottish Friendly, 2024 

The value of investments can go down as well as up and you may not get back the full amount you invested. The past is not a guide to future performance and past performance may not necessarily be repeated.

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