We're saving £100 a month for our kids but they won't get it until they're 57

Richard Brain says that opening pensions for his young children means a few financial sacrifices now

Richard and Caitlin Brain's two children are aged just 20 months and five months respectively, yet mum and dad have already set up pensions for them.

So the eldest will have to wait until 2082, and the youngest until 2083.

"Paying into their pensions means we can play a part in their future far beyond our own years. And the money has decades to grow."

Richard's financial knowledge is explained by the fact he works for an investment firm. Caitlin is currently on maternity leave from her job working for the local council.

In addition to their children's pensions, Richard and Caitlin have also set up Junior ISA savings accounts for them, and pay in £60 a month per child - money the kids will be able to access when they turn 18.

Paying a combined £220 a month into their kids' funds, in addition to £200 into their own private pensions and savings, the couple say they must live more frugally than in the past.

"And we don't go as big for one another on birthdays and Christmas so that we can still do it for the kids."

Pensions for children, also called Junior self-invested personal pensions (SIPPs), were introduced in the UK in 2001. You can pay in a maximum of £2,880 per year, which the government will then top up with £720 tax relief to make a total £3,600.

One provider, Hargreaves Lansdown, says that in the 12 months to April 2026 it had seen two and a half times as many accounts open, external as in the same period a year earlier.

While giving their kids a pensions head start is a powerful incentive for some parents, how do the children themselves feel about not being able to touch the money for potentially 50 years or more?

"The money invested means perhaps I'll be ahead when I'm older," he says. "So I won't have to put quite so much of my own money in! I want to retire earlier than the state pension age so this will all help."