Make investing for your kids a 2026 resolution

By Vanguard

Build your portfolio

Help your children or grandchildren to learn about investing

Getting on top of finances is one of the most common New Year’s resolutions for Australians. This year, why not make your resolution to help your children or grandchildren learn about investing and save for their future?

With a Vanguard Personal Investor Kids account, you can do just that. You can choose to make regular automated investments to the portfolio fortnightly, monthly or quarterly with as little as $25 each time.

“The real magic of investing for kids is time. It allows compounding to work in their favour,” said Renae Smith, Chief of Personal Investor at Vanguard Australia.

“Whether it’s a one-off gift or regular contributions, our Kids Account makes it simple to start building a child’s financial future.”

Setting up a Kids Account can also be a great way to boost children’s financial literacy.

“At Vanguard, we want to support Australians in building financial knowledge and change the way they invest,” Ms Smith said.

“A Kids Account is more than an investment: it’s an opportunity to teach children the value of money and the fundamentals of investing early.”

Choose one of four ready-made portfolios

Vanguard Personal Investor Kids Accounts offer four ready-made diversified investment portfolios to choose from – Koala (conservative), Wombat (balanced), Emu (growth) and Kangaroo (high growth).

Over the past year, the number of Kids Accounts has grown by more than 80%, highlighting their increasing popularity.¹

The Kangaroo option — which has a 90% allocation to growth assets such as shares and 10% to defensive assets like bonds — remains the most popular choice, representing 85% of Kids Account holders.²

In an example scenario, assuming investment returns of 5.80% per year³:

Instead of gifting a birthday or Christmas present, putting $100 into a Kids Account each year after a child is born could grow to around $3,100 by the time they turn 18.
Double that to $200 each year, and it could reach about $6,200, giving them a strong financial head start.
Making regular contributions could have an even greater impact on your child or grandchild’s financial future. Contributing $50 a month from when a child is born could grow to around $18,200 by the time they turn 18.

Note: The example above is provided for illustrative purposes only. It is not a forecast or guarantee of future returns. All investments carry risk, and past performance is not a reliable indicator of future returns.

“Almost half of Vanguard Personal Investor Kids Account holders make monthly contributions to their account, averaging around $100 per month,” Ms Smith said.⁴

“Over time, those regular contributions could help a child or grandchild purchase their first car or kickstart savings for a house deposit.” Vanguard Personal Investor Kids Accounts have no account fees, and low management fees and costs, which help you invest more in your child or grandchild’s future.

Start 2026 strong by helping your kids build financial literacy and save for their future. To learn more, visit vanguard.com.au/personal/invest-with-us/investing-for-kids

About Vanguard’s Personal Investor Kids Accounts:

A Personal Investor Kids Account is an investment account opened and operated by an individual adult on behalf of a child under 18.
To open an account, an adult must have their own Vanguard Personal Investor account and online access to Vanguard.
The adult has full responsibility for the account; an Australian bank account is needed to link to an adult’s Vanguard account.
There’s no obligation to make ongoing contributions. Investors can pause, modify, or resume their auto investment plan, or sell their investments at any time.
If an account holder wishes to set up automatic contributions, the minimum requirement is $25 each fortnight, month, or quarter.
To make a one-off contribution, the minimum amount accepted via electronic bank transfer is $1.
Each account will have a separate tax statement.
There will be tax implications, including potential capital gains tax (CGT) liability if the portfolio is ultimately transferred. When considering any investment, customers should consider their personal circumstances and seek professional financial advice.

^{Vanguard data as of December 2025.}
^{Vanguard data as of December 2025.}
^{Vanguard calculations based on a scenario assuming a 5.80% annual return, modelled using the Vanguard Capital Markets Model (VCMM), with an annual fee of 0.29% applied to the invested balance. This example is for illustrative purposes only and is not a forecast. The scenario assumes annual or monthly contributions over an 18-year period, with payments made at the start of each year and no payment at the end of the 18-year period. Figures are nominal (future dollars) and do not account for taxes or the impact of inflation on purchasing power.}
^{Vanguard data as of December 2025.}

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^{This document contains certain ‘forward looking’ statements. Forward looking statements, opinions and estimates provided in this document are based on assumptions and contingencies which are subject to change without notice, as are statements about market and industry trends, which are based on interpretations of current market conditions. Forward-looking statements including projections, indications or guidance on future earnings or financial position and estimates are provided as a general guide only and should not be relied upon as an indication or guarantee of future performance. There can be no assurance that actual outcomes will not differ materially from these statements. To the full extent permitted by law, Vanguard Investments Australia Ltd (ABN 72 072 881 086 AFSL 227263) and its directors, officers, employees, advisers, agents and intermediaries disclaim any obligation or undertaking to release any updates or revisions to the information to reflect any change in expectations or assumptions.}

^{IMPORTANT: The projections or other information generated by the VCMM regarding the likelihood of various investment outcomes are hypothetical in nature, do not reflect actual investment results, and are not guarantees of future results. Distribution of return outcomes from the VCMM are derived from 10,000 simulations for each modelled asset class in AUD. Simulations are as of 30 November 2025. Results from the model may vary with each use and over time.}

^{The VCMM projections are based on a statistical analysis of historical data. Future returns may behave differently from the historical patterns captured in the VCMM. More important, the VCMM may be underestimating extreme negative scenarios unobserved in the historical period on which the model estimation is based.}

^{The Vanguard Capital Markets Model® is a proprietary financial simulation tool developed and maintained by Vanguard’s primary investment research and advice teams. The model forecasts distributions of future returns for a wide array of broad asset classes. Those asset classes include U.S. and international equity markets, several maturities of the U.S. Treasury and corporate fixed income markets, international fixed income markets, U.S. money markets, commodities, and certain alternative investment strategies. The theoretical and empirical foundation for the Vanguard Capital Markets Model is that the returns of various asset classes reflect the compensation investors require for bearing different types of systematic risk (beta). At the core of the model are estimates of the dynamic statistical relationship between risk factors and asset returns, obtained from statistical analysis based on available monthly financial and economic data from as early as 1960. Using a system of estimated equations, the model then applies a Monte Carlo simulation method to project the estimated interrelationships among risk factors and asset classes as well as uncertainty and randomness over time. The model generates a large set of simulated outcomes for each asset class over several time horizons. Forecasts are obtained by computing measures of central tendency in these simulations. Results produced by the tool will vary with each use and over time.}