What savings products are best for your children?

According to the survey “Parents and Saving for Their Children,” conducted by IFOP for SicavOnline, 85% of parents report having opened at least one savings account for at least one of their minor children. 

53% of parents have opened only one savings account for their children, and 25% have opened two. Based on the average of the responses, parents open 1.5 savings accounts for their children. 
 

Specifically, the Livret A is the savings account most commonly chosen by parents for their children. In fact, two-thirds of them choose this savings product (67%), and to a lesser extent, one-third have opened a youth savings account (33%)—these accounts currently offer a relatively attractive return (3%) despite inflation remaining above that threshold.
 

However, it is the significant increase in life insurance among our survey respondents that is worth noting. In fact, 21% of parents report having taken out a life insurance policy for at least one of their children. Yet, when they themselves were minors, only 8% of their parents had taken out a life insurance policy for them—a 13% increase.
 

As for the main reason for opening a savings account for a child, it is primarily to help them finance a future project (real estate, travel, education, etc.), cited by 44% of respondents.

According to the survey results, 75% of parents of minors had a savings account opened for them when they were young, compared to 85% who are currently doing so for their own children. 
 

On average, their own parents opened 1.3 savings accounts, which is 0.2 percentage points less than today. While a slim majority (56%) of them also opened only one account, more of them today have opened two (25% compared to 16% of their parents at the time).

This depends on their own parents’ savings behavior when they themselves were minors. 
 

Parents who opened a savings account when they were minors are, in fact, more likely to have opened at least one savings account for their children (93%, or 8 percentage points above the average). 
 

Conversely, a significantly smaller proportion of those whose parents had not opened a specific product intended for them have opened at least one product for their children (60%, or 25 percentage points below the average).