Investing for your child — why starting early changes everything

There's one thing you can give your child that almost nobody receives in time: an 18-year head start. In investing, time isn't just important — it's by far the most powerful factor. More important than how much you invest. More important than picking the right stocks. More important than timing.

This guide explains why starting early matters so much, with the numbers — and how to do it calmly.

Want to see it for your own child right now? Open the Head Start calculator — enter your child's age and a small monthly amount, and see what it could become by age 18, 25 and 65.

The one factor that truly matters: time

Investing grows through compounding: your returns earn returns of their own. Year one, your contribution grows. Year two, your contribution grows plus last year's growth. And so on. That growth-on-growth accelerates — and accelerating takes time.

That's why the age you start matters more than almost anything else. A small amount growing for 40 years beats a large amount growing for 10.

The example that makes it click

Two children. Both have €100 a month invested, at a long-run average of about 7% a year.

• Child A has €100/month invested from birth to age 18. After that, not another euro is ever added — the pot simply sits and grows until age 65.
• Child B starts at 18 and invests €100 every month until age 65 — for 47 years.

Who has more at 65?

	Child A (18 years in, then stop)	Child B (47 years in)
Years contributing	18	47
Total put in	€21,600	€56,400
Value at 65 (±7%)	≈ €1,000,000	≈ €400,000

Read that again. Child A puts in less than half, stops at 18 — and ends with more than twice as much. The only difference is that 18-year head start. That's the power of time, in one table.

Play with it in the Head Start calculator: slide the starting age and watch how every earlier year changes the final number.

Why those numbers hold up (and where they come from)

• The return. ~7% a year is a long-run average of a broad global stock index. Some years it's +25%, others -20%. The average only appears over many years — which is exactly why a long horizon helps: it makes the bad years matter less.
• The doubling time. At ~7%, money roughly doubles every 10 years (the "rule of 72": 72 ÷ 7 ≈ 10). Money invested when your child is 5 doubles about six times by age 65. €1 becomes €64. That's where the magic lives.
• Honest about inflation: these are future euros. In 60 years, €1,000,000 buys less than it does today. But the lesson doesn't change: starting early wins — in purchasing power just as much as in euros.

The trap: waiting feels free, but it's expensive

The biggest mistake isn't picking the wrong fund. It's waiting. Every year you delay is a year of compounding you never get back — and it's the most expensive year, because it would have grown the longest.

The second-biggest mistake is thinking you need a lot of money. You don't. €25 a month started early does more than €200 a month started much later.

How to do it calmly (in plain language)

Investing for your child doesn't have to be complicated. The boring approach is the best one:

1. Open an account in your child's name — a kids' or junior investment account. (See also your child's first bank account.)
2. Choose one broad, low-cost index fund — a global index ETF is basically a basket of thousands of companies at once. No stock-picking, no gambling.
3. Automate a fixed monthly amount. €25, €50, whatever fits. Every month, automatically. So you never have to think about it.
4. Then: do nothing. Don't sell in a dip. Don't check every week. Time does the work.

Set a realistic monthly amount with the Head Start calculator, and make a goal visible with the Goal Planner.

Teach it to your child, not just for them

The best part? You don't have to do this quietly. Show your child what's growing. Open the app together once a year. Tell the story of compounding (Goldie explains it). Then you're not just giving them a pot of money at 18 — you're giving them the habit.

Start small, start now

You don't have to be rich. You don't have to be clever with stocks. You only have to do the one thing almost nobody did in time: start early and leave it alone.

1. Open the Head Start calculator and see it for your child.
2. Pick a monthly amount you're comfortable with — small is fine.
3. Open a junior account and switch on the automatic transfer.
4. Talk to a licensed financial advisor before opening a real account.

The best day to start was the day your child was born. The second-best day is today.

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Not financial advice. Education only. Returns vary year to year and can be negative; ~7% is a long-run average, not a promise or prediction. Investing carries risk; you can lose some or all of what you put in.

— Goldie 🦉