Saving for Your Child: The Most Expensive Mistake Parents Make

There is a ritual almost every family knows. A child is born, and within a few weeks someone opens a child savings account in their name.

It feels like the responsible thing to do. It is simple, it feels safe, and the money will be there when they need it.

That last part is true, and it is exactly the problem. The money will be there. The question nobody asks is what it will still be worth.

Nine Out of Ten Parents Don't Invest for Their Children

Recent research paints a strange picture. Only around one in ten parents actually invests for their children, according to a 2026 study by the investment trust Alliance Witan.

When parents do put money aside, it usually lands in the default option: in France, nearly half of all children with savings hold nothing but livrets, accounts that have spent most of two decades paying less than inflation.

The motivations of the few who do invest are telling. More than half (56%) say they want to put their child in a better financial position than the one they started from. Others want to hand over a lump sum at adulthood (44%), help with a first home (42%), or fund studies (33%).

These are not exotic ambitions. They are the same hopes almost every parent has. The difference is not intention. It is the method.

The Arithmetic of Waiting: What 18 Years of Inflation Does

A savings account protects the number on the statement. It does not protect what that number can buy.

Take a simple example. Money set aside at a child's birth spends 18 years exposed to inflation before it is ever used:

• At 2% annual inflation, the level central banks openly target, prices roughly multiply by 1.4 over 18 years. What costs €10,000 today costs around €14,000 the day your child turns 18.
• At 3%, closer to what many families experienced in recent years, it is around €17,000.

Now look at what a typical savings account pays. Regulated rates across Europe have spent most of the past two decades below inflation, sometimes far below. In France the Livret A, the reflex account for a newborn, pays 1.5% in 2026. Classic youth savings accounts in Switzerland and across Europe tell a similar story.

The number grows slowly. Prices grow faster. The gap between the two is a loss, paid silently, every year, for 18 years.

This is the part that sits uncomfortably: over a horizon as long as a childhood, the account chosen for its safety produces a near-guaranteed erosion of purchasing power. The risk was never eliminated. It was just renamed.

Why Careful Parents Avoid Investing for Their Children

Because the alternative feels like gambling. "I will not take risks with my child's money" is one of the healthiest instincts a parent has, and nothing here argues against it. The instinct is right. The conclusion drawn from it is where things go wrong.

On a horizon of two years, volatility is the main risk and caution is the correct answer. On a horizon of fifteen years, the picture inverts. Short-term ups and downs have a decade and a half to play out, while inflation compounds relentlessly in one direction.

The personal-finance world, from independent French analysts to family-finance guides across Europe, has converged on the same conclusion: over a childhood, the biggest risk is not volatility. It is being too prudent.

Prudence and inaction are not the same thing. One is a strategy. The other only looks like one.

Why Investing for Your Child Beats Saving: The Long Horizon Advantage

A long horizon is the single greatest financial advantage your child has, and it is the one thing you cannot buy back later. It allows an approach that no short-term saver can afford: a stable foundation to anchor the whole, combined with assets that have historically protected or created value over long periods, given the time to do their work.

That pattern is one of the most documented in finance: 125 years of market history show growth assets outpacing cash and inflation over long horizons in every market studied, with gold preserving its purchasing power across the same century.

That hybrid logic, a stable base plus a long-term engine, is what independent guides increasingly recommend to parents in place of the default deposit account, from French analysts to UK industry research showing how much cash-only children's accounts have left behind. It accepts short-term movement in exchange for a serious attempt at preserving and growing what your child will actually receive.

It is also exactly the logic behind the SwissBorg Kids Bundle: three equal parts, three jobs. In its version for Switzerland and outside the EEA, those three jobs are filled by:

• Stability: the Swiss franc, one third of the portfolio.
• Protection: gold (PAXG), one third, guarding purchasing power.
• Growth: Bitcoin, one third, for long-term potential.
• Quarterly rebalancing, done automatically, so no one has to make emotional decisions along the way.

EEA residents have access to a Kids Bundle built on the same three-part logic with a different asset mix, which you can view in the app.

No purchase fee*, no selling fee, no lock-up, starting from approximately CHF 50, or its equivalent in other currencies.

*The Kids Bundle has no entry or exit fee: the exchange fee for buying or selling the Kids Bundle is 0%, at every Rank level. The monthly subscription fee is the same as for other Crypto Bundles. You can learn more by viewing our current pricing policy.

How to Start Investing for Your Child in 3 Steps

1. Open the SwissBorg app: find the Kids Bundle under Crypto Bundles.
2. Start with what fits your budget: invest from Approximately CHF 50, with no purchase fee.
3. Make it a habit: set up a regular contribution with Auto-Invest and let the quarterly rebalancing do the rest.

The ritual of doing something for your child in their first weeks of life is a beautiful one. It deserves better than an account that quietly gives back less than it received.

You do not need to be wealthy to build wealth for your child. You need to start, and you need the starting point to be worthy of the horizon.

Kids Bundle: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q: Is a savings account enough for my child's future?
A: A savings account protects the nominal amount, but most European regulated rates have paid less than inflation for most of the past two decades, so its purchasing power tends to shrink over an 18-year horizon.

Q: Is investing my child's money too risky?
A: All investing carries risk, and crypto assets are highly volatile. The question is which risk you take: short-term volatility on a long horizon, or the near-certain erosion of purchasing power in cash. In the Swiss and non-EEA version, two thirds of the Kids Bundle sits in the Swiss franc and gold to moderate the swings; in the EEA version, half sits in the Swiss franc.

Q: How much do I need to start the Kids Bundle?
A: From approximately CHF 50, or its equivalent in other currencies, with no purchase fee and no selling fee, and no lock-up.

Q: What is the best way to invest for a child long term?
A: Most independent advisers now recommend a hybrid approach over a childhood horizon: a stable foundation to anchor the portfolio, combined with assets that have historically preserved or grown value over long periods. In its Swiss and non-EEA version, the SwissBorg Kids Bundle applies this logic with equal parts Swiss franc, gold, and Bitcoin, rebalanced quarterly.

Q: What is in the EEA version of the Kids Bundle?
A: The EEA version follows the same three-job logic, adjusted for the assets available in the region. Stability comes from the Swiss franc at 50%. Protection comes from Bitcoin at 30%, a scarce, fixed-supply asset not tied to any single currency or central bank. Growth comes from Ethereum at 10% and Solana at 10%. Like the Swiss version, it rebalances back to target every quarter, with no decisions required from you.

Q: Can I invest for my child regularly rather than in a lump sum?
A: Yes. You can set up a recurring contribution to the Kids Bundle at a frequency that suits you using our Auto-Invest feature, so the habit builds without further decisions along the way.

Growing Wealth Together.

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Crypto assets are highly volatile. You risk losing all invested capital. This article is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice.

You can learn more about the risks associated with crypto assets on our List of Risks page.

The version of the Kids Bundle described in this article is not available to residents of the European Economic Area; a different version with the same three-part approach but a different asset allocation is currently available to EEA residents.