Investing for a newborn babygirl
Hi everyone,
My partner and I just had a baby girl (1 month old), and we want to start investing for her future immediately to take full advantage of compounding interest over the next 18-20 years.
We are both based in Belgium and are ING clients. We want a setup that allows family (grandparents, godparents, us, etc) to contribute easily, is automated, low-cost, and fully compliant with Belgian taxes (no manual TOB or foreign account declarations).
After some research, we came up with this 3-step plan. Could you let us know if this makes sense or if we are missing a better alternative?
* **Step 1 (The "Piggy Bank"):** Open a dedicated Kids Savings Account at **ING** under our daughter's name. This is where family members can directly send money for birthdays/holidays, and where we will set up a small monthly transfer.
* **Step 2 (The Investment Account):** Open a brokerage account at **MeDirect** under *our* names (parents) to keep control of the funds until she is mature enough (avoiding the automatic handover at age 18, and doing a bank donation later).
* **Step 3 (Automation):** Set up a monthly standing order from the ING account to MeDirect. Then, use **MeDirect’s Investment Plan** (which has €0 transaction fees) to automatically buy a broad, accumulating World ETF (like *iShares Core MSCI World*).
*Note on fractional shares:* I know MeDirect doesn't do fractional shares, so if we transfer €50/month and the ETF costs €90, it will just accumulate and buy 1 full share every 2 months. We are okay with that since it's €0 fee.
**Questions**
Is this truly the most cost-efficient, tax-optimized, and automated setup for Belgium right now?
Are there any hidden fees or structural flaws with MeDirect's investment plans that we should be aware of for a 15-20 year horizon?
Would you do anything differently?
Thanks in advance for your advice(s)!