A reader has asked: I would like to start a Junior ISA for my new granddaughter and would have considered Nutmeg, with which I was familiar [but has been retired and rebranded as J.P. Morgan Personal Investing, as per its parent company]. Who would you recommend now? I intend investing the current maximum of £9,000 per year, funded either from my tax-free SIPP allowance or my general investment account (GIA).
Saving into a Junior ISA (JISA) for a young person is one of the best starts you can give them, laying a solid financial foundation for them early on. Only parents or legal guardians can open a JISA on behalf of the under 16 year old, so you may need to work with your granddaughter’s parents on this. However, once the JISA is open, grandparents can contribute money to it, along with other family members and friends.
As you know, you can tuck away £9,000 a year into a Junior ISA. While this can be put into either cash or stock and shares, given the long time frame – the child can not access the money in the JISA until they are 18 and as you say your granddaughter is just a baby – you should consider investing the money. This gives it the best chance to grow over the next almost two decades, during which time it should be able to ride out any market downturns and still beat the return on cash – with all gains tax-free in the JISA wrapper.
In terms of which JISA you choose for your granddaughter, this will likely depend on a number of factors such as cost (arguably the most important over the 18 years we’re talking about), investment choice, the ease of use of its app or and its customer service.
However your first choice, Nutmeg, is indeed no more. Well by name at least. The digital wealth management platform – which has around 265,000 customers – was rebranded in November as J.P. Morgan Personal Investing, a step long-coming after JP Morgan Chase acquired Nutmeg in 2021.
While the Nutmeg accounts will remain the same, they will operate under J.P. Morgan Personal Investing. To that end, J.P Morgan Personal Investing does still offer a Junior ISA and its fees are the same as when it was Nutmeg – but these are pretty pricey. The annual cost for £9,000 invested in its most popular fully managed portfolio is £87.30 (equal to 0.97%). This is more expensive than other options on the market.
For example the top three cheapest JISAs are:
- Fidelity – no annual platform fee, a £1.50 dealing fee for deals as part of a regular savings or withdrawal plan, or for a reinvestment of income or a dividend, and a charge of £7.50 for each deal placed online. Phone trades are charged £30.00 for each deal.
- Hargreaves Lansdown JISA – no annual platform fee or online dealing charges, a 1% fee (minimum £20, maximum £50) for share trades over the phone or by post, plus extra charges for foreign exchange deals.
- Charles Stanley Direct – 0.3% annual platform fee (minimum of £5 per month up to a max of £50, plus a charge of £4 each fund you buy or sell and £10 per share deal, though you do receive £50 worth of trading credits every six months, no minimum account value required.
As well as fees you’ll want to look at things like customer service and ease of use. One way to judge this before you actually go with the company in question is to look at industry awards.
That said, JP Morgan Personal Investing does point out it was named best JISA in the 2025 Boring Money awards, which is true (back when it was Nutmeg). Though it wasn’t alone in this – Fidelity, Hargreaves Lansdown, Vanguard and Wealthify all took home the Boring Money Best JISA award in 2025.
The criteria for the award included costs but also ease of use – like how easy it is for grandparents like yourself and others to chip in with gifts.
So given Hargreaves Lansdown and Fidelity are both among the best on charges and recent award winners, it makes them strong contenders for who you should ultimately go with for your granddaughter’s JISA.
Both are large, secure companies. Fidelity is judged to have good research tools and while it might be lacking on the digital experience-side, it offers solid customer support. Hargreaves is viewed as a good all rounder, and offers extensive research and insights on its website if you are keen to get hands-on with picking the investments that will hopefully grow over the next two decades.
Either are solid options worth considering for a JISA for the newest addition to your family.
Laura has been a financial journalist for more than 10 years, and was on staff at the Telegraph before going freelance in 2019. Her experience includes hosting podcasts and panels, and she writes for the Times and Sunday Times, Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday and the Sun, as well as trade titles. She now lives by the sea in Aberystwyth, west Wales.
You can contact Laura at info@goodmoneyguide.com
