UK parents are increasingly opening pension accounts for infants, locking money away for 50+ years to harness compound growth.

Richard and Caitlin Brain, who live in Swansea, pay £50 a month into pension accounts for each of their two children, aged 20 months and five months. The funds cannot be accessed until age 57, meaning their eldest child will wait until 2082. Richard, 30, works for an investment firm and earns less than £90,000 annually. Caitlin, 28, is on maternity leave from her council job.

The couple also funds Junior ISA accounts at £60 per child monthly, money accessible at age 18 for university, business or house deposits. Combined with £200 monthly into their own pensions, the family commits £220 monthly to the children's accounts. Richard states the household budget has tightened as a result. "We don't eat out as often as we used to, which as foodies is a pain," he says.

UK Junior self-invested personal pensions, introduced in 2001, allow maximum annual contributions of £2,880, topped by government tax relief of £720 to reach £3,600 total. According to the source, the market is expanding sharply. Hargreaves Lansdown reported two and a half times more accounts opened in the 12 months to April 2026 compared to the prior year. Fidelity said account numbers more than tripled since December 2023.

Jemma Slingo, a pensions specialist at Fidelity, projects that £50 monthly from birth, including tax relief, would accumulate to around £135,000 by retirement after 18 years of family contributions totalling £10,800.

Fifteen-year-old Hugo Thompson from Manchester has benefited from 10 years of maximum contributions from parents employed in finance. He said the accumulated funds mean "perhaps I'll be ahead when I'm older, so I won't have to put quite so much of my own money in."

The trend extends beyond the UK. In July, US President Donald Trump launched Trump Accounts, allowing up to $5,000 per year per child from families, friends and employers. Unlike UK pensions, funds can be accessed from age 18, though early withdrawals before age 59 and a half incur a 10% penalty and taxes. Wally Luckeydoo, a personal finance teacher in Tennessee, opened Trump Accounts for his children, aged four and three, citing desire to provide financial stability his own family lacked.