Starting in April 2016
[NOTE: From 2024 Junior NISA Accounts are no longer available.]
It seems as if the government has finally gotten around to implementing the Junior NISA account.
Basically this is a NISA account for children (it’s available to anyone under 20). It’s designed to allow parents and grandparents to invest on a child’s behalf. The child can’t get access to the money until they are 18, and the account will be converted to an adult NISA account once they reach 20.
It looks like we’ll be able to put up to 800,000 yen a year into the Junior NISA accounts.
More info in Japanese here.
A good option for families that have maxed out the adult NISAs and would like to give their children a head start in life. I will be opening one of these for my 3-year old granddaughter, and hopefully the family will help me fill it up.
Here’s hoping the government will also get around to extending the duration of NISA accounts and increasing the contribution levels 🙂