Best portfolio investment accounts for 2025

Parents and grandparents are increasingly turning to custodial investment accounts to give children an early financial start. These accounts (formally known as UGMA or UTMA accounts) allow adults to invest money on behalf of a child until they reach adulthood.

Unlike traditional savings accounts, custodian accounts can hold stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds, giving young investors the opportunity to benefit from long-term market growth. But each platform has different fees, features, and transfer rules, and choosing the wrong platform can lead to unexpected tax or financial aid consequences later.

We’ve reviewed and tested the most popular custodial investment accounts available in 2025, comparing each on cost, ease of use and flexibility. Whether you’re saving Christmas money, investing an inheritance, or teaching your child about stocks, here’s what to know before opening a UTMA or UGMA account and top providers.

Glance:

• Best overall:Charles Schwab
• Best for teens: Youth of sincerity
• Best for Roth IRA:FutureMoney

The best brokerage companies for depository investment accounts

Our top picks for custody brokerage firms are very similar to our list of the best brokerage firms overall.

These brokerages feature easy-to-setup accounts, helpful account reports, and no-cost trades for stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds. Most of them also automatically enroll users in dividend reinvestment programs, so all your money stays invested.

Charles Schwab

This custody account is from Charles Schwab Offers $0 minimums, $0 trades. And if you already have your own Schwab accounts, you can manage your custody account from the same control panel.

But perhaps the best thing about Schwab is that it offers “smart portfolios” (robo-advisor portfolios) that come with no advisory fees. These portfolios are monitored daily and automatically rebalanced as needed.

You will need to invest at least $5,000 in a minor’s custodial account before they become eligible to use the Smart Wallets service. But once you reach that mark, it’s an incredibly low-cost way to create a diversified, automatically managed portfolio of ETFs for your child or grandchild.

Al-Ikhlas youth account

The Fidelity Youth™ Account is a savings, investing and spending account for teens. It’s an easy-to-use account for your teen, where you can invest with no monthly fees or account minimums!

Teens can invest in stocks for as little as $1 through fractional shares. Your teen can learn how to save and spend smarter with their debit card without local ATM fees. Teens can link their accounts to popular payment apps like Venmo and PayPal. Additionally, parents can set up alerts and monitor their teen’s account activity online, through statements, merchant confirmations, and debit card transactions.

FutureMoney

FutureMoney offers an easy way for parents to help their children invest their savings. Parents can do this by setting up regular recurring deposits and allowing their children to invest the money.

The Junior Roth IRA is the primary investment vehicle offered by FutureMoney. It’s not an actual Roth IRA directly (but it can be — the app helps walk you through it). Instead, he uses a 529 plan that can be rolled over to a Roth IRA after 15 years.
Parents and children can contribute up to $35,000 per child per year. This money grows tax-free and can become the foundation for future retirement savings.

The platform offers fully managed investment portfolios. You can choose a portfolio based on your financial goals or important issues like climate change or the fight against poverty.

Vanguard

You’d be hard-pressed to find a brokerage that offers lower-cost index funds than Vanguard. The company also has one of the best lists of target-date funds, which can be a great way to invest money in a custodial investment account that you hope they will use at a specific time (such as when they go to college).

As with all brokers on this list, Vanguard does not charge any commissions on stocks or ETFs. Internal mutual funds trade for free, too. There are no registration fees to open a Vanguard UGMA/UTMA account either.

Applications for preparing probate investment accounts

If you don’t have a large amount to invest, but want to get started, the app might be a good option for you. These apps help users invest small amounts of money, to help their portfolios grow over time. They can also be useful tools to help teach children about money.

Green light

Greenlight is a debit card and investment app for kids and their parents. It’s probably one of the most popular checking account options for families, but it also includes an investment account.

Greenlight allows kids to buy fractional shares of stocks and ETFs (worth less than $1) with no trading fees.

The downside to Greenlight is pricing – starting at $10.98 per month to unlock investing features.

UGMA fabric

Fabric is traditionally known for its life insurance products, but it recently launched a UGMA account that is a good alternative to a 529 plan. This account allows you to save in a taxable account for your children’s future.

This account has a monthly fee of $3 per month for a single account, and $5 per month for a family with multiple accounts (no limit even if you have 8 kids). This account also allows for personal gifts, which is a great way to get family and friends to help save!

Early walnut

Early walnut It creates a custodial account and allows the parents to benefit from small investments (small increase investments). The service is included in the Acorns Gold plan which costs $12 per month for the whole family.

Paying $12 per month ($144 per year) can be a hefty fee for relatively small balances. However, Acorns can get users into the habit of saving for their children. Additionally, keep in mind that one flat fee covers your entire family. There is no additional cost to add multiple children.

Before you open an investment account

• It cannot be returned -Unlike education savings accounts, UTMAs are an irrevocable gift. It will be delivered to the account holder upon the age of majority in your state. There is no “get out” requirement if your child is irresponsible.
• May be subject to gift taxes – Minors will not be taxed if you contribute excessively to their accounts. But gifts worth more than $15,000 per year could be taxable. Learn more about gift tax.
• Children can use money for anything -Once the account is handed over to the child, they can use the money for anything they want. They may be careful, but they may also spend money on something trivial.
• Financial aid may be affected Custody accounts tend to have a significant impact on a child’s ability to receive need-based college aid. If the goal is educational savings, other accounts may be better.

The most important features in custody accounts

Custodial accounts can be a useful way to transfer money to the next generation. But these calculations have some drawbacks. These are some things to consider before opening a UGMA or UTMA account for your child.

Although everyone wants something different in an account, these are some features that make sense to consider.

• Easy to use Ease of use should be taken for granted these days. Unfortunately, many brokerage companies hide information in places that are difficult to find. The brokerages we recommend make it easy to track performance, make trades, and even invest automatically.
• Low fees – Don’t bother paying high fees for your custody accounts. Accounts with no trading fees and low fees on funds (mutual funds or ETFs) are readily available.
• Ease of legal compliance Custody accounts are accounts owned by minors. Good brokerage firms will make it easy for parents to accurately file taxes based on their children’s assets.
• Available assets – Some investors prefer broad-based index funds. Others prefer individual stocks or bonds. We have not reviewed any accounts containing “real assets” or substitutes (such as mortgage securities or real estate). However, most of our recommendations offer a variety of investment options.

Don’t forget to consider alternatives

Although the custodial investment accounts listed above offer great value, they are not your only account choices. If you’re specifically looking to save for a child’s college, an education savings account like a 529 plan or Coverdell ESA may make more sense. Both provide strong tax advantages when used for qualified educational expenses.

Even if you don’t expect that the money you save for the child will be applied to education costs, a custodial account may not always be the best option. Alternatively, you may prefer to keep the funds in your own account. This way you can give it as a gift when you feel confident that the child is ready to use the money responsibly.

Saving money for your children’s future is a great decision. But before you dive in, carefully evaluate the pros and cons of each of the savings vehicles available to you to find the one that offers the best combination of features, costs, tax advantages and flexibility.

Frequently asked questions about custodial accounts