Save for your child’s education

Saving for your child’s education using unit trusts gives you control over your investment: you decide how to invest, when to access the money and what to do with it, based on which years of education you are planning for.

Watch a 49sec video explaining what a unit trust is

You benefit from our investment expertise

We will carefully manage your chosen unit trust investments following our proven investment philosophy. To build your long-term wealth with us, you can invest monthly or start with a lump sum, subject to our minimums.

Have control and flexibility
You get choice and control

You can choose a unit trust that suits your needs and time horizon. While you can monitor your investment and make changes at any time without transaction fees or penalties, we encourage long-term investing.

You see your investment grow

Unit trusts give you the transparency of knowing how your money is invested and seeing how it is growing.

 

Need to know more? See our frequently asked questions about planning for your child’s education
Sign up to our Saving for education email series to find out how you can prepare for the financial costs of education.

Choose unit trusts that suit your education savings plan

We offer a simple range of unit trusts to meet your short and longer-term education savings goals. When you choose unit trusts there is a trade-off between higher potential return on the one hand, and stability and lower risk on the other.

  • If you will be paying school fees from your investment within the next year or two you may wish to invest the money you need access to in unit trusts that offer more stability.
  • If you are saving for the later years of education, you can invest money you won’t need for a few years into unit trusts that have the potential for higher return over time. You need to be comfortable with your investment value moving up and down over the short to medium term.

The way you decide to structure your investment depends on which years of education you want to invest for. Keep in mind that you can invest for different time frames at the same time. 

Learn more about choosing unit trusts for your education savings plan.

 

Higher risk & return
Stability & lower risk
Allan Gray Equity Fund

Potential for higher long-term return, with more significant fluctuation that could last for many years.

Allan Gray Balanced Fund

Our flagship long-term unit trust. Steady long-term return with moderate fluctuation.

Allan Gray Stable Fund

Less fluctuation with above-inflation return. There may be some fluctuation within a two-year period.

Allan Gray Money Market Fund

Most stability with higher return than bank deposits. May not beat inflation over time but is suitable for short-term needs.

The Allan Gray Equity Fund
Our equity-only unit trust for very long-term investing
Suitable for you if:
  • You want to invest in listed shares for long-term capital growth
  • You are comfortable with significant stock market movement
  • You accept the possibility of losing capital
  • You have at least five years to invest, but preferably longer
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Can you tolerate significant ups and downs?

You must be prepared to wait out years in which you may experience performance that may be significantly better, or significantly worse, than in a balanced fund. It is important that you are able to remain invested after a drop, to give your investment time to recover.  

Look at the long-term return 

Returns go up and down, but you can benefit if you have enough time to wait

If you have the time and the patience to leave your money invested despite dramatic and long-lasting ups and downs, the Equity Fund has the potential to deliver higher long-term return.

To really understand how much an investment has grown over time, it’s important to look at return after inflation.

The Allan Gray Balanced Fund
Our flagship long-term unit trust
Suitable for you if:
  • You are looking for steady, long-term capital growth
  • You are ideally investing for at least three years
  • You are comfortable with taking on some risk of market fluctuation and potential capital loss
  • You wish to invest in a unit trust that complies with legal investment limits for retirement funds
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Your one-year returns may test you

Over any year you may experience good performance, or things may go the other way and your investment could lose value. It’s important to prepare yourself for the ups and downs you could experience while you are invested.

Look at the long-term return.

Returns go up and down, but you can benefit over the long term

Our Balanced Fund aims to deliver steady growth over time. You can benefit if you are able to wait out the short-term ups and downs.

To fully understand how much an investment has grown over time, it’s important to look at return after inflation.

The Allan Gray Stable Fund
Lower fluctuation for short- to medium-term access
Suitable for you if:
  • You are risk averse and want to prioritise protecting your capital
  • You are ideally investing for at least two years
  • You want to achieve returns better than inflation, but are comfortable with lower potential return over time than you might earn in a unit trust that takes on more risk
  • You are comfortable with some market fluctuation within a two-year period
  • You want a unit trust that complies with legal investment limits for retirement funds.
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Benefit from less significant ups and downs than the Balanced Fund

The Stable Fund aims to protect your investment over any two years. Over a year you may still experience ups and downs, but these are likely to be less significant than what you might experience in the Balanced Fund.

Look at the long-term return. 

You must be comfortable with lower return over time

If you are investing for the long term, you must be comfortable with lower return than you might earn in a balanced fund.

To fully understand how much an investment has grown over time, it’s important to look at return after inflation.

The Allan Gray Money Market Fund
Preservation and accessibility over the very short term
Suitable for you if:
  • You need a high level of stability and you seek higher returns than bank deposits
  • You only want to invest for about one year
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Your one-year returns are stable

The Money Market Fund is suitable for investment of a year or less. The ups and downs are far less significant than a balanced fund. You can access your money when you need to, without worrying about whether your investment has lost value.

Look at the long-term return.

To give an indication of the ups and downs you may experience in a balanced fund, we show the average return of similar unit trusts.

The Money Market Fund is not suitable for long-term investing

The Money Market Fund aims to deliver higher return than bank deposits. But if you are investing for the long term, you must be comfortable with significantly lower return than you might earn in a balanced fund.

 To understand how much an investment has grown over time, it’s important to look at return after inflation.

Other unit trust options

If you would like offshore exposure, you can invest in the Allan Gray-Orbis rand-denominated offshore unit trusts. These are listed in the “local unit trusts” section on our Latest prices, factsheets and performance page.

We also have specialist unit trusts (the Allan Gray SA Equity Fund, the Allan Gray Bond Fund and the Allan Gray Optimal Fund), which may be more suitable for experienced investors who are comfortable building their own investment portfolio.

If you want to include diversification in your investment strategy, you may also want to invest in unit trusts from other investment managers.

All investment options

View our All investment options page for the full range of our investment products and underlying unit trusts.

The financial services, products or investments referred to on this website are not available to persons resident in jurisdictions where their availability or distribution would contravene local laws or regulations and the information on this website is not intended for use by these persons. This website is for information only and does not in any way constitute a solicitation or offer by Allan Gray Proprietary Limited or any of its associates or subsidiaries (collectively “Allan Gray”) to buy or sell any financial instruments or to provide any investment advice or service.

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