How it works

Your child learns. You stay in charge.

Short lessons and a friendly investing game for them. Progress, rewards and the real decisions for you.

The parent view of each child’s learning: lessons completed, level and streak
A child’s home screen in the Squids-In app: Squids, a learning streak and the card collection

For your child · age 10+

Learning that feels like play

Short lessons, an island full of companies, and a streak worth keeping.

Bite-sized lessons

130 short lessons, from needs and wants to index funds. Read, practise, then a quick quiz.

A Squids-In lesson on the app: What if you could plant a £10 note and grow a money tree?

The Island Market

Ten made-up island companies, with ups and downs of their own. Your child invests game money, reads the island news, and sees how their picks do against the steady fund.

The Island Market in the app, listing fantasy companies such as Anchor Bank of the Isle and Barnacle Brollies with their prices

The Time Machine

Slide forward to 18, 30 or 65 and see what time could do to their savings. Set a goal and watch how close it gets.

The Time Machine in the app, projecting a demo child’s savings forward to age 18

Streaks and rewards

Each lesson keeps a learning streak going and earns Squids, the game money. Collect cards and badges along the way.

The app’s lessons screen showing lessons completed, Squids earned and a learning streak

If you’re the one learning

Here’s what Squids-In looks like from your side.

  • Read a short lesson, answer a few questions, and earn Squids.
  • Learn a little most days to keep your streak going.
  • Invest your Squids in the Island Market. See how your picks do against the steady fund.
  • Use the Time Machine to see what time could do to your savings.
  • Has a grown-up set some real money aside for you? Pick where you’d like it to go and send them a request. They’ll talk it through with you and make the final call.
  • Squids are game money. A mistake in the game costs nothing real.

For you

You stay in the loop

See what they’re learning, cheer them on, and keep the real decisions with you.

See their progress

Lessons done, levels and streaks for each child, at a glance.

The parent view of each child’s learning: lessons completed, level and streak

Set the rewards

Choose what their streak milestones earn, from bonus Squids to a real pledge into their fund.

The parent rewards screen showing a child’s streak and reward milestones

You make the real calls

Your child can ask to invest. You say yes or no, and any real trade is yours to make. We never hold or move money.

The parent investments screen showing each child’s Junior ISA and Junior SIPP
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Their accounts in one place

Add each Junior ISA, Junior SIPP or savings account and what it holds. You type in the holdings, so there are no bank logins, and prices for many popular funds refresh daily.

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Decide what they can ask for

Parental controls let you choose which accounts your child can see and ask about, and what kinds of investment they can request. Every request comes to you.

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Portfolio health check

See how their money is split between cash and investments, and what that could mean over the long run. It’s education, not advice: the choices stay yours.

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Lessons for you too

Take the same lessons your child does, on a track of your own. You’ll know what they’re learning and can talk it through.

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The 25% top-up, in numbers

Pay £80 into a Junior SIPP and the government adds £20. Our free calculator shows what that top-up could grow to. Junior SIPP calculator →

Together

Your child asks, you decide

Real money stays with you and your provider. Squids-In helps you talk about it.

  1. 1

    They learn

    Lessons and the Island Market build the ideas, using game money.

  2. 2

    They ask

    When you’ve set money aside for them, they choose where they’d like it to go and send you a request.

  3. 3

    You talk it through

    Say yes or no, and talk about why. It’s a money conversation that starts itself.

  4. 4

    You make the trade

    If it’s a yes, you place the trade with your own provider. We never hold or move money.

Squids-In teaches how investing works. It doesn’t give financial advice or tell you what to buy.

What we believe

Keep it simple, give it time

The ideas behind every lesson. None of them are new, and they work best when you start young.

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Start early

Time is the biggest help a young investor has. A little now can do more than a lot later.

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Keep it simple

Low-cost funds that spread money across many companies, so no single one can sink you.

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Let time do the work

Growth builds on growth. Stay invested through the ups and downs and let the years add up.

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Learn by trying

In the Island Market, children pick companies and see how they do against the steady fund. Mistakes cost only game money.

Grow with us from the start

We’re testing Squids-In with a small group of families. It’s free during the beta, on Android, iPhone and the web.