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The kinderbijslag arrives in your account four times a year, without you even asking for it, and most people spend it on clothes, toys, or it simply blends in with the normal monthly expenses. There’s nothing wrong with that. But if, instead of spending it, you invested it from the time your child is born until they turn 18, you could give them a real capital sum the day they become independent. Here are the numbers.

If you’re still not clear about what the kinderbijslag is and how much you’re entitled to based on your children’s age, first check our complete guide to kinderbijslag and kindgebonden budget. Here we go straight to what to do with that money.

How much you receive in total, from 0 to 18 years

With the rates effective since July 2026 —€298.40 per quarter for children aged 0 to 5, €362.35 for 6 to 11, and €426.29 for 12 to 17— if you add up the full 18 years of kinderbijslag for a single child, the total is around €26,100.

And that number is conservative: the kinderbijslag is adjusted every so often for inflation (the latest increase was in July 2026), so a child born today will probably end up receiving quite a bit more than that in total, according to SVB’s official rates.

The power of compound interest

If, instead of spending each payment, you invest it as soon as it arrives, in a global index fund with an average historical return of around 7% per year, those ~€26,100 contributed little by little over 18 years would turn into approximately €48,000-50,000 on the day your child comes of age. Almost double what you put in, without doing anything else but leaving it there.

Note: the 7% is a long-term historical average for markets like the MSCI World, not a guarantee. There will be good years and bad years along the way — the key is not to touch it and leave it for the full term.

If you want to play with your own numbers — a different amount, a different term, a different return — use our compound interest calculator and do the maths for your specific situation.

How to do it in practice

You have two paths:

• Open an investment account in your child’s name, if the broker allows it.
• Invest in your own account and mentally designate it (or use a separate account) for them — simpler in administrative and tax terms.

Brokers like Trade Republic or Brand New Day make it easy. We’ve already written a complete guide on how to open an investment account for children in the Netherlands, with step-by-step instructions.

What really matters isn’t finding the perfect broker, it’s automating it. Set up a recurring contribution that matches the kinderbijslag payment dates and that’s it — you no longer have to remember every quarter.

What if you want the money to be your child’s, but not at 18?

There’s a middle ground between investing in your own account and giving it completely to your child as soon as they turn 18: the Schenken Onder Bewind. Banks like Rabobank and ABN AMRO offer accounts where the money is legally your child’s, but you decide up to what age they cannot touch it — you can extend it up to 30 years old. Useful if you’re concerned that at 18 they might spend everything you’ve built up throughout their childhood in one go. However, these accounts are not investment accounts; they are only savings accounts, so the returns are much lower.

And about taxes: no, you won’t pay schenkbelasting (gift tax) for investing the kinderbijslag in your child’s name. In 2026, parents can gift a child up to €6,908 per year tax-free, according to Belastingdienst. The kinderbijslag for a single child is around €1,400-1,700 per year depending on their age — well below that limit.

The first payment trick

When your child is born, the first kinderbijslag arrives retroactively from birth, so that first payment is usually larger than the subsequent ones. It’s the best time to start: invest that full first payment before you get used to that money being available for day-to-day expenses.

Do you invest your kinderbijslag or does it get spent during the month? Tell us in the comments.