Quick advice on...30 second guides...
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Here's the starting point...
1. For an uber-quick round-up of the options and to read where the Editor invested his son's child trust fund: read his child trust fund blog post
2. See how other people have invested their CTFs: child trust fund poll
3. Get a detailed view on what to do by first reading the guides and then the links below that for in-depth advice and news from financial experts, published by This is Money and our sister titles Money Mail and Financial Mail.
Credit crunch update: Should I be worried about my Halifax CTF?
- GUIDE: Everything you need to know about CTFs.
If your child was born after September 1 2002, they will receive a CTF voucher. You can choose where to invest the money, but most advisers suggest stock market funds over savings accounts. Find out why.
- TABLES: The best child trust fund savings accounts
Find the most competitive rates with our bang up-to-date and independent best buy tables.
- TABLES: The best children's savings accounts (not CTFs)
Find the most competitive rates with our bang up-to-date and independent best-buy tables.
- GUIDES: Introduction to saving for children
'Saving is a very fine thing. Especially when your parents have done it for you,' said Winston Churchill. But it's also a good idea to encourage children to save for themselves at an early age. Read This is Money's introductory guide.
- FREE READER OFFER: Child trust fund brochures
Review the options at your leisure by ordering CTF brochures, delivered to your home for free.
Advice and news
My, hasn't your child trust fund grown?
July 2008
No it hasn't, say experts who are calling for action to stop inflation whittling away the Government's much-vaunted child trust funds.
The truth about child trust funds
Child trust fund savings rates drop
Parents urged to use child trust funds
Use China to save for your child
How to make your child a millionaire by age 38
The best and worst Child Trust Funds
Fifth anniversary of Child Trust Funds
REPORT: Free cash for kids
REPORT: Equities beat savings for growth
REPORT: Children's free money sits untouched
FREE: Child trust fund brochures
Child trust fund stories archive
The prospects for child trust funds
What to do with with your CTF money
How do the funds differ?
Fears over baby savings choice
Who can you turn to?
Shares or savings?
LATEST: Child trust funds - one year on
Child benefit
Saving from child benefit
More help for parents
Saving for a newborn
12-year plan for a six-year old
• Ask a question on CTFs or saving for children
Test your knowledge
Child trust fund quiz
Polls
How will you invest your CTF vouchers?
Calculators
Our brand new child trust fund calculator
Children's savings calculator
Long-term savings
Other ways to help your children
'Bank of Mum & Dad' to donate £223bn The best value education for your child
How parents can help children buy a home
Advice from the Message Boards
• 'I want a high-risk CTF that invests in shares. What are the options?'
• 'Where can I get the best children's savings account rate?'
• 'Why can't I invest in the Witan children's Jump investment trust?'
• 'Child trust funds are useless - thanks Gordon'
• 'Which is best for baby - premium bonds or a savings account?'
Comments so far (5)
1.
I was just wondering about the best choice of saving for our 1-year-old grandson, when our income is limited.
2.
We are foster carers who have just had a child adopted we forgot to give the money we had saved for the child this is pocket money and what other people gave, the problem is we know that the adoptive people have set up a trust fund but as we are not allowed get in touch with them and the social worker is no help is there any way to find out the trust fund account so we can put money into it, there are other people that would like to do this for the child as well.
3.
We invested £500 8 years ago for each of our grandchildren. The last statement we had last October shows they are now worth £500. NO GAIN.
4.
The best choice in your situation, would be to invest in growth/Income UNIT Trusts- such as Invesco High Income or Juipter high income. I assume your grandson will be collecting this money at 18-21 yrs of age. Stock and Shares out perform any cash savings account in the Long-run. You can invest in these unit trusts from as little as £1000. Also If you invest in A ISA stocks and shares unit trust all gains are tax free. The gains have been very good. For example, I invested £6000 in a particular fund in in 1998 and received over £29000 in 2007- however bear in mind that past performance is not a guide to future performance. I wish you all the best in your judgement.
5.
Money pushers are only too keen to amass our money to pay for education which in 1997 was relatively free! So where does all this money go? The electorate is being taken for a most expensive ride ever AGAIN! 'This is not explained by "This is Money"
June 2008
Money Mail examines whether the child trust fund scheme has achieved its aim of encouraging saving for our children's futures.
June 2008
The average rate on cash child trust funds has dropped by 0.21% in a year, despite the credit crunch driven savings price war.
May 2008
The boss of one of Britain's biggest Child Trust Fund providers has called on Polish families living here to make sure they claim payments they are entitled to.
February 2008
While many investors in Chinese funds are reeling from the alarming slide in share prices, Child Trust Fund investors can afford to sit it all out.
January 2008
We get the experts to crunch the numbers and come up with a system to make your child a millionaire.
August 2007
Child Trust Funds celebrate their fifth birthday tomorrow. How well have the fund managers looked after your child's money?
August 2007
Lily Dixon was born a day after the Child Trust Fund qualifying date - 1 September 2002. More than 3m CTFs have been opened since.
January 2007
Today is the start of Child Trust Fund Awareness Week. But a quarter of eligible families have so far failed to open a fund. Should the scheme be scrapped?
January 2007
Brave parents that invested their child's £250 voucher in equities could have earned over 60%, compared to around 5.45% in a savings account.
January 2007
A quarter of all parents whose children received child trust fund payments have not chosen an investment tool for their child's money.
Order information on child trust funds or other saving and investment schemes for children.
What are the pros and cons of the CTF scheme? Neil Simpson of Financial Mail on Sunday looks at what you can expect to see.
When parents are deciding where to invest the child trust fund they will have to cut through a jungle of jargon. It's not the wrapper that counts, but the investments held inside it.
At the launch of CTFs, This is Money's Simon Moon took a look at the funds on offer and gave some pointers on how to tell them apart and what to watch out for.
Parents are set to invest Child Trust Funds in savings accounts rather than the stock market, according to a survey.
HM Revenue & Customs has updated its official list of approved providers of child trust funds, including useful contact details.
Most parents are preparing to put their CTF vouchers into deposit accounts rather than funds. History suggests they may be making a mistake.
Parents who put their minimum £250 voucher into shares on April 6 last year have seen it grow to more than £300, against £262 in a cash fund.
Seven million families can earn spectacular rates of interest from a new account targeting child benefit money.
The Child Benefit Bill is good news for families with teenage students or unpaid trainees, says This is Money's Michael Clarke.
What the experts say
WHAT's the best way to save for a newborn baby? I'm looking to put away between £20 and £50 a month
Where can I invest my six-year-old daughter's money so it will safely grow until she is 18?
Now you have learnt the basics, see how much know - you may also pick up even more tips!
See what everybody else is planning to do with their money.
See the effect of investing your baby's win
Work out the possible rewards if you can afford to invest your monthly Child Benefit.
Our general savings calculator shows you how compound interest can boost your nest-egg.
April 2008
With lending criteria tightening and house prices well out of reach for many the 'Bank of Mum & Dad' is to be called upon even more.
March 2008
Should your kids go private or is it cheaper to buy into a good state school catchment area? And how will 'lottery' selection affect you? Andrew Oxlade reports
March 2008
Storm clouds in the property market have done little to dampen many first-time buyers' dreams, but how can they beat the mortgage squeeze?
WANT TO KNOW MORE?
READER COMMENTS
- P. Lowe, Edinburgh
Posted: 19 July 2007, 3:28pm
- Kath Lewin, Staffs
Posted: 27 July 2007, 1:57pm
There should be some sort of penalty to be paid by the promoter of such rubbish.
Like all the guys selling mortgages of 100% and over, they take huge commissions, they created the world problem in finance and they get away with their millions.
- Peter William, Staffordshire
Posted: 3 March 2008, 6:51pm
- James Smith, Wakefield
Posted: 16 March 2008, 12:46am
Now why is that?
- Barry8, Calne, Wiltshire
Posted: 5 June 2008, 8:17am
