child trust fund...

[leckershell]

Where did you all invest your £250? Are they all the same? I would probably just go with the standard one Childrens Mutual is it? I know loadsa banks do it, but I don't see the difference between them all?

 

[Nic'n'Keeley]

I put Keeley's in nationwide savings account

 

[Emmylou]

I put Keeley's in nationwide savings account

Same here - if you put £20 a month in for the first year you get a higher interest rate. This seemed the best one when I looked (about 6 weeks ago). I didn't want a stakeholder one, we just have a standard savings account.

 

[Misslarue]

We saw an independant advisor (life insurance too, how grown up are we!! ) and he told us to put it in The Childrens Mutual, thats what he did and he said it was the best option.

 

[Tangerinedream]

We are putting Jakes in a nationwide account

 

[valentine]

Hi leckershell,

You probably already have this info, but here is the website that explains the differences between Savings/Shares/Stakeholder accounts.

I also downloaded this guide from the moneysavingexpert.com website.

This article, also from the moneysavingexpert.com website (I LURVE Martin Lewis), discusses the differences between different accounts.

Hope this helps. Good luck with choosing - something else I haven't got round to yet!

Valentine xxx

 

[kellie80]

We put Aimees in Asda but when Nathans came through we put his in Nationwide so we had Aimee transfered over too. In the 16 months or so it was with Asda it went up a whole £20.

 

[Redshoes]

We put Isaac's in a stakeholder account

 

[Nicola]

We have put our LO's in a stakeholder account also. We have our own ISA's and similar in Stakeholder accounts and year upon year they vastly out preform basic savings accounts. He can't have it untill he's 18 anyway and they add in lifestyle options a few years before the account matures to safeguard investments so far. We have LO's account with our bank since their global investment portfolio is second to none!!

Whatever you decide though just remember the sooner you invest it in some form of account the sooner it can start earning your LO interest.

 

[trixipaws]

i just opened a natwest one, think its the stakeholder one. i dont understand them

 

[cloud9]

(I LURVE Martin Lewis),

so do I

but imagine been married to him he would watch every penny you spend

I am waiting on finacial adviser getting back in touch

 

[valentine]

(I LURVE Martin Lewis),

so do I

but imagine been married to him

I do this FREQUENTLY!

 

[paradysso]

we just put the 250 in a stake holder with abbey, were not going to add to it, so it can do what it wants and when alana is 18 shes gets it all, but im sure time she is 18 £250 wont be much money any ways, we have a high interest savings account at the post office for where all the family pay into

 

[Nicola]

we just put the 250 in a stake holder with abbey, were not going to add to it, so it can do what it wants and when alana is 18 shes gets it all, but im sure time she is 18 £250 wont be much money any ways

Without adding to the £250 in 18 years time in a Stakeholder you should be looking around the £4,000 mark depending how the market does over the years really.

ETA: Just to say you do realise that if you are on a low income, under about £14,150 yearly you can get a 2nd voucher of £250 which will automatically be paid into the account if you qualify (must be recieving child tax credits to recieve this) and you get a further £250 when the child is aged 7 if you are still being paid under £14,150 yearly (although that figure might change in years to come it's currently £14,150). Just keep your eye on account statements and make sure your recieving what your entitled too.

 

[Hellokitty]

I still haven't had Maia's...I should have had it by now right?

 

[valentine]

I still haven't had Maia's...I should have had it by now right?

Definitely - I got ours about a week after our Child Benefit award - definitely by the time she was 4 weeks old. I guess it depends if you have applied for and received Child Benefit and how long ago as that's what triggers the voucher to be sent out.

Valentine xxx

 

[Nicola]

I still haven't had Maia's...I should have had it by now right?

The vouchers will be sent to you within 4 weeks of your Child Benefit being awarded. If you haven't recieved yours yet but are sucessfully claiming child benefit, get in touch with the CTF and ask what's going on.

 

[paradysso]

[quote="Nicola]
Without adding to the £250 in 18 years time in a Stakeholder you should be looking around the £4,000 mark depending how the market does over the years really.

ETA: Just to say you do realise that if you are on a low income, under about £14,150 yearly you can get a 2nd voucher of £250 which will automatically be paid into the account if you qualify (must be recieving child tax credits to recieve this) and you get a further £250 when the child is aged 7 if you are still being paid under £14,150 yearly (although that figure might change in years to come it's currently £14,150). Just keep your eye on account statements and make sure your recieving what your entitled too.[/quote]

yeah ive had my extra 250, so she had about 517 in there at the moment.

hopefully that would be nice it was worth 4k when shes 18. she will have that and the savings account were doing for her.

 

[Vicki & Nathan]

we are still looking through all the different types of accounts but have decided on savings rather than shares