Disappointed we didn’t save in child trust fund?

No I think u get another 250 age 5 my daughter got 400 and something so pretty crap for 18 yrs

Mu daughter got 500 my sons is at 1200 he's almost 17 my 14 yr old he was the last to get it before it stopped he got 50.00 voucher he's currently at 250

Why not get her to put the 559 in to shares (a global tracker or something like that) and it can start growing now.

I don't think we give our dcs enough credit for being sensible with money.

Both my dcs got substantial sums from their CTFs at 18. They also got inheritances from a grandparent. We told them to keep it aside for the deposit for their first home. Neither of them have touched it or bought anything extravagant. The money remains invested.

We didn’t add to it, though we did buy her a car, pay her insurance, and are part funding university. I’d like to hope that’s she would have spent a CTF but there’s no real way of knowing. She could just as easily bought a massive ice sculpture of Justin Trudeau. Z

Once the child turns 18, the CTF provider will write to the child (well, now adult) directly and will not deal with the parent anymore.

It's currently about £4500 for DS17 and we matched it for his younger brother.

I am not sure about this but I don’t think you can move the ctf money as it doesn’t belong to you but to your child. I think there were some issues with parents whose children didn’t have the capacity to sign the paperwork and the parents had a lot of problems getting funds released.

The very best thing you can do for your children is to invest in their education and their childhood experiences. Do not underestimate the value of travel, (not just sitting on a beach, though that has its place), museums, exhibitions, simply time with them to explore and share experiences and thoughts. A childhood rich in knowledge, understanding and parental sharing is a jewel above price.

I’d just start putting some small amounts away each month from now on as it adds up much more than you would think. We added £20 a month each to DDs and DS’s CTF and in later years grandparents contributed the same and they had around £11.5k at 18. We talk a lot about finances so I never worried about them blowing the money and both DC have fed theirs into LISAs, up to £4K a year for 3 years so they now have a fund towards a house deposit.

I know nothing about investing but started putting £25 a month in premium bonds for my son a few months after he was born. He is 5 and a bit now and has £1400 in there. I don't earn a great amount but set up a DD and don't notice it much anymore. I really want him to be able to buy a car or something similar when he is 18.

I didn't pay into mine for three reasons

1. zero spare cash at that point
2. disagreed with the ethos of an 18yr old being handed a load of cash
3. a third child two years later missed out on the ctf so I didn't want the other two to have loads more. As it is, I'll be able to match what their siblings have.

Don't feel guilty!

I put my sons in shares and I forgot about them until two years ago but I never knew how to move them somewhere else, they are only worth about £800 and my son turns 18 this year. I never added anything to it. He knows nothing about it, so I might remove them and try to build it up for when he is 21. He has a part time job alongside doing his Alevels so I’d rather set up an ISA for him.

You could encourage her to save into a LISA (Lifetime ISA) as part of her ISA allowance, as she will get a government-funded top-up of 25% and it is in a tax-exempt wrapper.

There are some caveats: you can only pay in up to £4k a year, but as the government will top it up with 25%, £1k on top of £4k is worth having. It’s intended to be used either to save for your first property or to be taken out at 60.

https://www.gov.uk/lifetime-isa

Given her age she’s unlikely otherwise to benefit from a tax wrapper in a standard cash or S&S ISA - that’s probably more for when she’s earning and saving enough money to be liable to pay tax on interest.

At her age, she may be better off saving regularly into something like a high interest regular saver account, or even more than one with different banks or building societies.

They typically start from fairly low sums, as little as £1 or £10 a month, typically for a year, although some are shorter or longer periods, and many pay a decent rate of interest at the moment, around 5-7%. Their advantage is that they encourage a savings habit without being too onerous a burden if studying or starting out in a career.

An easy or limited access one will allow her immediate access to funds to put down a deposit to purchase a car, or she could stay fixed without access to the money for a higher rate for a year and reinvest some money in a new regular saver and use the rest to help with the car.

Yes we did that too.

The older one has currently got more in hers though as there were better funds available at the time - so we’re trying to catch the younger one up a bit.

(It’s being used to save for Uni fees and my dd will definitely use it for that)

Wasn’t the original amount £250?

in which case it’s doubled?

I'm not sure I fully understand. Was the fund started 18yrs ago? Why have you not been able to see that in all that time, its only earned a faulty £56 interest??? I'm sure you are doing your best, but in 18yrs- have you never checked the balance and interest rate??? 😕

My advice would be get you DD to invest it in stocks and shares ISA and it should grow from there. Also I would rather save money in an ISA in my name and my husbands name instead of the junior ISA. When the child comes of age and gets the lumpsum you can’t control what they will spend it on. Instead if you have the money saved you can just use it on the child but have more control on what it is spent on. My parents spent money on my education and masters degree. Also funded my wedding and helped with purchasing our house. They definitely didn’t hand over any cash when I was 18 and would probably have spent it on frivolous things!

Don’t beat yourself up. Sounds like she’s had a lovely 18 years of memory making - priceless! Put it towards the car but do check insurance first as £££! Before investing really, really look into stocks & shares ISAs or LISAs (for house deposit) very carefully as the market is currently chaotic. It’s worth doing your homework before investing. They don’t always go up but can come crashing down too!

Yes, get your dd to open a ISA account and ask the bank to transfer the 559 from the CTF (which will now be closed as dd has turned 18) directly from the CTF into the ISA account. This way, it stays within the ISA tax shelter.

Your dd should put it into an instant access high rate cash ISA account.

DD was born prior to being eligible for the scheme. We had a savings account that we contributed to when we were flush but we had a bad run of financial circumstances (thanks to the GFC) so raided her account but we never recovered financially so we were never in a position to save much for DD. There was enough left to fund driving lessons. DD has always been sensibile in regards to money but honestly at 18 I wouldnt put it past her to blow at least some of it on a student lifestyle.

I echo others in that savings are probably more suitable for practical things when they are an adult. DD (now 25) and her finance are looking at buying a house, although I cant really contribute to a house deposit, I do have a bit of savings, so might buy a nice lounge suite (they have been making noises about a new fridge as well...) as a house warming present and contribute to their wedding.