Child trust find gone down 1.5K

[Orangeblossom78]

Since last year. It was valued at 11K last year and was told would be around 15 when they turned 18 (DS is 15, birthday hence the statement)

It now says valued at 8.5, so has gone down 1.5K since last year.

Is this due to the current situation, any others the same and will it be like to improve? Starting to wish had changed it to an ISA. It is meant to be for the DC to help towards university at 18

It is not shaming people to point out that comments like ‘the people who are worst hit are... ‘ because that is ignoring all the truly hard hit people who will see seriously tough times from this.
It is completely reasonable to be stressed and upset and my sympathy for that. I am too. But I’m very aware of others much harder hit.

Also, not at all sure re it’s the time to buy. You want to know what you’re doing for that, this is a health, economic and financial crisis which could continue for months; its quite different from the gfc, which was a markets driven crash.

The treasury is messing around with interest rates. It's not good for savers.

The treasury is messing around with interest rates. It's not good for savers

They aren't messing around for the fun of it you know, they are trying to manage a situation the world has never been in before.

Savers have their capital, in the real world there are huge numbers of people struggling to buy food, maybe you can be angry about that.

DS stocks and shares ISA lost about 25% of it's value in the last couple of weeks, but it is starting to creep back up. I shouldn't keep checking it, but I find it strangely fascinating.

Same here DD got statement this week due to it being her bday. It was worth £4300 last birthday & now £2700. Myself & Mum have been putting £20 month each in so not massive amount but we're short of cash so it's been struggle to find £20 for both children. Bit gutted tbh.
Our endowment is up in 3 years. Think I might suggest Mum does premium bonds instead - would that be safer?
It's a lot to lose if you don't earn much & are attempting to save something for their future.

I am not an IFA but work in finance. Now is the worst time to change from shares to cash. The markets will recover in time, don’t cash out as you are crystallising the loss.

It is awful to see your hard earned money fall in value but stay calm.

Has anyone been contacted by their mortgage provider to inform us of a reduced mortgage?

fiorentina should we cancel payments we are making - my Mum is paying £20 a month. Presumably the £20 buys more shares at cheaper price? So they may go up? Or do you reckon stop paying & start paying either into savings or premium bonds?

Presumably the £20 buys more shares at cheaper price? So they may go up

Yes this is what is called pound cost averaging. You buy more units and when the unit price increases you get more for your money. So it's good to continue buying monthly.

Don’t look at investments now . Forget about them . The market will recover given time .

And keep adding to the fund if you can . It can only go up .

We used the CTF thingy when our DD was born and the government started all babies off with£250. They have you a choice of a stocks and shares CTF or one that was a savings scheme that you added to up until child could withdraw at 18. Obviously the S&S would always be more risky, hence we went for the safe option. Surely this won't be affected by the crisis???

Most shares fell by around 30%. Everyone will be in the same boat unless you have a cash isa or cash in bank. People planning on retiring in next few months will be hit the hardest :(

The stock exchange has plummeted however it picked up again yesterday and it lol go up again. Can you hang fire and wait it out

It's the movement in the equity markets and is affecting everything - from our pensions, to charity investments to private investment pots. The markets have gone up last year and the year before so you will have benefitted from that before. We are likely to be going into a world recession so don't hold your breath - I think it will take some time for markets to recover. A lot of companies will go bust so it's going to be tough when their shares tank.

People with cash will definitely be adding to their portfolio now, so if you can keep up payments it’s potentially a ‘cheap’ time to invest. But remember the market can fall further before going up again. It’s an emotional rollercoaster for many.
Remember that interest rates are now super low to support the economy so in real terms you won’t make much money in cash.

OP. I checked DD’s CTF last week and it had dropped £700 in literally a few weeks due to CV. But it’s still worth more than I’ve paid into it.

It’s swings and roundabouts and you just have to hope it goes up again over time.

My own small S&S ISA dropped by a similar amount. I checked out of pure interest, I usually try and forget it’s there. Some years it’s performed at 30+% though. You have to take the good with the bad.