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Original poster

Did anyone else do NOTHING with the £250 Child Trust Fund

357 replies

WarblingEttie · 16/10/2022 08:56

I just left it where it was and need to find out where it is as DS turns 18 on December 🤔

What did everyone else do?

OP posts:
Benjispruce4 · 16/10/2022 13:27

I don’t remember having to anything other than tick a form about risk level. DD got hers this year- £680.

Rocketclub · 16/10/2022 13:27

Mine is with NatWest and they brought shares in Lloyds - now worth less than £250
might write them a letter actually as that is crazy 😜

DrMadelineMaxwell · 16/10/2022 13:30

Dd1 (2001) got nothing.
Dd2 (2004) got £250 then £50 (Wales).

It was automatically allocated and we chose not to add to them as only one had the scheme.

She had the letter now she's 18 to put it in her name. It's worth £800.

We always decided we would match it for dd1 but are holding back with that until she has a need for it.

Benjispruce4 · 16/10/2022 13:31

DD1 was too old for CTF but had savings from a great grandparent that left it to her so in the end they both had about the same. Really wish we’d been savvy enough to add to it regularly. Some great returns for some who did.

TrussSucks · 16/10/2022 13:31

Wow, lots of people thinking the £ is theirs to say what the DC do with it. I moved ours out of CTF to a JISA a few years ago for better interest rates and whilst my name is on the account, so is DC's and it can only be paid out into an account in their name. We paid in regularly until divorce when DC was 9 so they have £10k in there.

Benjispruce4 · 16/10/2022 13:33

Parents can’t claim it, it’s in the child’s name and becomes theirs once 18. I rang up for DD to see how to get it paid to her and they wouldn’t speak to me! 😂

Lessofallthisunpleasantness · 16/10/2022 13:37

Invested it. They got it earlier this year I think it was about £2k. Put towards uni living costs I think.

Echinops · 16/10/2022 13:52

We put 20 pounds a month in for the first year and it went down more than we'd put in, so we stopped. Just managed to get hold of it and they got 1550.

sandytooth · 16/10/2022 13:52

cheninblanc · 16/10/2022 12:24

I did nothing, she had 600 in it and spent it all on her first holiday abroad with a friend. She had a great time!

Aw that's great. I think it's lovely they get that one time in their life they don't have to stress about treating themselves.

sandytooth · 16/10/2022 13:53

Noviembre · 16/10/2022 10:26

My issue with it was that the 18 year old gets full control of the money. So while I'm happy to let 250 quid grow and then let him have it, there was no way I was going to pile hundreds or thousands into it as a nest egg that he could potentially have then been foolish with.

I have a savings account for him, in my name, for things like a housing deposit or uni fees. Yes, I control whether his reason for withdrawal is good enough, if that makes me a monster.

No it doesn't make you a monster. It's basically your money and every so often if he needs it you give him some. Perfectly sensible.

AloysiusBear · 16/10/2022 13:56

We missed the government scheme for our kids but liked the idea so started accounts for both and we put money in every month. It's in their names because we wanted to use their ISA allowances. We know that carries some risk.

We are lucky to be able to afford it but it should go a good way towards paying for university fees.

Itsokay2020 · 16/10/2022 13:57

My DD’s CTF is with Foresters Financial and I currently pay £23 pcm into it, which is index linked. It’s worth £3,400 and has another 4 years until she reaches 18. Over the past year I have paid in £279, but it’s only increased in value by £71. I am now thinking of reducing the direct debit and buying £20 in Premium Bonds each month whilst the markets are taking a hit. Is anyone else looking at doing similar?

BonnesVacances · 16/10/2022 13:58

DS's was worth £1200 a year ago. Now it's worth £900. Angry Luckily I moved it into a junior ISA last year so it will just move to an ISA when he turns 18 and he won't have to cash it in and can leave it to recover.

Notsa · 16/10/2022 13:58

We got 500 originally and DD20 saw it mature at around 1.6k. Sadly it went on drugs and drink within about 6 weeks. I would NEVER have foreseen that even when she was 14 or so. I'm so glad we didn't invest in the CTF she would have likely seriously harmed/killed herself with it. We do have separate money for her for a deposit or car/insurance that isn't in her name but is earmarked for her (same as for our other children) and now she is coming out the other side of her severe mental health problems, it will be offered to her at the appropriate time.
Might seem controlling and an extreme example but teen years can really mess young adults up.☹️

dementedpixie · 16/10/2022 13:59

Itsokay2020 · 16/10/2022 13:57

My DD’s CTF is with Foresters Financial and I currently pay £23 pcm into it, which is index linked. It’s worth £3,400 and has another 4 years until she reaches 18. Over the past year I have paid in £279, but it’s only increased in value by £71. I am now thinking of reducing the direct debit and buying £20 in Premium Bonds each month whilst the markets are taking a hit. Is anyone else looking at doing similar?

That's who my dcs CTFs were with. I ended up swapping them to junior ISAs with Tesco bank instead

MillicentFaucet · 16/10/2022 14:09

We chose stocks & shares CTFs for our 2 dC & grandparents added £20 pm. DS1's was worth about £16k on his 18th birthday but in the six weeks it took the company to complete the ID checks needed to transfer the funds the markets tanked & it dropped about £3k. It's still sat in the same account waiting for enough of a recovery to claw some of that back. DS wants to keep it for a house deposit or doing a master's abroad.
He got the 'sensible with money' gene off his dad not me!

sussexman · 16/10/2022 14:14

Itsokay2020 · 16/10/2022 13:57

My DD’s CTF is with Foresters Financial and I currently pay £23 pcm into it, which is index linked. It’s worth £3,400 and has another 4 years until she reaches 18. Over the past year I have paid in £279, but it’s only increased in value by £71. I am now thinking of reducing the direct debit and buying £20 in Premium Bonds each month whilst the markets are taking a hit. Is anyone else looking at doing similar?

If there are another 4 years to go, I'd think the conventional advice would be to continue investing, this would probably be different if she is 18 in the next year or so. Bear markets - like this one - vary in length and severity, but almost always last less than 18 months, and we've been in one most of this year already.

TitaniasAss · 16/10/2022 14:22

Added to it with what we could afford to every month. He got about £3000 6 months ago. He pissed every penny up the wall on utter shite and has nothing to show for it. He had a good time though and he tells me that's what counts. 🙄😂

TeenDivided · 16/10/2022 14:23

TitaniasAss · 16/10/2022 14:22

Added to it with what we could afford to every month. He got about £3000 6 months ago. He pissed every penny up the wall on utter shite and has nothing to show for it. He had a good time though and he tells me that's what counts. 🙄😂

And this is why I don't like 18yos getting money no strings attached.

NancyDrooo · 16/10/2022 14:23

We added £50 every month plus birthday/Xmas money when they were little, they now have about £15k each in there, hoping it’ll be £20k by the time they’re 18.

Brilliant scheme and very grateful for it. Haven’t told them about it yet and not sure I will until they actually need it for something!

Glittertwins · 16/10/2022 14:24

Still haven't done anything with it as we didn't know at the time how they'd turn out. Investments were made elsewhere instead

liveforsummer · 16/10/2022 14:25

NancyDrooo · 16/10/2022 14:23

We added £50 every month plus birthday/Xmas money when they were little, they now have about £15k each in there, hoping it’ll be £20k by the time they’re 18.

Brilliant scheme and very grateful for it. Haven’t told them about it yet and not sure I will until they actually need it for something!

Didn't they ask where their birthday money was going?

TeenDivided · 16/10/2022 14:25

NancyDrooo · 16/10/2022 14:23

We added £50 every month plus birthday/Xmas money when they were little, they now have about £15k each in there, hoping it’ll be £20k by the time they’re 18.

Brilliant scheme and very grateful for it. Haven’t told them about it yet and not sure I will until they actually need it for something!

Once they are 18 it is legally theirs. They need to know about it then as a) it is their money and b) it stops them accidentally lying to the government for example if they need to claim benefits.

HoneyIShrunkThePizza · 16/10/2022 14:31

We added to it yearly and so did grandparents and now it's enough to see her through uni. We are a bit worried she will lose her mind and blow it but that's her mistake to make and we will try and prevent it. We have two much younger ones and are just investing within our own ISA allowance.

minidancer · 16/10/2022 14:32

I put my sons into a stocks and shares ISA and paid in £50 a month. The year before he turned 18 it was with £39k but he turned 18 during Covid and it had dropped to £22k 🤦🏼‍♀️ still a good amount but disappointing as I had really struggled to save for him. He's took 5k out for a car deposit and he is saving the rest