£250 trust fund govt pay out

[somethingsexyandLYcRAinmystock]

has anyone found a good company to invest the £250 trust fund starter that we get from the govt (if we apply) when the baby is born? i've seen various ads, but haven't a clue which to choose.

We went for Foreign and Colonial's stakeholder trust fund, purely because it was recommended on Martin Lewis's website 'moneysavingexpert.com'.

I know that seems like a pretty flimsy reason but in the past I have pored over past performance figures, etc and still managed to pick what turns out to be a poorly performing fund.

We are putting dd's child benefit into it each month, otherwise it just seems to get swallowed up in - well, this and that!

i reckon sticking with any of the major banks is probably the best bet - all the accounts on offer seem to have more or less the same set-ups, so choosing someone you know will still be in business when your little one turns 18 and old enough to collect seems sensible to me. youre also more likely to remember where it is in the event that you 'forget' about it for a few years at any point in time.

Put in it a Babybond stakeholder shares account. Just had to get my arse in gear and do it. Also contributing £20 a month. the child benefit goes into another shares-based savings scheme where I keep control - don't want the kids blowing thousands on taking all their mates to Thailand or some such.

I agree...I put mine in a child savings bond but wont be adding to it.....I remember what I was like at 18....

If you dont open an account after the first year, the government will automatically do it on your behalf so might aswell get in there early and earn as much interest as possible...

Co-op (Babybond Stakeholder)

ethical investments will become a bigger issue in the next 18 years

Wont be adding any money to it,who knows what ds would like to do with the money,he may want to spend it on Heroin-cant believe all the money goes to child at 18yrs and parents dont have a look in.
Ds has money in premium bonds instead and received a cheque last week for £50!

premium bonds are ace idea

i think its right that it should go to the child, otherwise massively open to abuse. also i think our children willhave to be som much more clued up about money than we were what with uni fees/pensions etc.

If i was given £18,000 at 18yrs old i know what i would of done with it-a sports car to pose in.

Premium Bonds can give a really good return if you are lucky -have been so far with dd and ds

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Normsknockers yes if your voucher has expired the gov't open an account for you. I don't think you can change it later as you can't touch the fund until the child is 18. Not 100% on this though.

When the child reachs 18 then what happens, do they get sent a cheque ??

I had planned to share the amount between my 3 kids as I think it unfair that Ds will be the only one to have it.

The benefit you get from topping up your Child Trust Fund yourself is that the interest earned is tax-free. This makes it an efficient way to save. Of course, your child may want to
blow it all on an overseas trip. One way to deal with this risk might be to make it clear that the money from the Fund will finance the child's university studies, and that one won't be giving them additional money for that. I hope DD (and bump) will be too sensible to want to blow it all on something silly, but I can imagine taking that line myself. Which? magazine did a report on Child Trust Fund accounts and recommended several, of which we chose the Nationwide. There are some significant differences in the interest you can earn, so it's worth shopping around.

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Hi all,I am having £250 check and wanted to invest,can any suggest me where and which is the best way to invest the check........please

I didn't know wht I had to do, is it too late, dd2 is now 14 mnths what should I do????

Trinityrhino, if your lo receives child benefit they should automatically have been sent the £250 voucher. If you didnt get round to investing it the government will have opened an account for you automatically after you had the voucher for 1 year (they would have let you know who it was opened with). You can change the type and provider of the account whenever you want.

If you didnt receive the voucher or have lost it you can contact them on their helpline between the hours of 08:00 and 20:00:-
0845 302 1470 (from within the UK),
00 44 1355 359002 (if calling from abroad), or

0845 302 1489 (for Welsh speakers between 08:30 to 17:00 Mon to Fri).

There is more info about it here: \link{http://www.childtrustfund.gov.uk/\Child Trust Fund Website}

p.s. I opened mine through the LTSB in conjunction with The Childrens Mutual.

thankyou very much seona, I don't think we ecer got it, but there is every possibility that I did and don't remember