CTFs? Heres a better idea...

[QueenQuootieSpookypieBee]

Hi,
Just been doing research into CTFs, and came across an article with a much beter idea. Invest the money instead into an ISA or similar in your own name, as, when your child reaches 18 they might not do what we would like eg. spend it on uni, deposit for a house... but blow it. If you invest the money instead for 18 years, you can use it for uni fees, house deposit - or just give it to them. Seems a better idea to me I think...

Can you do that? (First dc imminent so no personal experience of these vouchers so far) I thought that they had to be invested in a particular product so that the parent couldn't just blow it on themselves, not that we would do that given the opportunity obviously .

I imagine that as the first lot of CTFs start to mature in 17 odd years time teenagers will be absolutely bombarded by companies trying to part them from their £1000 or however much the basic will be worth by then. I seriously doubt that in this intervening period 18 year olds will have suddenly become much more finance-savvy...

It does seem far too young to hand over an investment, particularly if you've been investing the max for years as you would be talking tens of thousands?

QQ - you can't do that unfortunately. CTF voucher has to go in a CTF account in your LO's name