CTF....move to shares version?

rchddap1

Been starting to think about moving my daughters CTF to a shares version. At the moment its in a simple interest account in Nationwide. Would it be wise to transfer it to a stakeholder / shares version?

opinions4u

If you think shares are undervalued and have good growth potential, yes.

If you don't think we've hit the bottom yet, perhaps not!

baby_boomer

It could help her win the

"my CTF's bigger than yours"

stakes when she turns 18 as this strategy could easily beat both the pure cash and the pure equity investors.

There are worries about shares, but there are also worries that interest rates have a long way to fall.

Would it be wise?

It's a risk. And there are potential rewards and pitfalls.

markbloke

I invested mine in F&C's "Emerging Markets" a few years back intending to leave it there long term. Great, it went up by about 50%! Then F&C decided to get out of that game and forced everyone out while shares were in decline. I got out with about the £250 back. It's a waste of time doing your own research if you're forced to sell-up against your will.

baby_boomer

With emerging markets down 60% in 2008 you may have done alright in retrospect!

Agree that it's been a tedious waste of time for you, though. Very unsatisfactory.

markbloke

Absolutely. I expected big losses as well as big gains (on £250 - sure....), the idea was to let it go for a decade and then pay vague attention for a few years and take the profits out to a more stable savings account (or gold, or seashells or whatever it is we're using then) when things looked good. The one thing I didn't expect was F&C to literally sell me short.
No worries anyway. If my child depends on £250 to provide for anything but a birthday weekend out with her mates then things will have gone seriously wrong.