Child Trust Funds discussion area

Murphy_The_Cat

Fatboy_NSS

Moved to Cahoot 4 years ago. ;D

My gripe about the High Street banks was the poor choices that they offer and the poor returns that they give - i prefer as much choice as i can and if i was to choose between a high street bank it's a bit like asking which leg would you like cutting off first !

MTC ::)

isasmurf

The Government today announced the full list of CTF providers approved to manage a CTF accounts so far.

You can buy them directly from the provider, or through other outlets which a provider may have linked up with. The outlets are listed in this list of distributors of CTF accounts, also announced today.

bwblackett

Does anyone know about Foresters? They are offering a CTF and I want to know how here other investment funds have done compared to the rest of the market.

Any info appreciated,

Brian.

liz1102

Help. I have a son of 6 Who has had an isa of some kind with barclays for the last three years. My daughter who is 2 1/2 has today recieved her CTF cheque. Is it advisable to go with Barclays for my daughter as well, as my husband wishes? I would like to go somewhere else for three years to compare them, with a view to changing either one to the best performing. Im going to fing it hard to convince him without your help, but its my name the cheque was sent to on her behalf, so does that mean i have sole authority?

isasmurf

Firstly, I don't think your son has an ISA, as you can only have an ISA if you are 16 or over.

Secondly, what type of Child Trust Fund account do you want? If it's cash then Barclay's are no good as they are not doing cash accounts. They are only acting as an agent for Family Investments who sell stock market linked CTF accounts.

Having re-read your post again, it sounds like your considering an equity based CTF account. If this is the case, switching one of them to the other one because the other one has performed better in the last three years is dangerous. Just because a fund has performed better in the last three years does not mean it will in the next three years. Remember, past performance is no guide to future performance.

jo_b_2

Had my voucher through today so hope Martin's busy researching the best options for these funds. Need some advice!

youngiuk

Got my voucher through too and totally lost. Any news on Martin doing some understandable comparison's for the accounts? Many banks/building society's are offering incentives for investing before April but I would appreciate some reliable independant info before I jump in.

cloud_dog

Thought I'd posted this - maybe I did on the wrong thread

Anyway have always going to take out a stocks / shares CTF but have decided that I will go through https://www.comdirect.co.uk, with the investment going into the L&G UK Index Fund. L&G charges on the fund are very low and I do not beleive comdirect will charge for their service (monthly or otherwise) as they should get commission / rebate from L&G. Plan to confirm the charges apsect before signing on the dotted line thou.

The advantage of this is that once there is areasonable pot I can use comdirect capability to switch into different funds, etc. Again this needs to be confirmed before signing up.

But these are my thoughts / plans at the moment. There's no big rush and the providers will provide specifics nearer the April deadline.

cloud_dog

Spendless

quirkes wrote:

My brother and his wife have just discovered they are expecting triplets. It came as a great shock, but at least (I quipped) they'll get three lots of Child Trust Funds. Not so, evidently. They've been told that you only get one fund per birth, not per child. Can anyone confirm whether is is true and, if so, how they decide which triplet gets it! This seem very unfair as they will need more help than most.

Are you sure that you are not confusing CTF with CTC (child Tax Credit). A payment of an extra £545 pa is given in the year that baby is born - until their first baby. You only get this per birth and not per child.

Someone has posted aboput it relating to Child Benefit and asked if triplets got child benefit each. Yes they do

The 1st triplet to be born will receive the highest child benefit (16.05)
the 2nd will receive the lower rate (11.55)
The 3rd will receive the lower rate also.

My sister has twins born 3 minutes apart. My neice gets the higher rate CB, my nephew the lower rate, the same way i get a higher amount and a lower amount for my two born 3 years apart.

isasmurf

jo_b wrote:

hope Martin's busy researching the best options for these funds.

I don't know if Martin will provide much help with these as they are mainly stockmarket linked accounts, and I haven't seen Martin advise on stock market accounts before (because it is a regulated area). Of the 29 registered providers, the only ones offering a 'risk-free' cash account as far as I can see are,
Abbey (5.25% inc bonus),
Britannia (6% inc bonus),
Furness (5.25%),
Ipswich (6%),
Nationwide (5%+1% when paying more than £240 during the year)
and Yorkshire (5.5% inc bonus)
(Some of the above may require you to live locally to invest with them.)

So if you want to go the safe route with a cash account you really don't have much choice.

Most of the small independent building societies are selling The Children's Mutal CTF.