CTF discussion area

Cleosmum

s33mac wrote: »

Hi can any one tell me if it would be possible to open an account and set up a direct debit for the child trust fund initially and then cancel it once you have received your boots / mother care vouchers?

Thanks in advance for replies.

Yes, I joined up to Asda to get their £20 gift card, and had to set up DD of at least £5, so the first month went out and then I cancelled and rec'd my gift card.

craggus

neeko3 wrote: »

hi

i just recieved my son's yearly statement for his non-stakeholder type fund with the ctf. whilst i confess to being no expert in investments and such i was horrified to find that it had actually reduced by seventy pounds. no explanation was given for this. what's more the small print mentioned a 1.5% charge for investing the money. i could have stuck it in a higher interest BS account and it would still all be there.

have i been an idiot? is there actually a point to these types of schemes?

i have just emailed the ctf on the matter; but was wondering if there is anyone there who knows wether (if i am not satisfied at the end of it) if i can pull the money out of there and put it in a good old-fashioned building society account, where at least i know it wont be eaten away by all manner of hidden charges!

anyone done this?

(a bit vexed). neeko

Hi Neeko.

Did anyone come back to you on this? I am interested, as I am in a similar boat. Having put £20 a month into my daughters Stakeholder CTF account (The Childrens Mutual) for the last two years, I find that the current account is now worth £110 less than if I'd just stuck all the money in a sock at the end of my bed!

Are all similar accounts performing as badly?

Is it worth transfering to a different account elsewhere and/or moving my direct debit to a simple savings account for her instead?

Thanks

Craig

lyley69

Ive just had my yearly ctf statement from the Halifax and my daughters fund is now £148 less than it was last year - im not happy either!!

jessicamb

lyley69 wrote: »

Ive just had my yearly ctf statement from the Halifax and my daughters fund is now £148 less than it was last year - im not happy either!!

Anybody with equity investments will most likely be feeling the same pain because of the stock market performance

It has many years left to recover though.

baby_boomer

If you have sufficient money then it makes sense to me to:

a) hold the CTF in cash since CTFs are the best children's account payers and they allow parents to make additional cash gifts with no worries about the interest breaching the £100 pa Inland Revenue limits.
b) invest other monies into the stock market through different vehicles in order to pay less than these 1.5% pa stakeholder fund charges. Admittedly you may have less flexibility when it comes to making investments and there will be higher minimum investment levels.

This way round you get more bang for your buck in both cash and shares, while creating a more balanced investment for your child.

Here's some details about the F&C CTF - see page 7 for key details

Note esp that the stakeholder plan has a 0.7% annual running charge whereas the non-stakeholder has no annual charge. With the non-stakeholder you pay 0.5% government stamp duty on the purchase of shares and the annual costs of the fund you choose (there are 13 to choose from).

The non-stakeholder has higher lump sum (£100) and monthly (£25) investment minimums but these are modest enough for many people to consider. (The £100 lump sums can be on an irregular, ad hoc basis. )

Please note that this is an investment trust - so there can be additional risks not associated with unit trust investments - but regular investments over time can reduce some of these.

CSandL

sparkles88 wrote: »

I am an Auntie x 2 and wish to open a trust fund for my neice and nephew but I simply cannot find one that you can open a) without a CTF voucher and b) without being a parent/guardian. Is this now a thing of the past? Is there an alternative anyone can reccommend? Thanks so much!

Is this any good?
http://www.thechildrensmutual.co.uk/default.aspx?page=450

It's for children who don't qualify for a CTF, so it would be ok for you to open it.

jessicamb

CSandL wrote: »

Is this any good?
http://www.thechildrensmutual.co.uk/default.aspx?page=450

It's for children who don't qualify for a CTF, so it would be ok for you to open it.

That or similar products you would be able to open but would need the childs parent to agree to the account too (or the parent might have to open the policy and you are the payer).

Its a child version of the TESP - a few friendly societies offer them under various names. Just watch out for the charging structure as they can be pretty expensive.

Like a CTF they are in the childs name so they get the money and can spend it on what they like when the policy matures.

anxious_mum_2

HELP!!!! I have absolutely no idea where to put my daughters £250 as my boys are too old to qualify for the vouchers. any advice would really be appreciated

colinm

anxious_mum wrote: »

HELP!!!! I have absolutely no idea where to put my daughters £250 as my boys are too old to qualify for the vouchers. any advice would really be appreciated

I can't tell you what to do, obviously, but I've decided to put mine in the Britannia, which I did with my son's voucher a few years ago. Ok, it probably isn't going to grow as well as a stakeholder, but I'd rather leave it somewhere where I know it's going to give a safe return. But that's just my personal preference!

twinmum

Has anyone out there found anywhere where all of the Stakeholder CTFs (or at least the most popular or top performing) are compared?

I would love to know how my children's CTFs with Children's Mutual have compared against other companies, to allow me to make an informed decision as to whether to change. I read on one website where an expert from Chase de Vere is quoted as saying parents need to review every year - but how do you do that without visiting each and every provider to see how all their available funds have performed?!?

These things have been around for a while now so there must be somewhere, isn't there??

Please help....