CTF discussion area

money_money_monica

Me and my partner are arguing about where to put our son's money. I'm a bread head so I want to place it where it'll see the biggest return. My partner however would like to put our son's money somewhere it will be ethically invested.

Can anyone possibly make any suggestions that will keep us both happy?

Northtim

I am keen to put my daughters money in a Share based account although keeping in the "safe" stakeholder option. They already have a savings account so much as I would with my own investments I intend to spread their investment across savings and investment.

The two Stakeholder CTF's I am looking at are HSBC and Abbey. At the moment I am keen on HSBC as the UK Growth & Income Fund on which it is based looks pretty good (although it is little more than a FTSE tracker). Abbey on their website are a bit vague about what their fund is, maybe just becaise it is new?

Anyone else been looking at these and come to an opinion?

Thanks

Spendless

deefadog wrote:

Just got our pack today, i am still a little confused at this point on what to do, currently and for the last 4 months we have the A&L account in which the tax credits (I think it's the tax credits, the one which gives you £16.5 per week) £66 per month are paid directly into my daughters account, I make this up to £100 per month via DD.

It would have been nice to put the Voucher into this, but you can't

I too am a bit concerned about her blowing the cash when she is 18! But to let £250 just sit there even after 18 years is not going to amount to much, but on the other hand i don't want to add to it!

Any advice or am i in a catch 22 position?

I am in same position, and after talking it through I have decided to add very little to the fund. Instead i am opening a seperate account like my older child has (he doesn't qualify for CTF) that has our name on it,that we will contribute to instead, so we have more control over how the money is spent.

The £277 she has already got has to go in the CTF so will the money she gets at 7 but if i add at all to this it won't amount to much.

She might grow into a very sensible 18 year old, but who knows.

I think the £16.50 your talking about will be the child benefit, how much tax credit you get depends on income

Aloeabundance

A seed was planted in this thread: "how do you ensure that your child will put the money to good use?"

I've thought and thought and thought and thought!

This is what I came up with - get them to read great books about successful people and things about money - like Rich Kid Smart Kid or Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyoski...

Things that inspire them - even purchase the game Cashflow for Kids - m partner and I play Cashflow for Adults and it's shifted our thinking a lot.

I wanted to come and post, and forgot, then I saw this posted on another website -

Do You Want Me to Help You Buy That Car?
Forget that allowance. Pay your kids for their "book reports" instead.
by Charlie "Tremendous" Jones

How many of you are under sixteen? How do you like the idea that you might be driving a Cadillac when you're sixteen? When my son was your age, he wasn't quite as excited as you. I said, "Jerry, do you want to have a car when you're sixteen?"

"Yes."

"Do you want me to help you buy that car?"

"Yes sir, dad."

"Alright, son, we're going to do it, but the free ride's over. No more allowance. I'm going to give you a way to make a lot of money. Here is the deal. I am going to pick out books for you to read. There will be motivational books, history books, inspirational books; and every time I give you a book, you give me a book report. Every time I get a book report, I'll put money in your car fund. Another book report; more money in the car fund. In two years if you read in style, you'll drive in style. But if you read like a bum, you're going to drive like a bum."

Overnight he developed a fantastic hunger for reading. The first book I had him read was Dale Carnegie's, "How to Win Friends and Influence People." Somebody said, "Why did you have him read a book like that?" I'll tell you why. The first day he read that book, he smiled and said, "Dad, there's a whole chapter in here about smiling." And he smiled at me--he smiled at me. I couldn't believe it--he's smiling and he's only 14 years old--smiling already. Then he took my hand and he shook my hand and he said "Dad, there's a whole chapter in here on shaking hands." He shook my hand. I couldn't believe it--oh my.

Next, I had him read the book of Joshua. Oh, I love the book of Joshua. It's on discouragement. We all have a right to be discouraged, but none of us have the right to act discouraged. So we're going to Sunday School one day, and I said, "Jerry, how do you like that book on Joshua?" He said, "Dad, everybody ought to have to read that book." And when he said that, he hit my leg. He hit my leg! First sign of life in 14 years--he hit my leg!

Well, let me tell you this. That may not sound like much, but many people have read great books, and never once have they said, "You've got to read this book." If you don't have a passion and desire to share what you're reading, you may as well not read it. But if you're not living your life out, you're a dead sea. Well, he read 22 books. He didn't buy a car; he kept the money and used my gas!

He went on to college; he wrote me a Dear Dad post card every day for four years. And some of those cards--I'd like to read you a couple--because they were tough years of my life. You know, no matter how anybody looks on the platform, we all have our ups and downs and hurts and what-have-you, but if you're wise, you'll always keep your hurts to yourself and you grow through and you never suck your thumb and complain and tell people about them. And so here come these cards, and those years I was going through tough times, and sometimes I would just put my head on the desk and shed some happy tears. Because I was so grateful to realize that it was a book he read where he got his seed thought, to put it on a card and write to me every day. And the other thing so beautiful about it, he may not have known the meaning of some of these great truths, but the thought was in his mind, and you have to get it in your mind, you have to memorize it before you can start to realize it.

And here's a couple of cards:

_________________________________

Dad, the only happy man, successful man, confident man, or practical man is the one who is simple. See it big--keep it simple.

Unless his mind can crystallize all the answers into one powerful punch of personal motivation, you live nothing but a life of uncertainty and fear.
Tremendously too, Jerry


_________________________________



Dad, it's simple to be able to know that when you're in a slump, just like that baseball player will break out in time, so you'll break out of yours. Yea, time really cures things. Like you said, you don't lose any problems. You just get bigger and better ones--tremendous ones.
Tremendously, Jerry


_________________________________



Dad, I just started reading "100 Great Lives." Thanks for what you said in the front, the part that every great man never sought to be great. He just followed the vision he had and did what he had to do.
Love, Jerry


_________________________________



Dad, I just got done typing up little quotes out of the Bible and Napoleon Hill, so that everywhere I look I see these quotes. When people ask what they are, I tell them, "They're my pin-up's."


_________________________________



Dad, I'm more convinced than ever that you can do anything you want to. You can beat anyone at anything, just by working hard. Handicaps don't mean anything because often people who don't have any handicaps, have a bad attitude and don't want to do anything.


_________________________________



Dad, Nothing new. Just the same old exciting thought--that we can know God personally and forever in this amazing life.


_________________________________



Dad, The mind of God is so unbelievable. He throws nothing at us but paradoxes. He makes us completely and utterly helpless and depraved, and then He takes our failure which normally knocks us out, and makes it our greatest asset.


_________________________________


Dad, when you're behind two papers in the 4th quarter and you're exhausted from the game, and you have to make up a set of downs in order to stay in the game, and you get up to the line and see 5 250-lb tests staring you in the mug, you're too excited to wait and find out what play the Lord is going to call next.

_________________________________




Wow! Well, anyway just imagine, if I had it to do over again, I'd have paid him $1,000 a book report.

How many have grand-children here? Okay here's what you do. You tell your grandchildren from now on you'll pay them $100 for every book report, and they get $5 bucks and the rest goes into the college fund. So that way, when they're 8 or 9, they'll have $10,000 or $15,000 to put toward college education and they'll have the satisfaction of paying for it. Plus, they will have read books that will truly make a difference in their lives.

Tremendously,
Charlie "Tremendous" Jones


_________________________________


Charlie "Tremendous" Jones, in addition to breaking many sales records in the insurance industry throughout his career, is the founder and CEO of Executive Books. Choose from some of Charlie "Tremendous" Jones's set of 12 Vintage CDs - The Best of Charlie "Tremendous" Jones or his best selling books including: Life is Tremendous, Quotes are Tremendous, Humor is Tremendous, Tremendous Power of Prayer and From a Fathers Heart. To purchase Charlie's books and tapes and CDs, go to https://www.greatestnetworker.com/jimrohn, click on Other Authors in the Directory and scroll down to Charlie "Tremendous" Jones.

Not my affiliate link - it's from the website I got it off.

Feel free to delete it...

Love
Natalie
http://www.natalielamb.co.uk

Ickle_Steve

This fledgling site is being updated as the owner gets information from the Fund providers.

CTF Guide

If your looking for a site that compares the features of the various Stakeholder and Share funds this seems like a good place to start.

LIAMJACK

We have decided to deposit the CTF voucher into Britannia, not only because I work for them, but because they are offering 6% for the first two years, and remembering that you are able to transfer the CTF from provider to provider but not product this is the best rate I have seen, and I don't need to add to it to get this rate either.

Jeet_2

I've noticed that mnay of the providers charges are at the max 1.5% level.

I wanted to invest it in something like the HSBC 250 Tracker, being a tracker alhtough the gains may noty be as good neither will the losses, and it charges are only 0.75%, However HSBC do not offer this fund for the CTF, only a fund that charges 1.5%.

Does anyone know how I can get the CTF money invested in a tracker fund that charges less.??

Ickle_Steve

How about the offering from F & C?
http://www.fandc.com/

Stakeholder account
Invests in F&C FTSE All-share Tracker only
UK investment only
No initial charge
0.7% annual plan charge
Minimum lump sum contribution £10
Minimum monthly contribution £10

Shares account
Choice of six different investment trusts and a deposit account
Choice of UK and International investments
No initial charge
No annual plan charge
Minimum lump sum contribution £300
Minimum monthly contribution £25

(Taken from their .pdf brochure)

davidjwest

Ickle_Steve wrote:

This fledgling site is being updated as the owner gets information from the Fund providers.

CTF Guide

If your looking for a site that compares the features of the various Stakeholder and Share funds this seems like a good place to start.

"Fledging Site" I like it, very polite!

It's quite gratifying to find out that my humble little site is being talked about on forums such as this and I don't need the "spam" the boards.

The site is still very much work in progress (fledgling ) but I am updating it regularly and hope that people find it useful aid to researching and comparing providers.

I have just added a new feature onto the site which is a calculator to work out how large a CTF will become when it matures, depending on interest rates/charges/amount saved etc.

Comments are appreciated as are suggestions about how to make it better.

Keris

Does anyone know if there's anywhere ethical I can put the money?

Thanks