The Children's Mutual..........

Sceptre

Hi everyone

I'm trying to sort my finances out - I have been woefully neglectful in all sorts of areas over the years!

The mortgage is finally gone, I'm tackling the other debts, and I now need to look at pensions and savings - I'm all over the place!

I have decided to start with my son's future. I started a 'baby bond' with the now Children's Mutual in 2001. It is due to run until my son turns 18, in 2019. I set up a direct debit back then for a modest monthly amount, and other than glance at the yearly statement and file it way, I have paid it very little attention.

Looking at the latest statement, it has produced very little over and above my payments.

I need the money to work harder, and have decided to get the cash-in value tomorrow and then put it somewhere else.

The question is where?

I have been looking at the threads on Junior ISAs and also the various Children's accounts currently on the market, and can't decide whether to keep moving the money around the best ordinary savings accounts or go for an ISA.

I will not be dipping into the 'pot' under any circumstances, and would like the money to be available to him at 18.

The cash-in value should be just short of £3000.00 - not a vast amount - and I intend to initally put £50 into the fund each month.

I'm going cross-eyed looking at everything now!

Would appreciate any input you guys are able to give.

Cheers.

xylophone

As your son was born before 1 Sept 2002 he will be eligible for a Junior ISA - you have the choice of a stockmarket based type or cash or a mixture of the two http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_192028
You can invest a total of £3600 per annum.
Do you have a cash ISA of your own? If so, the new offer from Halifax might be of interest. http://www.moneyvista.com/news/news-articles/halifax-launches-6-junior-cash-isa/
For stockmarket based JISAs, you might find
http://www.myeggnest.com/
http://www.hl.co.uk/investment-services/junior-isa
of interest.

Sceptre

xylophone wrote: »

As your son was born before 1 Sept 2002 he will be eligible for a Junior ISA - you have the choice of a stockmarket based type or cash or a mixture of the two http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Nl1/Newsroom/DG_192028
You can invest a total of £3600 per annum.
Do you have a cash ISA of your own? If so, the new offer from Halifax might be of interest. http://www.moneyvista.com/news/news-articles/halifax-launches-6-junior-cash-isa/
For stockmarket based JISAs, you might find
http://www.myeggnest.com/
http://www.hl.co.uk/investment-services/junior-isa
of interest.

Thank you so much for your reply xylophone.

I was looking at the Halifax ISA - it looks good. I do have an ISA, it's with the Coventry BS. Sadly, it has next to nothing in it.

Am I best to close it down altogether and then start again with someone else?

Do you think that the Halifax would allow me to open an ISA for myself and a Junior one for my son at the same time to take advantage of the 3% bonus?

xylophone

You could always transfer it and if it is this year's add to it?
Otherwise, if you haven't saved into one for this year you could start a new one?
It looks as though you will need to ring your nearest Halifax branch to get all the information/ arrange account(s) opening interview?
http://www.moneywise.co.uk/news/2012-02-14/halifax-launches-junior-isa-paying-6

martinman3

It is a shame that your experience with the Children's Mutual baby bond seems to have put you off investing in stocks and shares. Those products have been always been awful and probably didn't even keep up with inflation over the period.

The current outlook for interest rates is flat for several years, the risk to mortgage holders and business if rates are increased is too great for the BOE to contemplate it.

Currently, most S&S Junior ISAs allow full control of the investments but along with that comes relatively high annual fees and you are probably wise to avoid them unless you know what you are doing.

The forthcoming F&C Junior ISA may allow low cost investment in investment trusts with no annual fee, like its savings plan. We must wait and see.
http://www.fandc.com/new/IT/default.aspx?id=97601

Sceptre

xylophone wrote: »

You could always transfer it and if it is this year's add to it?
Otherwise, if you haven't saved into one for this year you could start a new one?
It looks as though you will need to ring your nearest Halifax branch to get all the information/ arrange account(s) opening interview?
http://www.moneywise.co.uk/news/2012-02-14/halifax-launches-junior-isa-paying-6

Thank you for this - I am going to call the Halifax tomorrow and enquire about an appointment.

Sceptre

martinman3 wrote: »

It is a shame that your experience with the Children's Mutual baby bond seems to have put you off investing in stocks and shares. Those products have been always been awful and probably didn't even keep up with inflation over the period.

The current outlook for interest rates is flat for several years, the risk to mortgage holders and business if rates are increased is too great for the BOE to contemplate it.

Currently, most S&S Junior ISAs allow full control of the investments but along with that comes relatively high annual fees and you are probably wise to avoid them unless you know what you are doing.

The forthcoming F&C Junior ISA may allow low cost investment in investment trusts with no annual fee, like its savings plan. We must wait and see.
http://www.fandc.com/new/IT/default.aspx?id=97601

It has put me off a little. I am not entirely risk averse, but........

Thank you for the link, something else to consider.

jimjames

Sceptre wrote: »

It has put me off a little. I am not entirely risk averse, but........

Thank you for the link, something else to consider.

Unfortunately it isnt really a S&S product but is very poor value.

Problem with the Halifax, like all banks, they don't offer any decent S&S ISA products so you could end up with something equally poor performing. At least with cash you'll get back what you put in plus a bit but you won't get any decent growth that you could with share based investments.

It has been a bit of a rollercoaster recently but in my view the current market looks to be pretty good value especially when shares are giving so much better income than cash savings.