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Child trust fund - stakeholder
tyllwyd
Posts: 5,496 Forumite
I feel like a bit of an idiot. Last year, I had a child trust fund voucher to invest, and since I had absolutely no idea who to invest it with, I saw The Children's Mutual recommended in a newspaper article and decided to go with them. I remember having a conversation with my OH, and he wanted me to put it into a cash fund.
I was watching Working Lunch this morning (trying to educate myself a bit more about my money!) and they were talking about child trust funds, and I thought I'd better go and check what the interest rate was on this fund because I was a bit worried that the cash fund might have been a bad idea for long term growth ... but when I went to The Children's Mutual website, I couldn't see a cash fund anywhere. So I checked the paperwork and sure enough, what I've actually invested in is a stakeholder.
Hopefully, that will turn out to be a good mistake to have made! Looking at the statement, the money is all invested in the 'Insight Investment Foundation Growth Fund' and last year (April 2005 - 06) it increased from £268 to £342. Am I right in thinking that is about 27% growth?
I suppose I'm just looking for a bit of reassurance - does this look OK as an investment, or is there something I should be watching out for? I don't intend to put more money into the account because I don't trust the goverment not to change the rules in the future.
I was watching Working Lunch this morning (trying to educate myself a bit more about my money!) and they were talking about child trust funds, and I thought I'd better go and check what the interest rate was on this fund because I was a bit worried that the cash fund might have been a bad idea for long term growth ... but when I went to The Children's Mutual website, I couldn't see a cash fund anywhere. So I checked the paperwork and sure enough, what I've actually invested in is a stakeholder.
Hopefully, that will turn out to be a good mistake to have made! Looking at the statement, the money is all invested in the 'Insight Investment Foundation Growth Fund' and last year (April 2005 - 06) it increased from £268 to £342. Am I right in thinking that is about 27% growth?
I suppose I'm just looking for a bit of reassurance - does this look OK as an investment, or is there something I should be watching out for? I don't intend to put more money into the account because I don't trust the goverment not to change the rules in the future.
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Comments
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Am I right in thinking that is about 27% growth?
Yes.does this look OK as an investment,
You are correct that its a good mistake. To me, anyone going into cash with a CTF is throwing money away. The timescale is crying out for equity investment.I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.0 -
My girlfriend has put our sons CTF into a natwest stakeholder account. As I wasn't around at the time of his birth I had no say in this decision, but given the choice I would have put it into shares, personally.
Is the stakeholder route a decent investment? and will natwest be as good as any, or are there better companies to go with out there? I'm assuming its too late to switch now anyway.0 -
Childrens mutual is generally considered to be one of the best. Indeed, many of the providers out there just "white label" the childrens mutual product as their own.I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.0
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Apparently the Natwest stakeholder CTF is offered by Morley Fund Management.
Taken from their wesite...
"We've teamed up with Morley Fund Management, who are one of the UK's largest Fund Managers, to provide a NatWest Child Trust Fund Stakeholder account. Please note: Morley Funds are equity-based and values may fall as well as rise."0 -
I'm assuming its too late to switch now anyway
Nope - you can transfer the CTF from one provider to another whenever you like, including from cash to funds and vice versa, or stakeholder to non-stakeholder and vice versa. All you need do is request a transfer form from the provider you want to transfer TO and fill it in. Only the Registered Contact can do this, though, which I assume is your girlfriend.0 -
Thanks for the info. I may well look in to doing this sometime in the near future.Nick_C wrote:Nope - you can transfer the CTF from one provider to another whenever you like, including from cash to funds and vice versa, or stakeholder to non-stakeholder and vice versa. All you need do is request a transfer form from the provider you want to transfer TO and fill it in. Only the Registered Contact can do this, though, which I assume is your girlfriend.0 -
Morley have some good funds and are part of Norwich Union. They also manage a number of NU funds, including the award winning UK Property fund and the very soon to be launched European property fund (which I am keeping my eyes on).I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.0
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I've put my son's CTF in a stakeholder and last year it actually lost £5 off it's original value so I'd say 27% growth is brilliant!
But I'm not concerned because it really is a long term thing.0
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