Save Your Free Child Trust Fund Voucher with Scottish Friendly, so Your Child Can Have a Large Lump Sum of Money when They Get Older
Have you heard the news about the Child Trust Fund? Few UK parents startling
sparse number of parents seem to have made the discovery that all newly born babies get a free £250 voucher from the government to place in a Child Trust Fund. Your son or daughter’s vouchermay be invested in any one of threesorts of CTF account, Stakeholder – a shares-based account that switchesinto cash, a savings account or a shares account. It is an excellent way to invest needs of a infant
Scottish Friendly is a licensed provider of the Child Trust Fund Voucher. The Government is eager for the public at large to have access to Stakeholder accounts and this is the kind of account that we are catering for. This means that:
• Investments are deposited into Scottish Friendly’s Managed Growth Fund, which seeks to provide good growth potential
• An investment is made in part in shares to take advantage of potentially higher returns over 18 years,compared to a cash deposit account (although the value of shares candecrease as well as go up whereas capital would be protected in a deposit account)
• It comes with a low ‘Stakeholder’ funds charge of only 1.5% per year
• When attaining the age of 18 the child will receive a lump sum, completely free of Capital Gains and Income Tax under present law
• It’s affordable – extra payments can be put in the account from as little as £10
An attractive feature of the Child Trust Fund is that anyone – parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends – if they want can give to the Fund to a ceiling of £1,200 per year to help increase the child’s Fund (once added, this money is not allowed to be withdrawn).
All this means our Stakeholder account provides a good balance between potentially high returns and a reduced level of risk. There is also the extra assurance that our account meets with the Government’s stakeholder criteria. Nonetheless this doesn’t mean that returns are guaranteed or that Stakeholder accounts are suitable for everyone. Bear in mind that the value of shares in the Managed Growth Fund (where your Child Trust Fund money is held) can fall as well as rise and is not guaranteed.
Only infants who were born on or after 1st September 2002 are eligible to open a Child Trust Fund. If you have older kids who are not entitled you could contemplate saving for them with a Child Bond – it’s a tax-free savings plan looking for long-term growth. There can be no doubt that saving for a child is a sound means of preparing for the future.
