Child trust funds are a ...

[cassa333]

The government child trust funds are a waist of money. Last Nov the total in the account was �690.07 with �240 going in this year you would have thought that the end balance would be a bit healthier than �701.06

Even if it went into a low interest BS account and paying tax at least it wouldn't loose money.

No more money is going in it now. How long will it take to be worth nothing I wonder?

[redcrx]

thats the reason that my kids CTFs are left with no extra money going in.
Id rather put any money they have into a bank account and just put the CTFs in high risk.

[cassa333]

Apparently the shares that my (childrens) money is being lost on is because they are buying more shares so will be worth more in the long term. Ha... I will put it in the best account I can find and see how much they are worth in 10 years time.

[redcrx]

all shares have pretty muc taken a beating over the last few months.
thats why they say that the CTFs can go down and they are high risk.
If you want to ensure the mony is safe then a standard account would be better than a share one.
I look at it thats its pretty muchfree money so will risk it but i wont risk my childs birthday money and own savings.

[factor-fiction]

It's free money for your child . Didn't you have a choice where to invest - eg in stocks and shares or a building society savings account, or were you forced to invest in this way?

[redcrx]

yes factor, there are 3 types of CTF.
1. straight forward savings account
2. share accounts, high risk
3. stakeholder accounts a mixture of both.

but the government does it to encourage parents to continue utting money into these accounts and obviously cassa has done so and lost money due to the collapse of shares.
cassa, id say stop putting money in it and look to see if you can change CTF accounts to a safer one. start a savings account if you dont want to risk the money youre saving for your child

[factor-fiction]

Isn't this a good time to start putting more money in while share prices are very low compared to values in recent years. yes I know they can fall further but a CTF is along term investment and history shows shares have performed better than savings accounts over the long term

[cassa333]

It has lost money for the last two years. Last year �240 was put in and only 52.73 was added to the account.

If anyone can assure me that the share rate will recover enough to cover the losses AND make a descent profit for the children within the next ten years then I'll consider keeping it but to be honest I don't trust the overall economy enough to risk it.

By the way they are stakeholder funds so should be medium risk...

[redcrx]

it could well be a good time factor, but cassa seems to want to keep the extra savings she is adding (who can blame her) and not take the risk.

no-one can tell you what shares will do cassa, its all guesswork .

[factor-fiction]

Yes i agree redcrx that we have to factor in our attitude to risk. Like cassa, I m not much of a risk taker. Unfortunately though the people who lose out most when share prices fall is people like us who get cold feet and sell up or stop investing. Those who see it as an opportunity to buy at or near the bottom of the market will probably do well, although no-one can of course be certain prices won't fall further at the moment.

[dasherman]

Share based investments are for the long term - at least 5 years.
CTF's are 18 year investments.
History tells you that over time shares do better than deposits.
If you want your money to be safe then put it in the building society,if you want to make the money grow,then put it in shares and don't get all het up over short term volatility.