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OK so come on Dads what do we think. What effect will it have over the long term?
I know that this will be a disappointment to some parents, but we need to be honest about what we are doing.David Laws Chief secretary to the Treasury
If you want to know more here is a good piece on the BBC.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/10146734.stm
The ΓΒ£250 is definitely a kick start to any parent's saving scheme for their child, so, yes it's a downer. Is it a governmental kick in the proverbials for those families that will struggle to save any money, let alone save for the child's future ... or is it a way of crippling those families who would want their children to go on to Higher Education, when the government itself will jack fees up beyond belief by the time these children are ready for University?
(Yes ... that is a ridiculously long sentence!)
Will the government make greater tax breaks for those that save for their child's future?
OK - I don't consider myself to be rich. A mortgage the size of a small planet and too many children have put paid to that notion ...at least for the next 20 years. However, we are reasonably comfortable at the moment and usually know where our next meal is coming from. My point is that three of my children have received these CTF accounts with one of them also receiving the second payment. I just don't think families like us should be given government handouts (too right I accepted it; my socialist principles only go so far π ).
As I recall, the idea was to encourage families to start saving for their children's futures. Does anyone ever actually put additional 'spare cash' in these accounts, or are the vast majority sat there with ΓΒ£250 in them?
Anyway, why do we save money for our children? University, first flat/house, first marriage, first car, drugs (Ok, maybe not), ... ...Maybe the money could be better spent on helping to subsidise 'the young' with some of these things. Just a thought.
It's a valid point that people SHOULD contribute towards the Trust Fund, otherwise it's just a handout that people will take and not build on. From the little reading I have done on interest rates on CTFs, they're not great.
Perhaps the government should take a look at who contributes to the CTFs and put in clauses to guarantee those that make use of the benefit get it! I know some places (think I looked at NatWest) will top up the ΓΒ£250 with additional benefits.
agree totally with Ratso....
Our sons is sat there with ΓΒ£250 in (actually its about ΓΒ£194 - not the best advert for putting money in) - he is 2 now and we have not put a penny in.
Us and the granparents have various things set up for him for when he is older. and like Ratso I dont think families like us should be given government handouts. There are circumstances where the CTF im sure makes a huge difference but monitoring this effectively would probably cost more than giving them to every child - its a hard one to decipher.
OK - I don't consider myself to be rich. A mortgage the size of a small planet and too many children have put paid to that notion ...at least for the next 20 yearis. However, we are reasonably comfortable at the moment and usually know where our next meal is coming from. My point is that three of my children have received these CTF accounts with one of them also receiving the second payment. I just don't think families like us should be given government handouts (too right I accepted it; my socialist principles only go so far π ).
As I recall, the idea was to encourage families to start saving for their children's futures. Does anyone ever actually put additional 'spare cash' in these accounts, or are the vast majority sat there with ΓΒ£250 in them?
Anyway, why do we save money for our children? University, first flat/house, first marriage, first car, drugs (Ok, maybe not), ... ...Maybe the money could be better spent on helping to subsidise 'the young' with some of these things. Just a thought.
I have just received a statement and my (nearly) 4 year old's CTF account has ΓΒ£221.73 ...that doesn't seem to be a particularly smart investment to me. I could have put ΓΒ£221.73 in my back pocket and spent the other ΓΒ£28.27 on beer. At least I'd have got something out of that. π
I admit that my kids are a bit older so we didn't get this, but the most common sense argument i heard was when someone commented that as a country we were borrowing money and paying more on the interest than those receiving it were getting in their Child Trust Funds.... Not sure i was exactly what it was designed to do!! And not sure its particularly effective way to help the next generation - burden them with national debt in order to save the trust funds... Of course i'm no economist, so it might not be all that simples π
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