One of the options that is available to some people for savings and investment is the child trust fund vouches which is available for children born in the United Kingdom following September 1, 2002. Any child that is born in the UK after September 1, 2002 is entitled to a “child trust fund voucher”, which forms the basis of a child trust fund. These vouchers are available to any child claiming the child benefit, and child benefit is a universal benefit that all children in the UK are entitled to receiving regardless of family income.
United Kingdom Child Trust Funds
Here are the basic facts that you need to know about child trust funds:
- All children who are born after September 1, 2002 will receive a voucher that will allow to open a child trust fund.
- All children can receive a Child Trust Fund voucher regardless of their family income level. In order to receive the voucher the child must be registered to receive the child benefit.
- All savings placed into a child trust fund are tax free.
- If you are part of a low income family, then you can actually receive additional money to invest.
- All children are capable of receiving an extra 250 pounds that they can invest as soon as they reach the age of seven.
- You can top up the child trust fund by as much as 1,200 pounds every year.
- Anyone can contribute to a child trust fund, so it is an excellent addition to the gift list because family members, friends and neighbors can all contribute for your child.
- At the age of sixteen the child is allowed to make the decisions about how the money will be invested.
- The investment itself cannot be accessed until the child has reached the adult age of 18.
- Child trust funds are transferable between different people and it does not require any extra cost.
- The first child trust funds are going to mature in the year 2020. From April 2009 and on, child trust funds can be opened online and no voucher has to be sent in to the fund provider.
- 24 percent of all parents are topping up their children’s trust funds.
- In August 2008 alone more than 3.61 child trust funds existed in the UK.
Once you have received a voucher, the next step is to choose a provider for the child trust fund, to contact them, and then to open the account up. The voucher needs to be sent in with the paperwork, at least until April 2009 when the trust funds can be opened up online without requiring that the voucher be sent along. Once the child trust fund is started, all that is left is topping it up every year to contribute to your child’s investment.
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Originally posted 2009-01-07 05:46:57. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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