Encouraging family savings
The average family spends over £13,500 per year on their child between the ages 18 to 21, more than double the cost spent on them during their early teenage years.
Of those families who save, one in four has savings of less than £500. With university aged children quoted as costing their families over £40,000 each this could mean that some 4.2 million families will have significant amounts of money to find as their children reach adulthood. The Child Trust Fund provides one means for families of today's youngsters to save towards this target over the long term rather than having to find it by other means later on.
Since Rebecca Sardo's children were born, she has been steadily adding to the initial government CTF amount. Instead of toys at Christmas and on birthdays, friends and family give small sums to help boost the kids' trust funds.
"The CTF doesn't have an immediate effect but it gives you a small start that you can add to and build on. It gives your kids a head start. I don't agree that it should be for the poorest families only - it should be a head start for every child.
"We pay money in for the kids at birthdays and Christmas. We even save up small change and deposit it every now and again. I hope that when they come of age, they'll use it to help with their education. It gives them opportunities they might not have had otherwise."
Do you have any innovative ways of saving for your children? Let us know about them here.
