With January traditionally seen as a time of year for getting finances in shape, data from one of the UK’s leading child trust fund (CTF) providers has showed that January 2006 was the most popular month of the year for parents to open CTFs.
Engage Mutual, which provides child trust funds to around 150,000 British children, has found that of CTFs opened with Engage Mutual over the last 12 months, almost 12 % were opened in January, possibly as parents reviewed their finances – far more than the monthly average for the rest of the year. The number of parents opening a CTF in November almost halved in comparison with January suggesting that good intentions perhaps waned as the year went on.
The research has also revealed that despite January being the most popular month to open a CTF with Engage Mutual, it came middle of the league in terms of the proportion of CTFs opened with regular monthly top-ups. The highest proportion of CTFs with a direct debit was opened in June. The most popular month for one-off payments to be made into an Engage CTF was March, when many workers receive bonuses at the end of the financial year.
Karl Elliott, 3GB spokesperson for Engage Mutual said: New Year is a time when many of us resolve to sort out our finances. As last year’s experience in our CTF data shows, many parents will also open a CTF in January. However, we really encourage parents to invest little and often for their child for the long term, not just at the beginning of the year. By investing just GBP10 a month into an Engage CTF on top of the government’s contribution of GBP250 at birth and again at age seven, the child could get back GBP4,130 when they reach 18.
