Converting Your Child Trust Fund to a Junior ISA – Here’s What You Need to Know

Your child means everything in the world to you — you don’t need a personal finance blog to tell you that. However, it feels like everywhere you go, there’s somebody telling you to do something different for your child. We’re not trying to add to the noise in your head, but if you’re looking for sincere help — we have that in spades. It’s time to make sure that your family has a strong chance to thrive and grow. What better place could we think to begin than the children?

If you’re in the middle of trying to figure out whether or not you should convert from a child trust fund to a Junior ISA, this is definitely the guide for you. The savings do matter. If you’re trying to build a nest egg for your child because you never grew up with one, then your key objective is going to be safety. You don’t want to put your money into shares and just watch it disappear, do you? Of course not. You want to make sure that they have the best future possible. Saving money now for them will pay off later when they can do anything with the money that they wish.

If you already have a Child Trust Fund for your child, you probably know all of the details. You can save up to 3600 GBP a year for your child, which is poured into a cash account or an investment plan. Yet so few providers offer CTF funds now. Everyone is thinking about the Junior ISA — which offers a better rate and more flexible terms. The important thing to realize is that your children will still not be able to touch the money until they are 18 years of age.

Keep in mind that there are no free money projects form the Government to get you started with a Junior ISA. You also won’t lose the government contributions if you switched.

If you have a shareholder CTF for your child, you might want to look at your actual charges. You might find that the shareholder account isn’t serving you. It comes down to how much time before age 18 that your child really has. If you have plenty of time, you can go more aggressive. However, if you don’t have a lot of time, you might want to be more conservative.

You have a lot of options when it comes to a Junior Isa — why not read up on them further and then make a decision? After all, something as important as your children’s futures shouldn’t be boiled down to just one article. If you need to get professional advice, then you should definitely do so. Good luck!