Seeing past the politics of Labour's child trust fund

As the Labour Government starts to promise parents £250 cheques, it is clear that while the child tr...

As the Labour Government starts to promise parents £250 cheques, it is clear that while the child trust fund (CTF) makes good sense ahead of an election, its long-term merits are far from clear. For a start, the Government is not handing out enough money to make a difference. If your child invested £250 at birth and accessed it 18 years later in 2022, based on the underlying portfolio doing 8% per year, it would produce a grand sum of £999. That does not take into account charges or the effect of inflation. Is that likely to make a significant dent in the cost of going to university or of...