With university fees set to rocket, saving for children’s education has never been more at the forefront of parent’s minds. Indeed, new research from Mintel finds over half of parent savers say that funding university is one of the main reasons that they save for their children (54%). Providing additional financial security in their adult lives (33%) and saving to help their children with a deposit for a house (19%) make up the top three reasons for saving on behalf of children. Meanwhile, just 7% of today’s parents are saving to finance their children’s future travels and 4% are saving to put money towards their child’s wedding.
While over 5 million children have benefited from the Government backed Child Trust Fund (CTF), the fund’s closure is set to really hurt the children’s investment market. Today, as many as one in seven (14%) parents admit the fund has really encouraged them to save on behalf of their children, yet Mintel’s research finds more than one in three (34%) parents are unaware of the scheme’s closure.
The CTF has made rapid inroads into the market, today over 56% of parents own a CTF account. Largely hailed as a success, Mintel finds as many as 14% of parents with children aged 0-9 (most of whom were eligible for the scheme) feel that the CTF has really encouraged them to save for their children. What is more, as many as 86% of these parents have added to their children’s funds since they were opened. Despite the enthusiasm for CTFs though, just 2% of all parents have reached the
