Despite the initial slow takeup of Child Trust Funds (CTFs), more recently there has been signs that parents are beginning to understand them and take them more seriously. For the uninitiated, CTFs are savings accounts for kids which cannot be accessed until the child is 18. When they’re born, the child receives a voucher from […]
Tag: Savings
Force Yourself To Save
If you find it a struggle to save any money each month (too much month at the end of your pay cheque?), then some of the tips in Force Yourself To Save: 15 Painless Ways To Pay Yourself First might put you on the right track. Here are some of the most interesting tips: #1 […]
How Much Should You Have In Your Emergency Fund?
Back in April I reported on a survey which suggested that 80% of us do not have enough to live on if we were to lose our jobs. Having an emergency fund is an important part of financial planning – especially for those who do not have much to save. There’s a good post at […]
Child Trust Fund Performance Figures
At the end of last month The Telegraph published a table of the performance of stocks and share Child Trust Funds. If you want to compare how your kids trust fund has performed, view the table. The table shows just how much difference your decision can make to the size of the fund – the […]
Good & Bad News From The Banks
There’s been mixed news from the banks today which makes for some interesting reading. Firstly, on the good side, if you’re a saver, savings rates have reached a massive 7% from some banks and building societies, with many having raised their interest rates on savings accounts in the last couple of weeks. As ever, for […]
Student Finance: New Series
As we’re approaching the start of the new academic year, I’m starting a series of posts looking at the thorny subject of student finance. Studies suggest that this year’s freshers will owe £21,000 on average by the time they graduate, so it’s becoming more and more important that students, and their parents, are thinking about […]
More on Repaying Your Student Loan
Brad Ford made a great point on my previous post about whether to pay off your student loan or not: Without factoring in risk, paying off the student loan is an easy decision. Unfortunately, life is not without risk. Two months after you pay down the loan, you absolutely must have $1,000 for an emergency. […]
Student Loans: Pay or Delay?
Like many, I left university with some debt. I’m probably one of the lucky ones though, as it wasn’t a huge amount, compared with the average figures that students are accumulating these days, plus all of my debt was in student loans – no overdrafts, credit cards etc. I’ve been wondering recently whether I should […]
“The Miracle of Compounding”
The Fool has posted a great example demonstrating the power of compounding. In the example, one person invests £100 a month for 10 years from the age of 20 -another also invests £100 per month for 30 years, but from the age of 30 (we’re also assuming they’re the same age, but one starts investing […]
We Don’t Trust Our Banks
A recent survey by Fool.co.uk highlighted how we do not trust our banks with our money.