Funding for Education
Many parents and grandparents are now looking to the financial marketplace to provide a solution to the education funding problem. School fees have long needed forward planning, but with higher university fees now in the picture, the need is even greater.
We will help you build an investment portfolio that will contribute towards these fees, assessing your needs and the suitable options open to you. We will ensure that you take advantage of tax-free opportunities wherever possible, and that we make best use of every appropriate family member’s tax allowances.
Child Trust Funds
The Government has introduced this investment vehicle for children born on or after 1 September 2002. Each child is given a voucher for either £250 or £500 (subject to personal circumstances) to put into an approved fund, and further payments can be added to this initial amount by others (eg parents, grandparents) over the years. As a result of the 2006 Budget, additional payments will be made into the fund when the child reaches age 7. The fund cannot be used until the child reaches 18 years of age.
Child-Friendly Savings
There are a number of investment opportunities that are tailored for minors:
- Children’s Bonus Bonds, available from National Savings.
- Stakeholder Pension Plans (contributions limited to £3,600 per year)
Gifts
It is possible to make valuable gifts to friends and family members, but beware, you could be incurring a liability in terms of inheritance tax. However, there are a number of annual and special exemptions:
- First £3,000 of transfers in any Tax Year are exempt
- Any unused portion of that exemption may be carried forward for one year only to use in the following tax year
- Outright gifts of up to £250 per annum to any number of persons are
exempt
- Gifts to Charities are wholly exempt
Wedding Gifts
Gifts to either party to a marriage can be exempt, as follows:
- £5,000 from a parent
- £2,500 from a grandparent
- £1,000 from any person
Regular Gifts out of Income
This is an under-used exemption, whereby if income is generally in excess of annual living expenses, you can establish regular pattern of giving to make use of this exemption. Once pattern established, can be viewed as normal expenditure and further £3,000 gift exemption will be available
Publications and Links
Please be aware that by clicking on some of the links below you are leaving the Almary Green website. Please note that Almary Green are not responsible for the accuracy of information contained within the linked sites accessible from this page.
www.childtrustfund.gov.uk
www.nsandi.com/savingneeds/investforachildsfuture.jsp
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