Parents Sacrifice Luxuries to Secure Future Funds for Children

    BRIGHTON, UK, October 01, 2008 /24-7PressRelease/ -- As financial situations worsen, parents are having to cut back on personal luxuries in order to secure a better future for their children, according to new research out today by Family Investments, the UK's leading Child Trust Fund provider.

The research shows that for 83% of parents, purchasing beauty products is first on the list of things to be cut out to ensure enough is being put aside for their child's future, despite recent reports that sales in designer lipsticks have gone up. This is closely followed by clothes shopping, as 81% of parents say they are cutting back on purchases.

A less surprising figure in light of holiday companies such as XL going bust is that nearly half of the parents questioned (49%) have or will be cutting back on holidays to ensure their children's savings are not being neglected during the crunch. Only 6% of the parents questioned are not prepared to change their spending habits at all when it comes to saving for their child.

One in three children will be bearing the brunt of these cut backs however, as a third of parents will be cutting back on treats such as toys and sweets, in order to prioritise how their money is being spent on their child. For the majority of parents (66%) it is felt that any disposable income in this current economic climate should be put towards long term investments as opposed to everyday luxuries and treats.

Kate Baker, Head of Marketing at Family Investments said: 'In our experience saving for a child's future is a parental obligation, so when things are getting tough this the last area that parents are willing to cut back on. Despite the strain of the current economic climate, 85% of parents will be continuing to top up their child's trust funds by the same amount, it's just a matter of cutting back on little luxuries when things are tight to ensure their children's savings don't suffer.'

Family Investments is the trading name of Family Assurance Friendly Society - one of the UK's largest Friendly Societies with in excess of 1.7bn funds under management and over 1m policies.

Family Investments is the market leading Child Trust Fund provider with our Child Trust Fund account available in approximately 18,000 high street locations - four times greater than any other provider. Family's partnerships include the Post Office, Barclays, Sainsbury's Bank, Bounty, Coventry Building Society, Bradford & Bingley, Clydesdale Bank, Northern Bank, Yorkshire Bank, Nectar and Early Learning Centre.

Family Investments is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

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