Stakeholder Accounts:

* The money is invested in companies’ shares, so it grows if they do well
* The value of shares can fall, but the account has to follow Government rules, and is invested in a number of companies, in order to reduce the risk of losing money
* The money is gradually moved to lower risk investments once the child is 13 so that there is less chance of it reducing in value in the short term
* If a parent is willing to take more risk than with the savings account, it may mean that their child gets more money at 18
* Management charges can vary, but cannot be more than 1.5% a year

Savings Accounts:

* This is a cash option, which doesn’t take the risk of investing in shares
* The child will get back what their parent saved, with interest
* However, the interest paid usually only makes up for inflation – keeping the ‘buying power’ of the child’s money the same

With the savings account barely keeping up with inflation it seems the only way to actually make money is with risking it, how fail safe are these methods put forth by the government to safeguard any money put into these shares and do i have a chance to lose all of it and not make back any of the money i put into the account? Which sounds like a better Option, there is also the shares account Option but I would not want to gamble with any Possible money my son may come into at the age of 18... if anyone has any helpful information in regards to these 3 accounts i would be very interested to know what you have to say and very appreciative