The countdown is well and truly on. 
No, not to Thursday 12 December, but more importantly Tuesday 1 September 2020. So what is so significant about that date you will be asking yourself?
This is when the very first teenagers who received the wildly lauded but sadly much forgotten about Child Trust Fund (CTF) vouchers will turn 18 and be able to freely access their accounts.
For many, the sheer size, scale and opportunity to assist the younger generation into a lifetime of investing is rarely considered and yet they already have a head start thanks to the historic government scheme.
And yet we should be mindful that this generation are different. They appreciate and are beginning to understand the values of investing and what it means. But there is a problem, the size and scale of which would alarm many.
CTFs were put in place for all children born between 1 September 2002 and 2 January 2011 provided they were living in the UK and not subject to immigration controls. This equates to over six million CTFs created, worth over £9bn.
It is estimated that almost £2.5bn is thought to be sitting idle in CTFs taken out for children who’ve since become separated from their accounts. Recipients to these accounts will get access to them on their 18th birthday and figures from the charity The Share Foundation estimate around one-third of all accounts are lost to their rightful owners.
At the same time, it’s estimated over one million of these accounts are ‘Addressee Gone Away’ – lost to the young person concerned – and a further possible two million young people have little or no awareness of the money entitled to them.
Analysis from The Share Centre shows the amount in many CTFs could have already more than tripled over the course of a childhood, if they’ve been held in investment CTF accounts. One invested in a simple FTSE 100 tracker fund, for example, could have returned £823.55 from the initial £250 government contribution in September 2002.
This is drastically higher than what could be expected if the money had been held in a cash CTF; where a standard savings account could have accumulated up to £350.70. After inflation this would effectively be worth £239.57, around 4 per cent less than the initial government gift.
Over the next 10 years we will be entering a period in which over six million young people throughout the UK could financially benefit substantially. These fortunate teenagers already own their accounts, although huge numbers don’t know it. It is one of the biggest opportunities, and challenges, in the field of personal finance today.
Regardless of how their parents or guardians chose to invest their CTF, the money belongs to a generation of six million children who will come of age in the next decade. They deserve to know who manages their account, and how they can access it.
So where should parents, guardians or teenagers go to start the process of hunting down their CTF? Currently, the answer lies with HMRC and the Government Gateway facility. Having created an ID and submitted a request, you should receive a response back within 15 days and will then be able to liaise with the account provider.
To ensure these children remain interested and committed to saving, let’s not lose sight of the opportunity and fail the younger generation. Let’s spread the word and link the child of today with what is rightfully theirs.
Andy Parsons is head of investments and product proposition at The Share Centre. The views expressed above are his own and should not be taken as investment advice.