Saving for children 'starts with teaching about saving'
The Cumberland News has featured an article on the importance of starting early when teaching children about saving.
Cumberland Building Society's Phillip Ward wrote in the newspaper that a basic savings account will help teach children understand the concept of saving, as they see their pocket money or birthday gift grow.
Parents or grandparents saving for children can begin even earlier by using the government's £250 Child Trust Fund voucher to start a nest egg that cannot be accessed until the child turns 18.
For families that are entitled to full Child Tax Credits, the voucher is worth £500.
Mr Ward went on to say that after the age of 18 the savings can then be moved to an individual savings account (Isa) or, after the age of 16, he or she can start a new cash Isa of their own.
He added parents can put money into interest-based or stock-market lined investments that do well over long periods of time.
Cumberland Building Society won What Mortgage's Regional Lender of the Year Award in 2006, its website said.
