NEW YORK, NEW YORK. - July 8, 2008 - The Aspen Institute's Initiative on Financial Security (Aspen IFS) and the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) jointly issued a report today entitled "The U.K. Child Trust Fund: A Successful Launch," highlighting early findings from a bold U.K. initiative to provide every newborn child with an investment account.

Early analysis of the Child Trust Fund (CTF) program shows:

• 75 percent of parents open an account for their children;
  
• 30 percent of accounts opened by parents receive additional contributions;
  
• Low-income families contribute a higher percentage of their income to their children’s accounts than higher-income families; and
  
• Equity investing in the private sector is popular with parents and workable for private financial institutions.

"The early success of the Child Trust Fund is inspiring." said Lisa Mensah, Executive Director of Aspen IFS. "As a country with a persistently low personal savings rate, we in the U.S. can learn a great deal from the successes and challenges of this program."

"It's very promising to see that both parents and financial services providers are responding positively to this bold, unprecedented savings policy," said Carey Oppenheim, Co-Director of the Institute for Public Policy Research. "The Child Trust Fund shows tremendous potential for changing the culture of saving in the U.K., and we look forward to further analysis as the program continues."

The Aspen IFS-ippr report uses official data from the first few years of the CTF, together with academic research, to draw some initial conclusions about the early achievements of the program. The paper sets out some of the early findings from the UK's experience of CTFs and highlights the key challenges for other countries that may be interested in implementing a national universal children's savings program.

To view this report online, please visit www.aspenifs.org.

The Initiative on Financial Security at the Aspen Institute is the nation's leading policy program focused on cradle to grave savings policy to help more Americans save, invest and own.

The Institute for Public Policy Research is the UK's leading progressive think tank, producing cutting edge research and innovative policy ideas for a just, democratic and sustainable world.

Aspen Institute

Aspen Institute

The Aspen Institute is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to foster leadership based on enduring values and to provide a nonpartisan venue for dealing with critical issues. The Institute has campuses in Aspen, Colorado, and on the Wye River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. It also maintains offices in New York City and has an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org or follow on Twitter @AspenInstitute.

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