Child Savings Projector

There is no benchmark worth quoting, because it depends entirely on what the money is for. What is consistent is that starting early does more than saving more later: contributions made before age eight have twice as long to compound as those made after.

It depends on when the money is needed, and this is where advice belongs rather than a calculator. The general principle is that money needed within five years is usually held in cash and money needed in fifteen has historically done better invested — with the caveat that a child fund has a fixed spending date and no flexibility to wait.

Because a projection without it overstates what the money will buy. £22,000 in fifteen years is not £22,000 of today's purchasing power, and presenting only the headline number is the most common way these calculators mislead.