Residential Property Bonds

Residential Property Bonds are fairly new.

The usual minimum investment is £500 and money is tied for five years at the end investors would receive 100% of growth in the index. If the index should fall investors will get back their money but no interest.

Such bonds are offered for a short time and none are on offer at present.

If consistent investment returns are required the best way of achieving this is to have a mix of share and commercial property.

The cost of ethical parenting

Being an ethical parent may make the conscience lighter, but it can also do the same thing to savings, new research finds.

Research from Child Trust Fund provider Family Investments revealed that 42 per cent of parents interviewed are concerned that they should be using ethical products when bringing up their children.

However, this can come at a price, with parents forced to pay more than twice as much if they want to buy eco-friendly rather than regular nappies.

The cost of organic or ethical baby food, children's clothes and baby products are also higher than the regular versions, the research found.

John Reeve, chief executive of Family Investments said: "The cost of being a parent is growing and the added pressure now of choosing ethical or organic products can overwhelm parents living on stretched budgets, especially as families learn to cope with the cost of a new baby."

However, the company added that ethical products didn't need to "cost the earth" and that parents could save for their child's future using an ethical Child Trust Fund.

All children born after August 31st 2002 are eligible for the savings scheme and once an account is opened, friends and relatives of the child can add £1,200 a year to the account.

Glasgow 'luckiest' for premium bonds

Glasgow was the luckiest place for winning prizes through premium bonds in 2006-7, according to new figures.

Launched in 1956, the savings bonds were originally designed as a means of encouraging people to save money, protecting capital but paying interest earned on savings into a prize fund which is then distributed among winners chosen at random.

Between March 2006 and February 2007, Scotland dominated the table, with Kirkaldy following Glasgow as the two places that are the luckiest for winning top premium bond prizes, according to figures from National Savings & Investments (NS&I).

The most unlucky place proved to be Guernsey, followed by Galashiels and then Enfield.

Sally Swait, premium bonds manager at NS&I commented: "Every premium bond has an equal chance of winning a prize, however Scottish postcodes have been particularly successful this year."

She added that Glasgow and Kirkaldy were both languishing at the bottom of the table in 2005-6 but had seen their fortunes change, indicating that even though people may not have been lucky in the past, the jackpot could still be theirs in the future.

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