Today's kids have costly career aspirations

According to new research from The Children's Mutual, parents could be faced with bills of between £75,000 and £130,000 in 12 years time if their young children pursue their top career aspirations of teacher, doctor or vet.  

The Children's Mutual, the UK's leading Child Trust Funds provider, questioned five and six-year-olds about what they want to be when they grow up and found that the top three career choices would all require a significant financial outlay in the future.

The report figures show that the current cost of a three-year degree course is nearly £42,000, but when these five and six-year-olds are ready for university it could be as much as £56,300. And the additional years and costs of training to be a doctor or vet will add to these bills significantly.

The research also found that children have high aspirations regardless of their socio economic background, with six of the top 10 career choices requiring further training or higher education. The Children's Mutual is encouraging all families with young children to review how much they are saving to ensure they don't jeopardise their own financial futures by
having to find big lump sums of money when their children reach adulthood.

Tony Anderson, Marketing Director at The Children's Mutual, said: "It's encouraging that today's five and six-year-olds have such lofty ambitions. But the top three career choices all require higher education and training in order to be able to fulfil them, meaning parents are likely to have to find significant lump sums to help their children achieve their aspirations.