Investors prefer a more aggressive strategy when saving for children’s futures, a survey has found.

Asset managers F&C asked visitors to their website in August what approach they would take when investing for a child over an 18-year period.

No respondents opted for ‘ultra-conservative cash-only investments’ with the majority of the website’s visitors answering that they would mainly invest in equities, ‘perhaps in ‘higher risk’ areas like emerging markets.’

The results of the survey contradict the findings of a wider survey undertaken earlier this year with showed that 58 per cent of parents did not want to risk the value of their children’s investments going down.

Mike Woodward, head of investment trusts at F&C Investments, said: “It is encouraging to see the respondents to this survey keeping faith with the idea of long-term investing in risk assets.

“The past decade has been a tough one in the equity markets, but with interest rates at an all-time low and the prospect of inflation picking up, investors are wary of the potential for value destruction in cash.”

Woodward said he hoped the closing of the Child Trust Fund scheme would not mean a drop in parents saving for their children. The government scheme, which provided vouchers for children’s savings, will no longer operate after the end of 2010.

Asset managers, including F&C, and banks offer options for children’s investments, with the F&C Child Investment Plan providing access to a range of different investment trusts.

The website survey also showed that just over 20 per cent of investors would prefer a balanced approach, investing in a combination of bonds and equities. Of the respondents, 20 per cent preferred a multi-asset approach, investing in asset classes, such as property and commodities.

© Fair Investment Company Ltd