Vet Has Been Included In The Top Ten Childrens Careers
14 years ago
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Posted
16th June, 2010 00h00
Cost of UK’s top career ambitions set to soar in 18 years’ time
Parents could be facing a bill in excess of £100,000 if their children grow up to fulfil their career ambitions according to new research released today by The Children’s Mutual. In its annual ‘What I Want to Be’ poll, becoming a teacher, doctor or vet are the job of choice for five, six and seven year-olds, but parents are being warned to start saving now as the latter two could cost £116,000 and £117,000 respectively in 18 years’ time.
Tony Anderson, Marketing Director of The Children’s Mutual, said: “Parents tell us their young children are highly ambitious and that they, as parents, fully intend to help them fund their futures. But the sums of money the top careers command could cause financial nightmares for families who don’t plan ahead. While the Coalition Government has announced its plan to significantly reduce payments into Child Trust Funds from 1 August 2010 and to abolish the scheme altogether for new babies born from 1 January 2011, the reality is that the cost of children’s futures hasn’t changed. We believe that the only way for parents to financially manage these costs is by saving regularly over the long term and are urging them to continue doing so.”
The Children’s Mutual questioned over a thousand parents about what their children said they wanted to be when they grew up and found that the majority of today’s children are looking for a career which requires further training and education. The top careers of doctor, teacher and vet have featured in the ‘What I Want To Be’ poll for the last three years, demonstrating that children consistently aspire to careers that will need higher education. It currently costs £74,700 to train to become a doctor and £75,100 to become a vet but these are set to increase by around £41,000 based on current projection levels over the next 18 years.
93 per cent of parents of today’s young adults are still funding their children, according to The Children’s Mutual, and the expert in long-term savings for children does not anticipate this changing. It is urging parents to continue saving regularly over the long term rather than having to face finding such large sums of money in the future.
Top 10 career ambitions for 2010, according to The Children’s Mutual:
Ranking 2010 Top 10
1 Teacher (1)
2 Vet (2)
3 Footballer (4)
4 Doctor (3)
5 Fireman/woman (5)
6 Policeman/woman (7)
7 Pop Star (New entry)
8 Nurse (New entry)
9 Archaeologist/scientist (New entry)
10 Dancer (New entry)
Mr Anderson said: “The children questioned for our research are lucky enough to have a Child Trust Fund account and with half of accounts opened with us receiving additional savings on a monthly basis, we hope these children face brighter financial futures. The question going forward is how parents will fill the savings black hole for children born from January 2011 if the Child Trust Fund is scrapped.”
For further information on The Children’s Mutual, please visit
www.thechildrensmutual.co.uk
About the Research
In 2010, The Children’s Mutual surveyed 1,200 parents of five, six and seven-year olds as part of is annual What I Want To Be survey. The survey is designed to track the career aspirations of children in the UK and looks at changing ambitions based on age, gender, family income and location.
Further research findings
The research also revealed that girls and boys have different career ambitions, with girls favouring traditionally female caring or creative roles such as nurse and hairdresser. Becoming a pop star or actress also entered the top 10, suggesting an influence from the ongoing presence of talent shows such as X Factor, Over the Rainbow and Britain’s Got Talent.
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